I have officially resigned my position as Art Director at Cactus Communications in Denver. My Creative Director and I decided it was time for me to do what has needed to be done and amicably part ways to allow me to begin focusing all of my attention on Changethethought. The nearly 4 years I spent at Cactus has been one of the best times I have ever had in the creative industry. I leave behind some very close friends and people I respect very highly. I will miss them every day as I start out on this new venture. They have been amazingly supportive of my efforts to launch Changethethought as a design studio and I will continue to seek their advice as I start out on my own.
I will begin working on remodeling my studio next week where I will now be running Changethethought. I have a few small creative client projects planned already for 2010. We will also be launching a new website this spring. The new website will be much more robust than the current version offering much more in terms of content and usability. We will also now be able to focus much more quality time on delivering better content. Soon we will be seeking more authors for the blog.
We have full capabilities as a design studio and are currently seeking project work. If you are interested in hiring us for your next project please send an email to hire(at)changethethought.com. We will be focusing our efforts on 3 branches, creative inspiration, creative merchandising and creative services. We will also be focused on enriching the creative community in Denver and are already involved in working toward planning and hosting events in 2010.
We are also currently seeking sponsorship for the next version of the site. Please contact us if you would like to see our current analytics and are interested in supporting us. Cheers to 2010.
Labzeus is the graphic design work of recently graduated but deeply life-experienced Denver based designer Brian Neumann. I am hoping to work with Brian on future projects as I embark on initiating the creative service branch of Changethethought. Brian has worked diligently to improve himself and his skillset and has grown by leaps and bounds since I first met him when we was in the middle of study. He is currently interning at Cactus here in Denver. I can say with certainty that he is also a really great guy and an equally great person to work with. He is currently accepting both freelance and considering full time opportunities in Denver. So you might want to try and snatch him up before I can figure out a way to keep him busy.
Mario Zoots is a Denver-based designer and artist currently enrolled in the Communication Design program at Metro. He has already generated work for both Urban Outfitters and NYLON. He has also been published in Rojo (Barcelona )and Cafe Royal (U.K.). Apparently he is looking for a gig here in Denver. Please, lets try to keep him here.
Joshua Wills is another Denver local who has quietly toiled away for years at bettering both his own work and the creative community in Denver. He and his wife Tran, run The Shoppe and Fabric Lab. The Shoppe is one of the funnest places to both chow down on some sincerely fantastic cupcakes and just hang out in a well planned and designed environment. The Fabric Lab was one of the first local shops to both carry my shirts and start supporting my efforts. Josh is one of those rare individuals who is just good all the way through. He’s a good person, he’s a good designer, he’s a good web designer, he’s a good husband and he is a good father. He and his wife are two of the most genuinely nice people I have met in Denver. They would raise the profile of any creative community they inhabited just by being there.
Josh has launched a new website with some of his latest projects that you can check out here. If you are in Denver, be sure to drop by The Shoppe to munch on a Red Velvet or Double Chocolate Kahlua cupcake (my personal recommends) and flip through some of the books in their thoughtfully curated art and design library. Then head next door to the Fabric Lab and pick up some local wears. Thanks for all the hard work you do, Josh and Tran, at nurturing Denver’s creative community.
Scot emailed me last week and asked that I mention he has an upcoming show this month here in Denver at the Andenken Gallery (the venue where Manifest Hope took place). Scot really busts his ass on his artwork and I have a feeling he is pulling out all the stops on this one so it shouldn’t be missed. Unfortunately I will be in Sunderland, England for a show I will be exhibiting at this weekend.
So on October 17th at Andenken Gallery I am asking that if you are in Denver you show up for Mr. Lefavor because I know he will definitely be showing up for Denver.
The Clayton Brothers are a pair of artists now working in Pasadena, California but have home ties to good ole Denver, Colorado. I came across their work this morning while perusing the Denver Egotist and was really blown away by the paintings created for their recent exhibition, Jumbo Fruit, at Patrick Painter Gallery in Santa Monica. The paintings fall somewhere between pop and metaphysics and the resulting imagery is really amazing. You can also read Nathan Spoor’s review of the exhibit at Juxtapoz.
Local Denver, Colorado artist Jason Thielke will be making an appearance tonight at the opening reception of his latest exhibition at the new David B. Smith Gallery. 20+ new works will be unveiled tonight ranging from laser cuts and laser etches w/ lacquer, aerosol, and ink to pieces in colored pencil on paper. The reception begins at 7pm and The David B. Smith Gallery is located at 1543 A Wazee St in Denver. You can see the works currently on display at the Smith website.
Jason is one of the hardest working artists I know in Denver and he is also a great guy and a family man. Unfortunately, I have to be in the mountains this weekend but if you are here in Denver, do try to make it out to his show and offer support. He deserves the attention. Congratulations Jason.
Next week on Wednesday June 24th, the official Bike to Work day here in Colorado, Denver-based advertising agency Cactus (for whom I work as an Art Director) is throwing its inaugural Bike From Work Bash . I can personally guarantee a seriously kick ass throwdown the likes of which will be stuff of legend forever recorded in the mythical annals of Denver lore. You have to seize any available opportunity to use the word ‘annals’.
There will be Illegal Pete’s burritos, Breckenridge beer, Amp energy drinks (and Amp Energy girls), a live DJ (my good friend Tom Metz), bike stunts by Yellow Designs, bike valet service from Bike Denver along with security provided by the Denver Roller Dolls. I also designed the materials for the event, although it was a collective effort with my Creative Director Norm Shearer, Art Director Matt Chiabotti and Copywriter Lee Perlman (he’s the crazy guy in the helmet in the video above). Consequently, Indyink will have have larger 2-color screenprinted Bike from Work posters available at the event as well. As far of the event overall is involved, it was a big team of us at Cactus who put our heads together to pull this off and we poured the love in all the way to the top.
There will be also be a ‘Revenge of the Nerds-style’ tricycle relay race. The race is being hosted by Ad2 Denver and will benefit Wish for Wheels, a non-profit organization dedicated to supplying bikes for kindergarten students. Relay teams will consist of 5 members and the cost per entry is $100. There will be prizes given to teams with the most creative uniforms and tricycles. Maybe a team of luchadores?
You really can’t miss. There is going to be stunts, food, drinks, pretty people, money going to charity and you can rub elbows with the local creative and advertising people. I will be there for the duration of the party helping set up and break down (I am in it to win it). So, if we have yet to meet, stop by and say hello. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
The mayor said he wasn’t coming but that’s just an added reason to turn the volume all the way up to 11. Especially after turning down the best invitation ever.
Artcrank went amazingly well this weekend in Denver. There was a massive turnout and the posters sold like crazy. They were priced very reasonably, I think the most expensive being $30 and the least $10. You can see some photos from the event here and the Minneapolis event here. I think I came close to selling out my poster (pictured below in red, white and blue).
You can still visit and buy posters from the Denver show until May 2nd. Don’t miss your chance if you really want one because a lot of them are almost gone.
You can see some images of the posters created from the Minneapolis event here and the Denver posters should be uploaded sometime in the next couple of weeks. As soon as they are I will let you know. The image above my poster is the poster that was created by the almighty poster Gods, Aesthetic Apparatus for the Minneapolis show.
I am considering reprinting my poster in a different color to sell through my store but haven’t made up my mind yet. So until then, stop by Artcrank here in Denver if you really want one. Word is the show will be traveling to a new location featuring local artists again from that specific location.
ARTCRANK is a new art exhibition hitting the Denver scene that will be showcasing bicycle-inspired original poster artwork that you can enjoy looking at and actually afford to take home. The show rolls out in Minneapolis this Saturday, April 4, and in Denver next Saturday, April 11.
A good friend of mine here in Denver is helping host the show at 8pm this next Saturday. You can see my poster above (the red, white and blue one). I screenprinted them here in Denver. I did a little overprinting and was pretty pleased with how it came out. It is one of those posters that reads different up close and at a distance. I suggest standing back about 10 feet. I printed 39 (kept one for myself) and the rest will be available signed and numbered at the exhibition for $30. I did a really large print (18×24 inches) so it will take up a nice chunk of wallspace. I decided to go old school on this one and toss out my sometimes heavy digital style. I am the worst Colorado resident ever gracing the mountains only a few times a year so when I ride my bike, it is usually almost always in the city. But that is kind of the way I like it (haven’t ridden hardly at all this year though).
My good friend and occasional CTT blogger, Aaron Ray of Legwork Studio also did two really nice prints that you can see above as well. Great work Aaron.
If you would like to come out and have a beer with us next Saturday we would love to see you and meet you at the show. Below are the details. Plan on a party. Oh and ride your bike. I will do another post next week to remind those of you who might forget.
DoubleButter is a Denver, CO-based furniture design and manufacturing company founded by David Larabee and Dexter Thornton. They have just launched an entirely new website featuring an online shop that ships within 10 days of purchase. The stock consists of modernist, hard-wearing and high-quality chairs, tables and case goods in a range of colors and materials. The site is also now featuring photographs of every piece in the line (in every color and material combination) and a set of publication-ready, high-resolution images for download. There are some really unusual materials to choose from as well. It is absolutely fantastic to see some really high caliber furniture design coming out of Denver. It is wonderful to have Doublebutter on our scene. I started a new category today just for the occasion.
Seriously amazing, absolutely amazing paintings from Denver-based Lucong. A true young master. I can’t say enough about the enormity of the talent here. Really stunning and the fact that he lives in Denver is fantastic. Its always great to discover truly inspiring talent right in your own backyard.
Craig Holden Feinberg first attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From there he went on to study at Fabrica, The United Colors of Benetton Communications and Development Center in Treviso, Italy. He has since lectured around the globe and to my surprise moved to Denver. As you can imagine from his background, there is some pretty fantastic work in his portfolio.
My friend and local Denver web designer/developer Joe Mease has relaunched his website. Joe is one of Denver’s best kept secrets and has developed sites for some of the best agencies in the city. He also happens to be a incredibly nice guy and you just absolutely cannot miss if you are looking for a consistently amazing Flash developer.
03/15 MEXICAN DRUG WAR The FBI has vowed to help Mexican officials in an escalating violent war with rival drug cartels that claimed the lives of 2 American employees of the consulate in the Cuidad Juarez. Both were murdered after leaving a consulate social event. On Sunday, The State Department authorized the temporary departure of dependents of U.S. government personnel from the consulates in Ciudad Juarez along with five other northern border Mexican cities.
03/12 FIVERR The website Fiverr asks, in a very broad way, what would you do for 5 dollars? Or better yet, what could you get done for 5 dollars?
03/10 COREY HAIM DIES 80’s movie star Corey Haim passed at the age of 38 at a hospital in Burbank, California. Some reports have suggested the cause of death may have been an overdose as Haim struggled with drug addiction for years following his success.
02/27 ICEBERG ADRIFT A massive iceberg has struck Antarctica dislodging a gigantic block of ice measuring 48 miles (78 kilometers) long and about 24 miles (39 kilometers) wide and holds roughly the equivalent of a fifth of the world’s annual total water usage. Holy crap.
02/27 CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE A powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake has struck Chile with a death toll so far standing at 82.
