Each Four Saints Brewing Company's Art Wall Artist gets to design his/her own merchandise. Limited edition merchandise. For sale. And each artist will be paid a portion of the profits (if any). I am not the gambling type - but this is the risk I pitched to FSBC as part of the Art Wall Project. The brewery owners, Joel and Andrew accepted. The five artists who were selected for the year and a half long project also accepted. Now it's about designing support merch to go with each artist's main project - that 11 foot wall in the taproom. Each artist was selected based on the strength of their proposal to design an original artwork to be installed & on exhibit for three months in the taproom. They also had those merch items to design.
A variety of art forward products emerged. Every artist went with the limited edition Art Wall t-shirt. Each design was innovative -- and FSBC sold out of almost each shirt. Some of the other art products included a custom beer stein, full color stickers, posters, and then it was my turn.
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| Thanks, The Wearhouse for the tight shirts! |
First off, the t-shirt. My Art Wall Project featured an image of a man who is being supported by others for the first time. He has angel wings made of others' hands. The title of that 10ft monolith is "Helping Hands Give You Wings." Read more about it in post 284. That large artwork originated as the anchor piece for a series called "Looking Up." Each painting from that series explored how we use what we have to go forward in life. Read more about that series in post 259. For the Art Wall Project the initial sketch found in my sketchbook served as the forthcoming t-shirt design. It is rough, raw, and exists as flowing, linear pen marks.
A significant element of this Art Wall Project was to incorporate the community into comprehending the components of the creators' art process. I took that to heart. Hell, I proposed that element in the first place. And so with the Les III t-shirt design the taproom guests could witness the alpha and the omega of the creative process: the initial spark of inspiration now on a t-shirt, and the big ole motif on a 10ft canvas. It's not important that the viewer draws the connection between the two on their own. There's a story bridging the two for those in the know to offer to those coming in for a beverage and (possibly) a creative massage (and message). I guess it kinda leans into that conceptual, performative art realm - but it's backed by the hey-isn't-visual-art-supposed-to-communicate-visually notion that I favor and adore. The backstory. It must have worked -- the majority of the t-shirts sold in the first week. FSBC ordered more. They sold too. Maybe it was good design? Home court advantage?
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| My hands tingle just thinking about all the fresh ginger. |
As for the second merch design, I asked if I could wet my whistle with beer. I proposed collaborating with the head brewer, Andrew Deming to create a special beer. Furthermore, that limited edition beer would be available in special 32 oz. growlers. And I'd like to further offer a creative connection with the community by drawing one-of-a-kind images on each bottle. In the taproom. During business hours. Wish granted.
Andrew and I made a pilgrimage to Greensboro to purchase 13 pounds of fresh ginger root. We worked together in the brewhouse and brewed the 30 gallon batch on a small custom system - after peeling all the ginger, of course (thanks, Mark!). Andrew showed me how to place the live yeast cultures into the batch along with all the other tasks that roll into the beer making process. We ended up with an imperial ginger wit. The official name is "A Helping Hand Of Ginger Wit" and it tops out at 8.5 alcohol by volume.
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| Mash! |
The deadline for the the various elements to this rather unique project kept getting pushed back. We were charting our own course and many folks were helping with the process - including label designers, label printers, and the NC ABC Board. This was but one small project on everybody's full to-do list. The six month delay helped though -- it provided me more time to work out the kinks of creating a stable mark making process on slick, cold/condensate-able, glass bottles. And allowed me to create the 50 unique drawings at a bit more enjoyable pace in the taproom and thus encourage people to watch on, ask questions, and contribute to that creative community involvement element.
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| Progress of the process. Image by Katherine Hagen |
For instance Wayne, a FSBC taproom regular stood over my shoulder one evening and watched me draw on several of the bottles . It was about Oktoberfest time. He mentioned he'd buy a bottle of the ginger beer if I'd customize the bottle figure - make him wear lederhosen and fashion him with a Tyrolean hat. Done. Sold. And then Wayne began to share with taproom patrons about his art experience. Others did as well - one guy, Eddie asked if he could buy a specific numbered bottled for his wife's upcoming birthday. Yes. Dr. David asked if I'd draw an image of his daughter on a bottle. Yes. Lou wanted a guy wearing goggles and an old aviator's leather hat. The stories go on. I hoped they were shared over the bottles of beer art too. Makes me a bit cheery.
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