For the last three years our friends Brian and Johnny have hosted a Dodgeball tournament for local youth groups. This year we teamed up with Fredy (one of our alums-turned-intern-extraordinaire-who-is-waaaaaaay-better-at-Adobe-Illustrator-than-we’ll-ever-be) sponsored the event by helping provide custom illustrations and tees for each team. It was hype.

Fredy is one of the most talented illustrators around…and he’s an all around good dude. If you aren’t familiar with his work under the moniker of Sugar Coated take a break from from reading and go check out his eye candy. DO IT NOOOOWWWW!!!

Fredy’s process is pretty straightforward. Once he gets the basic forms nailed down on pencil and paper he scans it into his computer and gets wild with Adobe Illustrator.

If you’ve ever gotten down with the pen tool then you know how time-sucking it can be. I have massive respect for Fredy and the level of detail he puts into his illustrations. That takes a massive level commitment. Even wilder? He does it all on the trackpad! THE FREAKIN’ TRACKPAD!!!

Hours later (and lots and lots and lots of pen-tooling) the final emerges and is exported into Photoshop where half-tone shades are dropped in to add a little tonal variety. All this for a t-shirt…well, not just a t-shirt.

Let me explain – events like Crosstown Dodgeball Throwdown are brilliant. They take the time, effort, and coordination of adults, mentors, students, and organizations to pull of. When done well – it’s magic! Example: this year’s event. The whole environment was electric. Super positive; not a harsh vibe in the building (well, except after the occasional facial). I can’t help but think if more things like this existed the world would be a better place. I have so much respect for Brian, Johnny, Dave, Alex, Nate, and their volunteer teams. MASSIVE THANK YOU for taking time out of your week to work with students and make their worlds (and ours) better. This kind of youth culture is a good thing.

In closing, here are some shots of the tee’s and teams. We had a blast being part of this event and we can’t wait until next year!

In 2011 year we took a weekend trip to Nordhouse Dunes with a group of students to draw, paint, eat, swim, talk, cook and live. There was a massive storm our first night out so the majority of our days were spent gathering wood, tending shelter, staying dry, and keeping the fire stoked. We’re doing it again this summer…hopefully with less rain and more making. There are spots available for 15 students. Register for Art + Camp here.

My main objectives were to 1) introduce students to effects and ubiquitousness of graphic design and 2) help them realize the power they had to use it to create meaning and not merely consume it. We worked with a variety of old images taken from a National Geographic book entitled Man’s Conquest for Space. Students picked an image they were they found interesting and over the course of the night we screen printed the phrase “Fear Not” on dozens of old pages of early space explorers – a graphic call to live courageously in our attempt to make both sense and beauty out of the things we inherit.

For many students it was the first time pulling a squeegee. As such, it was the perfect precursor to next week’s workshop where students will be coming to Ambrose to print their own t-shirt.

It was so fun to see all the prints laid out together. Honestly, I got a little emotional while viewing it…for some reason it brought me back to high school and the subsequent fears, regrets, anxieties and joys. I was no stranger to fear – specifically social repercussions for interests deemed unworthy. I’m probably preaching to the choir, but a healthy dose of perspective and encouragement from a caring adult goes a long way in overcoming those obstacles. That’s one of the reasons I’m so grateful for programs and mentors like the Digital Connectors.

Many thanks to the students and staff of the Digital Connectors program. We had a blast with you and can’t wait to see the tee’s you design for next week’s workshop!

We love it when ideas come to fruition. A couple of weeks ago we met up with a group of seniors from FRCZ to come up with a concept for this year’s Impact Tee – their high school youth group. This past summer a group of students were on an extended service trip to Bolivia then they came across some pretty heavy addiction issues. From their blog:

Glue sniffing is a serious problem in Bolivia. It is an inexpensive way for the homeless people to get high. Glue sniffing is not exclusively a problem among the poor, however once addicted they begin to spend their money on the glue instead of food. We spent time talking to the glue sniffers who live in the park while two women with medical training treated some of the glue sniffers. It was a very overwhelming experience for most of our group seeing how dependant on the glue these people are. They spent every minute we were there with their jars of glue held against their noses. Once we were back on the bus, Mike told us that while seeing these people in such a low state is hard, it is a reminder of why IOU Bolivia’s ministry is so important.  Most of these homeless glue sniffers lived on the streets as a child and turned to glue sniffing as an escape from their dismal lives. There was one couple with a one year old boy who would occasionally hold one of their jars of glue up to the baby’s nose. Mike told us this is fairly common for glue sniffers living on the streets as the glue helps curb hunger when the parents cannot provide enough food. This feeds into the start of street children turning to glue like their parents continuing cycle with each generation. By rescuing orphans and putting them in the homes they are much more likely to go to school and not end up back on the streets as an adult.

During our initial meeting we talked about their experience in Bolivia, what it meant for their group, and about the glue-sniffing epidemic going on there amongst the homeless population. We talked about need. About addictions. About ruts. About the need for community support to overcome stuckness. And with that in mind we started sketching.

The following Sunday we were stoked to have their amazing group of young people come out and screen print the final product. After an intro to screen printing we broke into groups and cycled through four stations – collage, drawing, lego, and screen printing. Good vibes abound! Many thanks to the students and leaders of Impact. We had so much fun slingin’ ink with you!

We’re excited to announce that Jeff Kraus will be taking us to mark-making and texture school on Thursday, November 1, from 3:30 – 5:30. He’ll be leading us through his art-making process which includes finding and using texture, reactionary mark-making, and arranging elements for composition.

This workshop is for current high school students. Students are required to bring 10 textures they’ve found or created the week prior and warm, comfortable clothes that can get messy.

I first saw his work at Madcap and instantly fell in love with his palette, honest mark-making and composition. Check out his work at jeffkraus.tumblr.com or jeffkraus.net.

Molino de Viento
Latex, Acrylic & Charcoal

Hermanas
Latex, Charcoal, Graphite & Wood

Crystal Clear
Mixed Media on Canvas

So we turned our chalkboard wall into an expression of what people desire more of in our community, and what they want less of.  Less                  . More                .

Students were the first to fill out what they thought our community needs more of and less of.  Less Screen. More Paper. Less TV. More Reading. Less Homework. More Learning.

The wall project launches us in to the remainder of the month’s mark making, experiments with spray paint, some photography, epic brainstorming sessions and finally a zine project where students will self publish their own zine.

Wasana shows off the T-shirt she made at our stencil making workshop with Americorps. Each participant got to create their own T-shirt by making a stencil of their design.  We’re very excited to be kicking off a new series of workshops for the community, if you want more info check out our group workshop options.