Awesome story of my lost artwork

This is an awesome story of how my artwork was found on the side of the road during college around 1997, then sent to me 11 years later. With the power of the internet here is a note I received on my Flickr account:

You do not know me but I think you must have spent some time in Tallahassee. I went to FSU. To make a long story short, one night I was driving home and almost ran something over. I stopped the car, got out and found a large book. On the top of the book it said Alex Harris. When I opened the book it said Alex Harris ORIGINALS. There were about 30 pieces of bad ass talented art work in that book. Some of the pieces of art work are currently on the web. I just decided to google your name after unpacking a bunch of old boxes in my attic. There was no contact phone number to call so I decided to keep it. Contact me at XXX@XXX.com

How cool is that!

He eventually went through my site and landed on my Flickr profile. Confirmed the artwork was mine and sent me the note. Turns out the artwork are prints of my original pieces. The book was used as a catalog when I sold artwork at the student union on FSU campus. Has anything like this happened to you? Take a look at some of the artwork that was found...

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Creative Day - Fun times, inspiration and more motivation!

This past weekend was Creative Day at my house. Really, it was my birthday party, but it was also a way to get together with my friends and have an art party. This is something we did a lot in college (10 years ago - wow) and now my excuse is - I really don't have a lot of time to work on traditional art projects.

Overall we had a really great day. I attempted to set up a live web stream but it didn't work out because my wireless wouldn't reach far enough - sorry to those who were expecting to watch us. Yet, many came out to paint, draw, take pictures, shoot videos or just hang out.

Aside from the party, part of setting this up was important to me for many reasons. 1) It forced me to organize my art supplies so I can set up my art studio 2) Provided instant inspiration to get more involved mixing art with new media 3) I was able to document my talented friends and we encouraged each other to be doing this a lot more.

Have you ever been to an art party?

Let me know, I would hear ideas from other events in your city. There were a lot of photography going on as well. Here are some videos I shot during the day. For the HD versions visit my vimeo page.

Ryan Droze - @droze



Jimmy Allen - @stinkyfatpig

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Creative inspiration is my foundation to paying the bills

I have been watching a lot of design and creative films lately. The recommendations I have received so far have been great. If you have a suggestion, Please let me know.

If you are fan of graffiti artwork, you should check out the movie "Infamy". The documentary is a really great view of the urban art world. I was inspired by the movie because I grew up in the suburban culture of it. I did a few pieces back in high school (90-94) and still to this day, my illustrations have a graffiti influence. If you do check out the movie, make sure you look at the bonus section for photographs. I was pretty impressed by Saber, Claw and others.

Urban artists are now monetizing their talents.

Saber's has been doing fine art, exhibitions and selling products from his online store.
This is a collaboration he did with OBEY Giant.

CLAW is now fashion director at Swindle Magazine and also has her own clothing line.

Other graffiti artists in the world.

One artist that was not in the movie that I like is DAIM. He uses his German graffiti influence to produce endless creative work including clothing, sculptures, installations, live performances, a full online store, and even Iphone covers. Here what one magazine said about DAIM:

"DAIM developed a diversity of skills which enabled him to grow beyond his roots. Concrete walls were replaced by canvas, while spray cans from a hip hop shop were now often amended by mouse clicks in Photoshop. Two dimensional pictures evolved into three dimensional graphics with seemingly unlimited depths and perspective only to finally become sculptures leaving behind the confinement of flat surfaces entirely. "

DAIM featured at the Graffiti Exhibition in Wuppertal / Germany.


It is really inspiring to see creative people making money off of their artwork. All artists want to sell your work. I did! Me and my buddy sold artwork and t-shirts in college. We were called Furious. Yet, it is tough to make a good living in the traditional art world. These guys have done it. So you and I can too. So live with your creative inspiration as the foundation to paying your bills.

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