2017 is almost upon us and I have to say It’s been a busy summer and fall for my team and I. We’ve logged some intense hours on the pavement (& on walls too!) with 2016 projects ranging all across the board, from foreign locales to TV and film.
We began the summer in amazing Cairo, Egypt, where the team took on a monster of a project – creating 8 unique 3d street paintings for the luxurious new Palm Hills Development. Not far from the Giza Pyramids, we slathered on the sun screen and pulled on the hats to paint up Street 88 in the pedestrian zone of the Palm Hills Development. Two
weeks later we were finished and had some awesome art ready for public interaction. We loved checking out Egypt (touring the Pyramids, Luxor, Aswan and Memphis) and hope to return to Egypt to create more fabulous art for this national developer. Read all about it on my Featured Projects post on the home page!)
Next we moved on to a number of corporate US projects, including a tour of the US with Wells Fargo to support their internal blog. We hit 4 cities in 3 weeks and found that everyone loved playing with our art! The blog received many hits during that time which helped WF get the word about their successful funding programs for a variety of feel good initiatives and businesses.
After that we hit the lovely Outer Banks of North Carolina to help celebrate National Aviation Day with the US Park Service. Honoring Wilbur and Orville Wright, we drew up a live painting for the event. Guest artist / blogger and first time chalker Heidi Easley joined us on the adventure and got a crash course in 3d street painting. We loved seeing the historic site of the first flight and especially loved the southern hospitality of North Carolina! For more info on the great parks around the US visit: https://montemlife.com/top-37-parks-to-visit-before-you-die/
Moving on to tv and film, two of our team members were called upon to whip some custom chalk work for both ESPN and Netflix. ESPN chose chalk art for their Cricket Nation ad spot featuring Jayden Zadlo; and Netflix chose to incorporate chalk art into a new show that will be airing in early 2017. We are super excited to see that premier!
Speaking of film, I was pleased to collaborate with a video team from New York / LA, who swung by the studio to capture me drawing up a live piece to support client MagOx‘s ‘Masters’ video series. That was a lot of fun and will post the video in the coming month. Thanks to director and friend Dave Giles for selecting me for this spot!
As we moved into the fall months, we grabbed our paint brushes and climbed scaffolding to create several murals in both the LA and Santa Barbara areas. We fell in love all over again with DTLA (downtown LA) and enjoyed the vibrant culture thriving there. Thanks to all who came out to support the work we did there – a big painting, sized 22′ high x 45′ wide, at 617 7th St., patio level. That was a nice change of pace for us but it wasn’t long until we were back on the ‘street’ making paintings for Xtandi, Metso and Educause 2016.
We were pleased to create the entire visual branding identity for this year Educause conference in Anaheim. Educause showcases IT in education so we were tasked with finding a great way to message this by using 3d street painting and chalkboard art. We spent 4 days on site creating two custom murals out of chalk for the lobby entry, as well as throwing down an interactive 3d painting outside. We created digital works for column wraps, messaged 3d pop ups around the Convention Center and an interactive comment board for attendees to draw on.
Throw in an appearance at Historic Reyes Adobe Days festival in Agoura, California, where I was the featured artist alongside Parade Marshall, Nickelodeon’s Butch Hartmen and that rounds out the fall. A great time was had by all – I was particularly thrilled to present my book ‘The Art of Chalk’ with book signings and a live painting at the event, (now out in the German language!!) Thank you Reyes Adobe Days for supporting your local street painter!
That’s not everything but these are some of the highlights. We are gearing up for the holidays with a little time off then right back into full swing come January 2017. Stay tuned for more art adventures and exciting developments for 2017!
