Rusty Raven Studio

06/28/2024

Come see us this Saturday for their Block Party! There will be vendors, food trucks, giveaways, and much more!

02/03/2024

Thank you City of Kent for the spotlight 🤍

Today on , meet Malinda and Cam! They are long time Kent residents and active members of the community. They love supporting and highlighting the Kent art scene.

Cam: My name is Cam Kristensen and I'm the Assistant General Manager for Northland Services. We ship to Alaska and Hawaii.

Malinda: I'm Melinda Besett and I am a substitute teacher in the Kent School District, and I own Crème Brulée kids consignment sale.

Cam: We offer an opportunity for the community with the kids consignment sale. It helps people in the City of Kent recycle their used clothing and so not only is it helping reduce waste but it's also putting some money in their pocket.

Then at the same time, it's helping out other families so that they can get a pre-loved items at reasonable prices.

Cam: I sit on the Kent's Arts Commission. I also volunteer for several different things. We have an art gallery that's closing here shortly were we used to do kid free kids art day. I volunteered as a soccer coach for several teams. I like participating in the City of Kent.

The Art’s Commission does a variety of things. We have the spotlight series which is typically done at the auditorium at Kent Meridian high school but that's music that comes in. They have several different groups that come in at different year times of the year.

We also do the traffic signal box artwork. There's a real correlation between vandalism and non-vandalism if they're decorated. The ones that have artwork on them tend not to get tagged up.

Also, when community members need funds for their art related projects, whether it's a concert or things of that nature, they can apply to us and we, on a grant basis, try to help them out with some money.

Malinda: I grew up in Kent. I went to East Hill Elementary School graduated from Kent Meridian so growing up I was actively involved in the community. I went through many programs with Kent Parks and Rec.

Downtown Kent was like my playground. Its good, just being out in the community and knowing it's fun. Our daughter, who is in middle school, is always like ‘mom you know so many people’ and that's because we're out in the community. We're out participating in events and making those connections.

Cam: I grew up in Nome, Alaska it’s a very very small town of around 3,000 people. There community was a big part of everything. You depended on other people all the time, so I was volunteering as I grew up and to me I think it's important because it really makes a big difference in a lot of people's lives.

In a place like Nome, it's really evident. It might not be as evident here just because of the population but I think that there's a lot of parallels.

Malinda: I previously sat on the promotions committee of the Kent downtown partnership and was working on providing events whether free or paid to bring community members together in historic downtown Kent.

I think one of the biggest ones that I'm proud to say that we were very involved in was the Street of Treats which happens every October and that is bringing kids and families to downtown to support each other with different organizations and businesses through that event.

We're the current owners of Rusty Raven studio but we are closing our storefront. We still plan on staying actively involved in the community. Previously before owning our storefront, we were vendors at the Kent farmers market for many years.

It was just becoming too much for us to do those events with our young children at the time. Through the storefront we were able to bring in over 60+ artists, makers, and collectors into our store for like kind of a one-stop shop. We could support artists and we could support community members being able to shop small.

When we had the shop, we offered a free kids art day every month. We provided an opportunity for art and creative time for young children and older children.

Many artists don't get the opportunity to show artwork because they're either having to pay, or they're either having to submit applications and get juried. I mean we were jurying but we weren't it wasn't a hard jury.

Cam: If somebody came in and they made robots or jewelry and they didn't think it was good enough and it's like ‘oh man these are great you know bring them in.

We encouraged a lot of people in this community to bring their stuff in and show their stuff there. The free kids art day in a four-hour period we typically had close to a hundred kids come through.

We did a couple workshops for Green River Community College for the art docent program. It was on some things that they could then take to the classroom to teach the kids. The shop was a good venue for a lot of different things in the community.

Malinda: We did a lot of things pre-COVID. We used to spotlight different artists once a month through the Thursday Art Walk. We tried to make connections through our members. Whether it was musical or other artists if they had ties to Kent, we liked bringing them back.

So, like if they graduated from a Kent school or went to elementary school or went to a junior high here, I'm bringing them back into the community to highlight them and show people like ‘hey this is a former graduate from the Kent school district’ and showing what they what they're doing now.

I think one of our goals for the future is to bring back free kids art day whether it's monthly, quarterly, or once or twice a year, I mean it's helping build that next generation of artists and creators.

Cam: Kent is such a diverse community, I really enjoy that because I grew up in a fairly diverse community. I think it's important to get all those people involved.

When you have people coming together to do art and do things like that it breaks down a lot of the boundaries that people put on each other and so I think fostering that is a is a good way to make things a lot better. KentWA.gov/PeopleOfKent

02/01/2024

Thank you 🤍

From our family to the Community we thank you for supporting over 115 Artists, Makers and Collectors over the past 5+ years.

To our Artists, Makers and Collectors THANK YOU for sharing your talents with all of us, for choosing us to represent you and for your continued support.

While our store front is closed we hope you continue to follow along and we will see you in the Spring.

Malinda & Cam

01/22/2024

Last Weekend to Shop: If you have not heard the news yet, the Rusty Raven is undergoing a major shift as we close our storefront location. Our last day will be Sunday, January 28, 2024. While it is bittersweet to say goodbye to our physical space it will allow us more time at home with our three kids, creating art and focusing on community.

We want to give a big thank you to our amazing community. From our Artists, Makers and Collectors to our many customers. Thank you for stopping in, shopping local and supporting small business, artists and makers.

We will be open the following days this week:
January 25 - 10AM-4PM
January 26: 10AM-4PM
January 27: 10AM-4PM
January 28: 10AM-4PM

[📍212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]

01/14/2024

More January Sales to announce before we close up our store front at the end of the month.

[📍212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]

01/13/2024

January Sales happening now before we close up our store front at the end of the month.

[📍212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]

01/06/2024

An update 🤍

12/23/2023

Extended hours this week 🎄🎁

12/23: 8:30AM - 4PM
12/24: 8AM - 4PM
12/25: CLOSED

[📍212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]

12/22/2023

We are open ALL WEEK through December 24.

12/18 - 12/22: 9AM - 5PM
12/23: 8:30AM - 4PM
12/24: 8AM - 4PM
12/25: CLOSED

[📍212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]

12/21/2023

Hello Winter ❄️ Today marks the darkest day of the year, while we celebrate the return of the light. Yule Tidings to ALL!

We are open ALL WEEK through December 24.

12/18 - 12/22: 9AM - 5PM
12/23: 8:30AM - 4PM
12/24: 8AM - 4PM
12/25: CLOSED

[📍212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]

12/20/2023

We are open everyday through December 24.

12/18 - 12/22: 9AM - 5PM
12/23: 8:30AM - 4PM
12/24: 8AM - 4PM
12/25: CLOSED

[📍212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]

12/17/2023

Restock of Upcycled Sweater Mittens ❄️

Open Monday through Friday this week 10AM-5PM.

[212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]

12/16/2023

We are open everyday through December 24.

12/16 - 12/17: 10AM - 3PM
12/18 - 12/22: 9AM - 5PM
12/23: 8:30AM - 4PM
12/24: 8AM - 4PM
12/25: CLOSED

[📍212 1st Ave S, Kent 98032]