K*NOW
K*NOW
Inktober
31 Days. 31 Drawings.
Jake Parker began Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. In the years since, it’s become an international art celebration whether you participate by drawing or simply by being inspired by the work of others. Each day there is a drawing prompt, and then the results are shared on social media with the hashtag #inktober and #inktober2018.
There are not a lot of rules. You don’t have to draw every day to be a part of it. You can set a goal for a week or just weekends and jump in or out at any time. It’s really up to you, but sharing the work is one important part because it will feels good to be a part of something bigger. You don’t need fancy pens or paper, and it doesn’t have to be all black and white either. If you can avoid the pencil and eraser and give yourself a chance the opportunity to work with ink. It’s scary and liberating!
Tony has completed the challenge for a couple of years, but I’ve only managed to make 1 or 2 drawings. This year, we’re working with supplies from Artsnacks which include a brush, dip pen, Dr. Ph. Martin’s bottled ink in matte black and green, Kuretake manga markers, and a Copic brush pen. Tony is excited about the new tools and has hit the ground running. I am so far out of my comfort zone and already a little behind!
You can follow our Inktober adventures on Instagram and Facebook. If you decide to participate, please share and tag us! We can keep each other inspired!
~Kelly
The Milwaukee Bucks Art Collection
The Unveiling
At the end of August, Tony traveled to his home state of Wisconsin for the official unveiling of the Milwaukee Bucks Art Collection at the newly constructed Fiserv Forum. His mural Eras was selected from over 1,200 entries last year. Thirty-two artists are featured in this collection, twenty-two with ties to Wisconsin, while more than one hundred students also contributed work.
The ceremony was a celebration of the value of art and demonstrated how art can be integrated into a very large, multi-use space. The art and its artists were not mere afterthoughts to fill space. The art is a dynamic part of design and architecture of the arena. It is truly something to marvel at. Tony would like to thank Sports & The Arts for curating and guiding the collection along with the Milwaukee Bucks for a memorable weekend.
It is an honor for Tony to be included in this diverse and beautiful collaboration of artists from Wisconsin and beyond. For more photos from Tony’s trip, visit his photo gallery on the K Art Facebook page.
About the Piece
Eras depicts the history of the Milwaukee Bucks through their significant players, coaches, logos, and uniform color schemes while incorporating several Milwaukee landmarks. It encompasses both Tony’s fandom for the Bucks and his love for his birth city, where several Rozwadowski generations still reside.
Originally conceived as a quadriptych that could either be used as wall art or a mural, Eras evolved into one seamless design split into two images for the wall space selected for display. Eras starts with the original Bango Buck logo and color scheme from the early years of the franchise into the 1980s. Historic players and coaches are present alongside the Allen Bradley Clock Tower as it leads to the first major redesign of the Bucks logo.
The purple, green, and silver color scheme is shown prominently with the forward facing buck and triangle crest logo of the 1990s. “The Big Three” era includes the U.S. Bank Center building and Milwaukee skyline along the bottom. Purple gives way to a callback of the classic red used decades earlier. Two more landmarks, the Mitchell Park Conservatory (The Domes) and the Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge, complement the buck crest logo into the mid 2000s to 2010s. The bridge spans across the design to connect the past to the future.
Eras ends with the third major logo redesign and color scheme change for the franchise. The new modern buck head/M combination introduces Cream City Cream, Great Lakes Blue, and black to the familiar green. The team’s current stars surround the logo and beautiful Quadracci Pavilion, ushering in a new era of promise for the franchise, its fans, and the city’s revitalized downtown.
Eras is a digital illustration that was installed to the interior walls of the Fiserv Forum’s BMO VIP Entrance way using a vinyl application. Even though it looks like it is painted like a traditional mural, it is not. Tony emulated a painterly style with the addition of textures and shading to capture the appearance of a traditionally painted mural.
Can you name all of the players in Eras that have worn a Bucks uniform? Recognize the Milwaukee landmarks?
The cobbler’s child has no shoes
Shoes, rocks, and websites
The expression “the cobbler’s child has no shoes” has been haunting me as Tony and I struggled to redesign our website. While our website had been designed to grow with the business, it was showing its age, and the content was embarrassingly out of date.
The majority of our time is spent on projects for customers, and it was very difficult to carve out enough time to focus on an internal project. We’d take the time to get started, make a little progress, and then have to stop to work on something else. Each time we’d talk about the website, it felt like we were starting all over again. It was like rolling a heavy rock up a hill and having it roll back down because you stopped before you reached the top.
What changed? It’s going to sound counterintuitive, but taking a summer road trip was a big part of the solution. The week of July 4th, we drove to WI to visit family. With the holiday in the middle of the week, work was pretty quiet as everyone took time off to celebrate. Tony worked hard to get the structure of the website completed before our trip. While the uncles and cousins played games, I worked on content for a section of the site each evening. We’d visit and have adventures during the day, and I’d only work at night. The site was 90% done by the end of our working vacation.
With the crest of the hill in sight, we were determined to finish. We had saved the portfolio and a new case study section for last. It’s with great relief I can now say, the new and improved www.k-artanddesign.com is launched!
Not only have I learned more WordPress through the process, I have a new understanding for the importance of setting aside enough time to make real progress on a project…and a change of scenery is good for the brain too!
~Kelly
Summer Fun
Kaleidoscope Art Camp at Lenn Park
I hope you’re having a fun summer so far! Mine kicked off with Kaleidoscope Art Camp at Lenn Park, a program I coordinate for Culpeper County Parks & Recreation Department. It’s become a summer tradition for my whole family. Tony and I have taught at camp, and Cole and Joy have been campers and volunteers.
I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve had campers age out of the program and return as volunteers, and we’ve had a volunteer leave for college and return as a teacher for the past 2 years. This year we had our first junior volunteer, Beckett, who aged out of the morning program and came back to help in the morning and then attend as a camper in the afternoon. Beckett did a great job, and it makes my job easier to have volunteers who are past campers because they really understand what the program is all about. I’m so grateful to everyone who pitches in to make Kaleidoscope such a fun week for the campers, volunteers, and teachers.
We are offering 3 Art Jam programs this summer. Our Summer Sketchbooks has already begun, and we’ve made sketchbooks together and experimented with bleeding tissue paper and liquid watercolor. Next month, we’ll have a Zentangle workshop for kids and one for adults. This is a great opportunity to come and make something fun and beautiful. In August, Making Marks returns on a new day, and there are just a few spots left.
What is storytelling?
Join us for Culpeper Tells!
Saturday, March 10
I first heard about storytelling 5 years ago when K Art got involved with helping the library with their inaugural festival. I wasn’t sure what it was all about, but the Culpeper County Library is such a valuable part of the community, that Tony and I didn’t hesitate to help.
I quickly learned that I knew more about storytelling than I had realized. It’s something my older relatives had passed on to me while they taught me to play cards. It’s as much a family tradition as our cherished recipes, and it’s a bridge between generations. My relatives shared family stories, some true, or in the case of my Uncle Red, mostly doubtful. Lots of the stories were funny, definitely memorable, and some were family lore that you had to be old enough to hear, and maybe even older to completely understand.
I’ve been a chairperson for Culpeper Tells for 3 years now, and one of the biggest challenges is marketing the festival to people who haven’t been to a storytelling performance before. Professional storytellers like the ones we have been so fortunate to bring to town are true artists of the craft and talented entertainers. They tell stories so vivid you are right in that story with them. Many of our tellers are also gifted musicians, weaving original songs into their performances. It’s difficult to describe all that a storytelling festival can be in a marketing blurb.
On the flip side, the feedback from newcomers to the festival has been overwhelmingly positive. Each year we gain new storytelling fans, if we can just get them in the door!
And so, I invite you to give Culpeper Tells a try. We have 2 sessions this Saturday at Culpeper Baptist Church. The afternoon starts at 1:00 and the evening performance is at 7:30. The afternoon includes 2 storytelling performances by Charlotte Blake Alston and Josh Goforth, an interactive workshop by Ed Stivender that is geared towards beginners, and a story slam for those brave enough to throw their name in the hat. The evening performance features our 3 professional storytellers doing what they do best.
Advance tickets are $25-$45. $30-$55 at the door. Kids 12 and younger are free. All proceeds benefit Culpeper County Library.
Happy Birthday to Us!
16 years of creativity and community
Happy New Year! I am a sucker for that fresh start optimism that comes around every January. Sixteen years ago that new year feeling was part of the launch of K Art and Design, and since I’m fortunate to be celebrating another anniversary, I’m renewed by that positive outlook.
I see many similarities between parenthood and being a small business owner. Both can just about consume all of your time in the early years, and they require a lot of quick thinking, creativity, learning on the job, and sleep deprivation. As soon as you think you have a schedule or see a pattern, everything changes again. Every stage has its celebrations, successes, and challenges.
It’s never easy, but I feel strongly that parenthood and entrepreneurhood (is that a word?) are incredibly rewarding experiences because it really is up to you to nurture these pursuits and help them to grow into something more than you had dared to dream.
Thank you sincerely for being a part of this journey with Tony and I. We look forward to continuing to grow together in 2018. If you need our help with a project or just some advice, we’re always just a phone call or email away.
25 Snowflakes of Christmas
During a winter with far more snow days than we’ve had in a while, I entertained the kids by making paper snowflakes. Tony began to cut pop culture icons into his intricate designs, and a new tradition was born–the 25 Snowflakes of Christmas.
This is the fourth year of snowflakes, and the collection has grown in complexity and variety–thanks to special requests. There have been daily posts on Facebook, Twitter, and K Art’s new dedicated Instagram account.
Last year Tony added a time lapse video, and he’s filmed a new one for you this year. It’s funny how many people have told us that they thought we had some fancy die cutting equipment for making the snowflakes. Nope! Just an Exacto knife with a fresh blade!
As a gift to you, we’ve collected the 2016 edition into a free poster. Click here to download.
Thank you sincerely for your business and continued support. We look forward to tackling more projects together in 2018.
From our families to yours, we wish you a very merry holiday and health and happiness in the new year!
~Kelly, Tony, Cole & Joy
Thank you from our family to yours!
Sincere thanks from our family to yours! Thank you for your support of our small family business. This year K Art & Design is celebrating 15 years of creativity and commerce, and we couldn’t have reached this milestone without you.
This Thanksgiving, we hope you share the table with those dearest to you. Enjoy the well-earned break!
~Kelly, Tony, Cole & Joy
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