Worker Bird

PROCESS ::

I had to do a little digging on these and figure out how locals decide on whether they’ll love the Giants or the Jets. And yes, I know they both play in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (If you read 1/100th of the comments on the post everybody has very big thoughts on these two pieces)

Anyhow - I loved building both of these.

GRATITUDE :: this is a big one.

A week has passed since the Draft ended and I’ve been processing (or attempting to) the last few months.

It was an incredibly exciting honor to get a random email in January asking if I had time for a quick meeting…with the NFL.

I have been on the other side of this equation many times - looking for artists for certain jobs, checking out their work, putting presentations together to showcase their work… it’s something I love doing and to be able to contact an artist and say “how would you like to do this thing that you love…and get paid for it?” is a special kind of fulfillment.

My late-winter/spring was a flurry of activity: planning, researching, building, cutting, sanding, finishing, painting, more cutting, more research, affixing, sourcing, more cutting, designing, refining, a bit more cutting and finally, hammering. So much hammering.
Stringing together 10-, 12- hour days back to back to back - bookended by rides to and from my studio on the train, processing constantly. I loved it so much.

I have so many people to thank. First my team at the NFL was incredible from start to (hopefully not) finish - curious, supportive of my ideas, trusting of my process, funny, kind, and very, very cool. .nyc and Gray (can’t imagine he’s on here) - you are my forever stars. .rugh thank you for letting me take over every inch of space at your wonderful warehouse that I could. It’s one of my favorite places to be and having that access made this whole project possible. where do I start? Your constant affirmation, your incredible, gorgeous documenting of the work, lots of turkey wraps and tangerine lunches, and hours of putting the final, tiny nails in while I built more pieces - seriously you were a rock. .xddd for the hours to tack in all those nails! ⚡️My glorious friend crew who graciously emotionally supported me throughout. My sweet family that put up with me rarely being available for visits, phone calls or FaceTimes…

And and - my world. You spin me ‘round. I couldn’t do any of what I do with you two in my corner.

Cont in comments

PROCESS :: - this is a favorite! I love their simple, bold mark and rendering it in tin was so much fun. Eternal thanks to my team at the for trusting me.

The bittersweet end of an incredible couple of months. 📷

Abby Goldstein requested the Dallas Cowboys piece. I don’t have many process shots of it but my favorite part is that the top of the star points right to Dallas on the map 💙

Kara Fox requested the Chicago Bears piece and some BTS pics. This one was very difficult and I love the end result!

PROCESS::: Now that the Big Project is complete I can share some delicious process pics (my favorite!)

1. Vintage map of Miami
2. Hand cut wood substrate, painted, applying map
3. Various tin, cut and placed, for client approval
4. Completed piece

If you have specific process pics of this project you want to see - lemme know.

Monday morning QB…

Coming down off of Draft week and getting back to reality. Thank you all for your amazing comments, posts, reposts, messages…all of it just filled me up.

And here’s the Bears. A tough one to make that I now love.

The piece really put me through my paces but became one of my favorites in the end. The orange tin is so good.

📷