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Upon entering a party at the immersive art gallery Hopscotch on Thursday night, one person poured frosé for guests and another handed out ice cream. The evening was off to a good start.
The occasion: the opening of the new exhibit Keep Portland Yummy, a series of sculptural pop art pieces by Anna Sweet featuring tidy rows of colorful doughnuts. Her multimedia art exhibit features doughnut sculptures inspired by pop culture icons such as Pac-Man, The Simpsons, Pendleton blankets and Voodoo Doughnut. There are also oversized, translucent gummy bear sculptures, some with doughnuts visible in their bellies.
Sweet, the owner of Dundee winery and tasting room Artist Block, also created the cocktail of the evening: Rainbow Juice Frozé, made with her winery’s rosé “Rainbow Juice.” Her Keep Portland Yummy exhibition will be on view at Hopscotch through October.
And if all that weren’t sugary enough, Hopscotch also kicked off its collab flavor with Kate’s Ice Cream: an electric blue cotton-candy ice cream with homemade blue Rice Krispies treats and a white chocolate freckle.
“Working with Hopscotch has been really fun because they’re obviously so fun and colorful, like we are,” says Kate Williams, owner of Kate’s Ice Cream, the exclusive ice cream partner of Hopscotch this summer.
To create the flavor, Williams asked Hopscotch owner Nicole Jensen about what treats she enjoyed most as a child. When Jensen cited the warm Rice Krispies Treats her mother used to make her after school, Williams ran with it. She created the flavor to be “elevated and also childlike.”
All of Kate’s Ice Cream is plant-based and gluten-free, made with rich coconut milk to keep it creamy. The brand’s new Hopscotch flavor will be available at Kate’s Ice Cream at 3713 N Mississippi Ave. until the end of May. Hopscotch, the 23,000-square-foot permanent immersive art gallery in the Central Eastside, also carries four other flavors of Kate’s Ice Cream.
And unlike at most art venues, visitors were encouraged to take their wine and ice cream with them as they explored the Hopscotch space.
For those who already have their favorite Hopscotch attractions: Sweet’s doughnut exhibition is a new addition to Hopscotch but the 14 interactive installations are still intact, including fan favorites laser graffiti, the LED ball pit and the quantum trampoline.
Word to the wise: stash frosé and ice cream off to the side before trampolining or diving into a ball pit.
Keep Portland Yummy shows at Hopscotch, 1020 SE 10th Ave., letshopscotch.com. Noon–10 pm Wednesday–Sunday. $24, children (ages 4-15) $15.