Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Think Green
A poster I did to give my University of Colorado INVS class a sample of a photoshop course proposed for a Service Learning project.
posted by Blake Kimmel @ 11:58 PM
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Saturday, April 25, 2009
The Great Southwest
For the final spring break of college my roomates set their plans on an alternative to the normal arid beach booze crushing and floozee mingling college spring break. Rent a 30 ft RV and drive from Boulder, Colorado to Las Vegas, Nevada over 6 days for a stunningly bargain price and soak up the sights and sounds of the Great Southwest with a fully stocked base camp on wheels. Late March can be a nippy season for high desert camping so being able to drive the rig to camping spots, monuments and viewpoints with no dwelling set up beyond extending the lateral living room space enhancing winglet was relaxingly crucial. This thing was a beauty, and had only 600 miles on it when we picked it up. Even better, we could leave it in Las Vegas and fly home. I got equipped for this trip with a new Mamiya C330 Medium Format camera with 8 rolls of Provia color slide film, a Canon Digital Rebel for timelapses and my Sony HDR HC1
We cruised to Moab, Utah the first night to check out some of the spectacular red rock structures of Arches National Park. At one point parked at a trailhead in Arches, a group of young adult males walked by our RV as we were lounging and said, "Hey look its just like Borat." GOOOFUS. Making the turn from Interstate 70 onto the road that heads south we saw our first sunset of the trip...
We definitely wanted to escape the RV Park all amenities served establishments that we were bound to frequent on the trip. Leaving an open day in the schedule we proceeded south on Highway 191 the evening of our full day in Moab to drop anchors at hte most pristine remote location and actually go to sleep in the same place we woke up. After some internet research from family back home it appeared the camp ground "Gouldings" deep in the Najavo Indian Reservation in Monument Valley on the Utah Arizona border was worth a bounce. SUre enough, it was; and with winding canyons, steep elevated slick rock and even an arch all within a rocks toss of the Recreational Vehicle we were SYKED on exploring.
The next day we zipped down to the Grand Canyon to mingle at some seriously touristy viewpoints. On the way we drove for three hours through stretches of desolate Navajo barren land. For about 50 miles of this stretch of road North East of Tuba City, AZ I noticed an electric railway. What a peculiar site it was to see a european looking electric engine creep by carrying flatbed cars. If you have ever moseyed through this area and had a similar spike of curiosity about this strange sight, then read about the Black Mesa/Lake Powell RR.
The Grand canyon was spectacular as always. Lots of fellow Southwestern globe trotters were there bumping elbows with us trying to GTS (get the shot). I have visited this place once before when I was younger, but hadn't actually breached the canyon rim and walked down into it. We took a light 15 minute walk down the Bright Angel Trail and got a whole new perspective for the size of this natural wonder.
A light walk a few hundred feet into the GC and some golden hour photos and we had seen enough, geared up the truck and headed south to Williams, AZ. Forget about $40.00 RV parks, we decided to get frugal and convenient by parking at the Safeway right on the main street. We are now on Historic Route 66, and ready to rage. We went to Rod's Steakhouse, a delicious restaurant with bountiful southwestern cow flare.
Recovering from throbbing Route 66 drinking headaches in the morning we refueled at our Safeway and got ready to drive to Lake Havasu, Arizona. This afternoon I was delighted to be reunited with In N Out. We stopped at WalMart to get floaty toys and sunscreen for our pontoon boating adventure the next day. We played some catch and then checked into a relaxing waterside camping(parking) spot. We rose early to boat and got some wakeboarding in but by 11PM a torrential wind storm picked up. Massive lake swells crashed over our bow before captain Tim Swales figured that going as fast as possible into the waves made the rest of the ride less like 'Deadliest Catch'. Back in the canal we went and bought beer. While waiting for us to return, Jimmy's hat blew into the lake.
I did some timelapses too with my Digital camera plugged into my laptop for remote shots. I thought I would get more but we didn't spend nearly as much time sitting around at epic vistas as we all hoped we would.
posted by Blake Kimmel @ 1:33 PM
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Sunday, January 11, 2009
Jack Boyd Photo Design Collaboration
My good friend Jack Boyd goes to the Art Institute in Denver and has taken a number of very revealing photography classes. For his Advertising final, he created the concept of the New Antique District for his project, as a hypothetical antique shopping neighborhood in Denver to base his photo subjects. Design and copy are pivotal parts to delivering an advertising message and he asked me if I could do some for him.
Our finals weeks were very close together so I had almost no time to work but was able to put a few compositions together. This is the first time I have worked with fashion photos but it felt very natural and easy. I think the best part is that unlike standalone work, the design is not the main focus of the image, making everything look a little better. I have seen some amazing model based design compositions throughout the net. Someone pay me so I can do more!
posted by Blake Kimmel @ 5:20 PM
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Friday, December 26, 2008
Dew Tour and FuelTV
This past weekend Matt Yerman and myself were asked by the awesome folks over at Fuse Marketing to hang art for the Dew Tour Ski and Snowboard competition in Breckenridge, Colo. This three stop winter action sports tour pulls five local artists and musicians from each stop to participate in the Dew Underground program which offers visitors a glimpse into some of the local culture and artistry.
They set up an impressive inflatable dome at the River Walk Complex alongside installations from Nike 6.0, Toyota, FuelTV and other attendees of the pop up tent schwag corrale, Dew Underground staffers entertained passerbys with free Mountain Dew, Vinyl stickers and of course, our art. I hung some more Crowning Gallery Event pieces as I have been swamped with school with no time to make new stuff.
Tim from Fuse was syked enough on me to forward my work to FuelTV. About 2 weeks before the event I was contacted by them to do a 2 minute interview! I of course said yes, and in between two hectic finals last week was able to jam down to Denver to talk about myself. The producer Drew, used to work for FuelTV but got sick of the cubicle and now has my dream job; traveling the globe with a high def camera, a microphone and a laptop to cut segments for the channel. He did a great job editing the piece and was able to skillfully incorporate standard definition B-Roll design lapses I gave him into his high def final.
Anytime you are rambling into the microphone about how cool you are, its tough to guess whether you sound like a grateful and confident up and coming artisan or a complete clown. But after seeing the final product I am not ashamed, I think it came out quite nice. I was then informed on Saturday while spending time shredding with good friends and company in celebration of my 22nd anniversary of birth that I was on NBC during afternoon coverage of the event. STOKED. Check out the interview below… All pictures above were shot by Jiberish photo foot soldier, Chip Kalback.
posted by Blake Kimmel @ 9:49 PM
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Saturday, November 29, 2008
The Crowning Gallery Event
Well this is certainly a late update because I have been non stop busy, and unable to blahhhg. This summer I had the chance to be in an Art Gallery in Dnever! Woo! Via Dave Boger of Jiberish Clothing's awesome networking skills we befriended Mike Walter, a gallery owner working on Denver's emerging art boulevard, Santa Fe Street, and were lucky enough to be offered a month show featuring the artists behind Jiberish. I was joined by design phenom Matt Yerman, photographer Jack Boyd, Jiberish OG art man, John Kirk, photographer Chip Kalback and the newest addition to the Jiberish creative clan, Michael Coriano.
I wrapped up spring finals week, did a quick jet set back to CA to see the fam, and then returned to Colorado with just 3 and 1/2 weeks to grind out some gallery items before the June 6th opening. After 3 days of failing miserably to stay on task in the distracting party junk show that is Boulder in the Summertime I decided to pack up the mainframe and move into an open room at Gabe Anderson's house. So it was thus at what Jack coined 'Art Camp' I would spend the next weeks pumping out Illustrator and Photoshop design work and get a taste for the lifestyle of a gallery artist. Struggling to stay motivated on the end result while burning countless hours daily in front of the computer, ALONE, I have a new appreciation for the commitment and resolve of people like Jason Thielke, Shepard Fairey and other like minded gallery mercenaries put up to do what they do year after year.
All in all 'Art Camp' went well, and I was able to create a three canvas set based off a slide tray illustration I had done years ago...
I also did a large 4' by 6' collage panel of four different digital design pieces. After, numerous Home Depot binge sessions, and 16 hours of straight construction and adhesion, this monstrosity came to life at 4:45AM the morning before the show.
The gallery opening itself was quite triumphant. It was slated for a 'First Friday Art Walk' an event that Santa Fe is (in)famous for. Although I had heard it described numerous times as nothing short of a practical pub crawl for art interested Denver-ites, I definitely did not grasp the magnitude of the gathering until I saw it first hand. The dozen or two art galleries peppered up and down Santa Fe all switch up their displays and then feed everyone cocktails from 3 until 11 PM. As the sun dipped behind the Rockies, the street continued to swell with pedestrians, to the point where walking was difficult. If you haven't been to a First Friday before, hit it up, its a rager!
Balancing partying and looking like a respectable young artisan, I was greeted by a buyer interested in the triptych canvas set around 6:00 in the evening. After jiving with the friendly gentlemen for a few minutes he pulled the trigger and that was that, my first fine art sale went down. The lucky recipients are the owner and wife of Denver based production studio Uptown 6. Apparently their new canvases are adorning one of the creative spaces in their workplace, which makes me very happy that they are getting plenty of use!
All in all it was a great experience to start the summer, and an awesome event for Jiberish to have under its belt. I wish I had more time to prepare and hope that I will have the chance to do something like this again in the future with many months to design and plan. Big thanks to Mike Walter the Jiberish family and my parents who supported me while I was grindin'.
Freeskier's Mike Thomas showed up and pumped out a sweet video as well. Click the image above to go watch!
Scoot on over to ABSTRACTmall.com to pick up canvases and trinkets from the event. Click here to go now!
posted by Blake Kimmel @ 4:59 PM
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Thursday, March 6, 2008
Jiberish Media Kit
I just finished the Jiberish Media Kit that will be sent out to retail locations all across the globe accompanied by their 08/09 line sheet which is very sick as well. Matt Yerman, and Chris Fry of Denver's Design Syndicate the400 straight killed it on the line this year. I squeaked one in there super sketchy style but it worked out in the end.
The Jiberish Staff has really been stepping things up with new over seas production connections, courting approval for a formidable business credit line and a continued "Anything Possible" excited attitude about growing their company in the fierce and challenging textile and garment industry.
posted by Blake Kimmel @ 11:23 PM
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Friday, November 23, 2007
This Is Grassroots
The SPOTL!GHT Project DVD is finally shipping. The box art is Kinko's crisp and the DVD spray paint is fresh. It is shipping a little late, but we thought that it was more important to have the DVD brimming with bonus content and unique menu navigation. Extra features include New Zealand throwback, Additive Free ABC, Jiberish Fashion Shoot, Garage Drop, Canadian Rollercoaster and many others.
The DVD is available for $9.45 at ABSTRACTmall Swurve over thurr and cop one.
Peep the trailer.
posted by Blake Kimmel @ 11:20 PM
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