RUSSELL — The exhibit “Pandoras by Poche’” will be shown throughout the month of May at the Deines Cultural Center in Russell. The exhibit opens Sunday with an artist’s reception from 2-4 p.m.
Russell native Dustin D. Poche’ earned degrees in fashion design and marketing at the Art Institute of Colorado in Denver, then moved to New York, N.Y., where he worked as an off-Broadway costume designer and as the creative art director for the high-end boutique “Jeffery.” After returning to Russell last April and helping to design windows for Russell’s Prairiesta celebration, Poche’ began working on his newest project – Pandoras.   
In historical times, designers dressed miniature figures in the latest fashions and shipped them to Houses of Royalty and overseas to prominent women. The women would purchase the figures and have their dressmakers duplicate the garments for them to wear. The figures were miniature mannequins called Pandoras.
“The dolls have always intrigued me, with their colorful history,” Poche’ said. “ I also find it fascinating how the dolls are crafted from wood pulp and sugar water, and yet have survived through the years.  
They are lost treasures that have been beaten by time and forgotten in attics and at bottoms of steamer trunks. I love bringing new life to old treasures.  It also gives me the opportunity to combine all the things that I love, painting, sculpture, textiles, and restoration."