Cool Stuff: Artist Series Shoes at Olio United

To help celebrate its first anniversary, Portland eco-boutique Olio United recently asked nine great local artists to customize pairs of TOMS Shoes.

The participating artists -- Amy Ruppel, Jill Bliss, Trish Grantham, Yellena James (those are her contributions, above), Ryan Rubnis, Katie Kulper, Aaron James, Erik Railton, and Max Erdenberger -- have each hand-painted several pairs of TOMS. The resulting wearable pieces of art will be auctioned off at Olio's anniversary party on Friday, August 29, from 7 to 10 p.m. The proceeds are earmarked for Transitions Cambodia, a not-for-profit that helps sex trafficking survivors from the Asian nation.

Click here for more information on the event -- and here to see the shoes for sale in Olio's webshop.

Cool Stuff: Modern Art Magnets

If owning an Amy Ruppel or Trish Grantham original is a bit outside your budget right now, take heart -- at least your fridge can have a great art collection.

iPop Clicks is a collection of "curiously strong" magnets featuring the work of a variety of artists, including Portland art darlings Ruppel and Grantham, as well as more than a dozen others.

The 2-inch Big Clicks, such as Ruppel's Bird on Green, top, are $6.50 apiece, while smaller Clicks are $9.50 to $11.50 a set.

Amy Ruppel's Love Birds, Bird Watch, Pretty Bird, and Owls

Trish Grantham's Girl, Floral, Lost, and Fridge Friends

I really like this set from Seattle illustrator Fumi Watanabe, too.

See more of the iPop Clicks collection at Parkside Papers.

(P.S. I saw awhile back that Ruppel and Grantham's fellow Portlander Evan B. Harris, whose work I recently featured here, has a Clicks set of his own. If anyone's spotted Harris's magnets for sale, please drop me a line and let me know where you saw them.)