Don’t Throw Away That Empty Cereal Box!
When painter Jenny Grumbles looked at her 10-year-old’s sugar-laden cereal, she didn’t just see breakfast. She saw the medium for her next artistic endeavor.
“The boxes are so fun and exciting and colorful,” the Preston Hollow resident said. “I don’t know how I put it together, but I was like, ‘If I could paint a portrait, I could cereal box a portrait.’”
Grumbles started by cutting up boxes to create a still-life collage with a floral design. Next, the Swiftie put together a cereal box portrait of Taylor Swift titled Snap, Crackle, Pop Star, a portrait of Michael Jordan called Honey Bunches of GOAT, and a second Taylor Swift portrait she called Art by a Thousand Cuts, a play on Swift’s song “Death by a Thousand Cuts.”
“It was so fun,” she said. “And the subjects are subjects I wanted to do. I love music. I love sports.”
Each portrait, Grumbles said, required more than 50 different cereal boxes in a variety of colors. Friends and neighbors heard of her need and started contributing empty boxes.
Her boyfriend donated his favorite cereal, Cracklin’ Oat Bran. A neighbor brought over Peanut Butter Chex, which is the perfect color for skin. Grumbles collected Very Berry Cheerios, Three Wishes grain free cereal, Halloween Cap’n Crunch, and other types of Cheerios and Chex.
One tricky color to find on the cereal boxes was black. Even Count Chocula is brown and blue. Grumbles finally settled on “cream filled chocolate something,” which unfortunately wasn’t a favorite of her son’s.
But cereal box art isn’t always sugar-coated.
Grumbles’ previous work included primarily acrylic and oil paintings she had done on commission. Splicing and dicing cereal boxes was much more time consuming. Who knew if it would sell, and how could she value it?
“I’m afraid to take some of that time with a set paycheck and paint and do whatever I want,” she said. “Yet the reward is so much greater than the risk usually.”
Since Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce wears number 87 with the Kansas City Chiefs, Grumbles decided on a price of $8,787 for Art by a Thousand Cuts, which was included in ALG Fine Art’s recent Visiting Artists Show, “Own Your Own Story; Write Your Own Ending.”
That portrait sold during the show, and the three other pieces in Grumbles’ cereal box series have sold as well.
Grumbles is now trying to focus less on commissions and more on cereal. She is currently finishing a portrait of rapper Kendrick Lamar titled Frosted Mini-Beats.
Her new outlet combines Grumbles’ love of art with her passion for recycling furniture. She used to own a vintage décor and trash to treasure business in Snider Plaza but put that work aside after her son was born.
“I finally found a way to combine recycled trash and fine art,” she said. “Both of my worlds have collided. Maybe, I really am doing what I should be doing.”
