Rival Collective

Here's to collaboration and ambition. Ben and Greg (together Rival Collective) are two young designers about to launch from the University of Tennessee. Their thesis project, Rival Collective, involves "exploring the the nature of change in collaboration and limitation as they relate to the transition from being a student to working in the professional world."

They wrote to me (among others) to solicit prompts, assignments, briefs, etc. In response I asked that they help me promote an upcoming series of Urban Land Scout workshops at CAC Beardsley Community Farm. Their work arrived this evening and I am buzzing. The ten posters they designed are, in my humble and unbiased opinion, near perfect. I could not be more pleased.

I was also pleased to find various iterations of the posters posted on their tumblr.

New Shoes

I made my first pair of shoes under the kind tutelage of Daniel Scott. He'll be teaching at least two more workshops (if not more) at the Knoxville Birdhouse in April. Stay tuned to their calendar to sign up.

Emerging Artists

Image by the talented Jonathan Bagby.

I am honored to join a fine crew of young, local emerging artists whose work will be featured in an upcoming show at the Emporium Center. The Arts and Culture Alliance, whose work fills the Emporium Center's gallery month after month, is a great resource for anyone wanting to plug into the local art scene.

Below are my fellow emerging artists. Check out our websites and consider buying our work while we're young and relatively undiscovered. You can also read the full press release from the Arts and Culture Alliance here.

Ashley Addair - www.noroomforhipsters.com
Jonathan Bagby - www.jonathanbagby.com
Julie Bernal - www.juliebernal.com
Robmat Butler - www.robmatbutler.com
Antuco Chicaiza - www.antucochicaiza.com
Hannah C. Holder - www.hannahholder.com
Heather Ann Jackson - www.heatherajackson.com
Jessie Morris – Photography - www.jessiemophoto.mosaicglobe.com
Erin Mullenex - www.erinmullenex.com
Katie Ries - www.whoshareswins.com
Jessie Van der Laan - www.jessievanderlaan.com

just ripe

just ripe is a worker-owned food cooperative that's been selling delicious and seasonal prepared food at the Knoxville Farmers' Market on Market Square for over a year now. They're about to take the big step of moving from charming-but-transient-gypsy-caravan to a brick and mortar store in the Daylight Building in downtown Knoxville. As you might imagine, this is an expensive project. In the same spirit that inspires their products and business model, just ripe has launched a Kick Starter campaign.

For the uninitiated, Kick Starter is a website that allows people with a vision (like the women at just ripe) to crowd source the funding for said vision. They've set a goal of $12,000 and have until Sunday, February 13th to raise the money. If they don't reach their goal by then, all pledged monies will be returned to the donors. If they do reach their goal Knoxville's food and culture scene will be so much the richer.

It is cliche but true to say that every bit helps.  Five or five hundred, the women at just ripe will be grateful for your help.

mixed

Provenance and Consumption

I am making drawings about skinning deer in anticipation of doing the actual work. It is an odd mediation. This drawing was a test run for a print to go into a portfolio exchange. If you're so inclined, you can buy it for your very own.

Worthy: 3

This clever image comes from an interview in the Nashville Scene which you can read here.

 Sam Smith (Sam's Myth) is the kind of wonderkid you think doesn't exist in real life until you meet him and then it seems perfectly normal, albeit a little unfair to the rest of us, that someone should be able to do so much so well. I first knew Sam as an eager little kid in lower school in Nashville. As we progressed through middle and then high school Sam was to me the guy-who-could-draw-really-well and I looked up to him (and envied him) forever and ever, amen. (He was also and remains today a talented drummer and musician among other things.) One of the things I took away from Sam, and for which I remain very grateful, is the model of putting your work out there. Or as was said in my sunday school, "Don't hide your light under a bushel."

Fortunately for all, Mr. Myth burns brightly and in many directions. If you live in Nashville you can go see his fantastic movie posters at the Belcourt. The rest of us can content ourselves with browsing through his blog, flickr stream, and portfolio.