Muse Art and Design

Peter Rossing's first calling was music (he's a pianist), but he went on to carve out a freelance career as a graphic designer and set designer. Since then, he's taken what he's learned and reached out to the visual arts community, offering a "careful" selection of art supplies for sketchers, painters, printmakers, sculptors, calligraphists, and even bookmakers. His independent art shop is also staffed with experienced artists who specialize in suggesting the perfect brush or trowel to complete your works because they all have a history of working with the store's products. 

It’s no April Fool’s Day stunt when you witness an artist putting the finishing touches on his or her canvas through the front window of Muse Art and Design. Rather, April 1 is the kickoff of the local art supply store’s annual An Artist A Day event—“a live art-making event that exposes the public to artists that live and work in their community and raises funds for art supplies in Portland classrooms,” according to owner and organizer Peter Rossing. Featuring 30 different artists creating 30 original works in-store in 30 days, each piece of artwork is silently auctioned, culminating in a mid-May reception, with the proceeds going to Schoolhouse Supplies, which provides free supplies to public school teachers. But, students aren’t the only ones that benefit: Artists also receive 50 percent of the winning bid price for their work, “so this is a way to help support the artists as well,” Rossing says. Stop by the store to watch an artist work in his or her medium each afternoon in April, and bid on your favorite to contribute to the more than $14,000 worth of art supplies An Artist A Day has donated since 2009.