Matt Pierce’s water pistol series has become a Walla Walla Valley staple since it was first displayed in 2017. Pierce, assistant professor of art at Walla Walla University, has recently converted his popular paintings into stickers, which are now available at the University Bookstore.

The 10-piece series was originally displayed as 6x6-inch paintings for a charity event supporting ArtWalla, a non-profit organization engaged in facilitating the acquisition and education of public art. “They turned out to be a big hit, and the entire series sold out as soon as they were displayed,” Pierce said. He continued the series the following two years with the same result.

“Some of my students kept asking me to make them into stickers, and I finally conceded. Since the squirt guns are painted on a square format, that seemed like the obvious choice,” Pierce said. “As far as the size goes, I just looked around at what objects people were affixing stickers to and determined an appropriate size, which was three inches.” 

Pierce shared that he is considering phasing out the previous sticker series when more recent ones are released in order to keep things fresh. He has created three sets of water pistols in total and converted each of them into stickers, and plans on doing so with the next set he will be creating in the fall.

Pierce has expanded the sticker series to include some of his butterfly paintings as well and has ideas for expanding the subject matter further in the future. The stickers are currently exclusively available at the University Bookstore and retail for $3.50 each. 

To learn more about Matt Pierce, visit wallawalla.edu/art.

Posted Feb. 12, 2020.