Summer of 2021 I had the opportunity to fly back to Madison for my first in-person workshop series since the pandemic started. It was originally supposed to be two three-day experiences at the youth shelter and juvenile detention center, but there happened to be no kids in detention at that time so I got to stick around at the shelter and keep making art with the kids. We started by learning a little color theory and applying it to our own pour paint canvases. The kids then used those canvases as backgrounds and applied trace-transfer techniques to add their own words and images. We took their finished designs to the digital design lab on ArtofWhere.com so they could learn how to design and print their own hoodies. This is where the series was supposed to end. One of the students in attendance is very passionate about painting shoes, and since we had the time, we bought a bunch of vans and spent the next few days creating custom pairs. We had a lot of fun, got some great hands-on experience with transfer papers and paint markers, and the kids got a bunch of custom merch at the end of it. I’ll be back in the summer of 2022 for another round of custom-designed kicks. Here’s hoping the student that inspired it all can join us as a paid assistant.
