2020 Artists
Amanda Valdes
Website - https://www.amandavaldes.com/
Miami-native Amanda Valdes’ iconic macabre style is instantly recognizable: all heavy eyelashed doe eye girls with otherworldly-like allure. Her surreal sirens parade and pose in her distinctly Alpha Female world, from large-scale murals across the globe to paintings on canvas and digital illustrations.
Her dark, provocative, waif-like female characters she creates are a flight of the imagination, full of symbolic references and exotic flora and fauna.
Valdes’ work has been featured on HGTV, DIY Network and also appeared in a number of print publications. She’s collaborated with DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Ford Motors, Nordstrom, Montce Swim, Lexus, MCM, the Miami Dolphins, Australia’s Melbourne Central and many others.
Valdes attended Florida Atlantic University and studied at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Her first solo exhibition debuted at the young age of 18 and she has been awarded multiple honors since.
Valdes currently lives in South Florida and Portland, Oregon with her dog, Ema. For additional information on Amanda and her upcoming projects, follow her on Instagram (@AmandaLValdes) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/amandavaldes).
Augie WK
Instagram - @augiewk
Website - https://www.etsy.com/shop/thejamsbrand
Augie WK is a lifelong artist aiming his focus towards murals, more specifically bold, colorful works of art that grab your eyes’ attention from far away and drag you in to have a more intimate interaction with. He has the privilege of being born and raised in the Central Coast, where he’s grown and evolved as an artist. Artistic freedom is something he highly values, as his goal is to live forever through his murals.
Bryan Gage
Gage's creative adventures have spanned the globe.
Originally from the Monterey Bay, he ventured to western Europe to live in the Netherlands and England. While in the Netherlands, Gage immersed himself in the Dutch culture practicing photography and playing baseball. From Holland, Gage studied automotive design and received a Master's of Design degree from Coventry University in the heartland of England.
After England, he resided in the burgeoning tech city of Pune, India, and aided in the development of a new professional design college. Gage lectured, designed and built motorcycle's, and continued to craft his passion for graphics, fine art, and industrial design. After a decade abroad, Gage returned home to Monterey, and continues his creative passions while painting and designing.
Casey Kawaguchi
Instagram - @caseykawaguchi
As you move throughout Denver you might get the feeling you're being watched - by a Japanese warrior woman, almost always in red, white and black. She peeks around columns under highways and peers down from RiNo warehouse walls. Don't be alarmed; her creator Casey Kawaguchi a self taught street artist who works entirely freehand and has been evolving his nameless character for over a decade, says the battle is with him. You can find Kawaguchi's work captured in depth in the documentary short film "Mastery PT.1 & PT.2". Which has followed Kawaguchi over three and a half years of his journey.
Hanif Panni
Instagram - @hanifwondirdesign
Website - https://www.hanifwondir.com/
Hanif Panni is a contemporary artist, DJ and musician. Technically skilled in design, illustration and, digital composition.
Panni continually builds on his fine art background with new technologies to create bold and vibrant works in mixed media, painting, digital painting and digital composition.
Believing that art can be beautiful and disturbing at the same time, he tells stories through his work, often adapting fantastic mythological figures to explore current themes.
As a prolific music composer, producer and performer – including soundscapes by his stage persona Hanif Wondir, Panni also finds inspiration at the frontier of fine art and music, the visual and the auditory, the complementary senses of sight and sound.
Panni explains, “Bridging art and music is very important to me. As an artist, I feel the same zone gets tapped into when expressing yourself honestly.”
Hannah Eddy
Instagram - @hannaheddyart
Website - https://www.hannaheddyart.com/
Hannah Eddy, age 33, is based in Reno, NV nestled close to the Sierra Nevada mountains which she loves exploring. As a life long Snowboard, Skate, and Surf enthusiast, she is constantly inspired by seeking adventure outdoors and helping to protect our playground. Hannah uses fun colors and a lighthearted illustrative style to evoke a playful interaction with nature and gravity. The funky female characters in her art are expressive representations of the freedom felt while riding boards. She uses acrylic paint, pen and ink, and digital media on person projects, commissions, client work, brand collaborations, and murals.
Hannah’s art helps spread positivity, encourages an appreciation for nature, emphasizes women’s role in surf/skate/snow culture, and reminds us all to let our hair down and have a little fun.
Hiero Veiga
Instagram - @hieroveiga
Website - https://hieroveiga.com/
Known for his portraiture and realistic style, Hiero or Hiero Veiga, is an American contemporary graffiti artist of tremendous work. Hailing from the south shore of Massachusetts, Hiero grew up writing graffiti in the early 2000’s. Not long after, Hiero made the transition from the streets into a thriving career as a full time artist. His work has taken him all across the world; both on the streets and in the galleries.
Jessica Carmen
Instagram - @thejamsbrand
Website - https://www.etsy.com/shop/thejamsbrand
Jessica Carmen is an artist and writer born and raised on the Central Coast. Her subject matter often reflects the duality of her adolescence as a first generation Mexican-American, or as she prefers, Chicana. Jessica’s interpretations of the different imagery and ideals within her culture can be seen in a variety of works. Vibrant colors or intricate line work draw the eyes in while the simple representation of the complex subject matter keep the mind enticed. The source of her inspiration ranges from the Chicanx culture, including murals, prison style calligraphy and ex voto paintings, alongside the graffiti culture that dominated her childhood neighborhood. When creating a design for a mural, Jessica Carmen focuses on the culture and community that will surround it so they see themselves equally represented.
Kenton Hoppas
Instagram - @kentonhoppas
Website - https://kentonhoppas.com/
Illustrated Mayim Bialik’s (Blossom/the Big Bang Theory) best selling children’s book, BOYING UP. Created a few murals that made people smile. Has created a line of coffee cups that made his Midwest family and friends blush…Sand City-based artist.
Nathan Brown
Instagram - @nathanbrown77
Website - https://www.19ss.net/
Originally from Los Angeles, Nathan relocated to Nashville when he was 11 years old and endured a major culture shock. Embracing the transition between cities through skateboarding and exploring new territories through traveling for skating as a sponsored am, also motivated Nathan artistically. He drew inspiration from skateboarding travels, gradient color palettes in nature, city life and structural lines in architecture, which he eventually transitioned into the studio and on buildings across the U.S. and Europe.
Having now produced over 40 large scale murals for brands such as Red Bull, Wrangler, Patagonia, Top Golf, WeWork, Google, Spotify and more, Nathan is focused on working with brands to bring beautification projects and art programs in communities that need it the most.
Pat Milbery
Instagram - @patmilbery
Website - https://sognarcreativedivision.com/photo
Pat Milbery is, above all, a creative collaborator. As well known for the large-scale murals he's created alongside some of the most prominent graffiti/street artists in the world as he is for the playful photo shoots and video parts he's participated in as a pro snowboarder.
His vivid street art collaborations adorn the walls of dozens of boutiques, breweries, bars, and other businesses across the country, and he's helped curate and create major art installation projects for brands including The Denver Public Schools, the Downtown Denver Partnership, Visit Denver, The City of Denver, the RiNo Arts District, Pandora, the City of Paso Robles, Lyft, DEW Tour, Southwest Airlines, Stanley Tools, LIFEWTR, Mountain Dew, Cheba Hut, The Ford Motor Company, X Games, Budweiser, Zumiez, Loveland Ski Area, Blue Moon, Pepsi Center, Northern Colorado University Greeley, Declaration Brewery, Wahoo Fish Tacos, Academy 360 School, Denver University, and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
He has shared snowboard contest podiums with the likes of Shaun White and Travis Rice, and the Snowboard Camp Tour he founded to make freestyle riding more accessible to kids is now entering its second decade.
He's also the owner/founder of the So-Gnar Creative Division, an umbrella collective responsible for all of his mural projects, the Snowboard Camp Tour, the So-Gnar streetwear and apparel line he helps design, and lots of community based art projects. He's equally proud of his Minnesota roots, and his Northwest on and off residency over the past 15 years.
Thomas “Detour” Evans
Instagram - @detour303
Website - https://www.iamdetour.com/
Thomas Evans, a.k.a. Detour, is an all-around creative specializing in large scale public art, interactive visuals, portraiture, immersive spaces, and creative directing. His focus is to create work where art and innovation meet.
A born collaborator and “military brat,” Detour pulls from every conceivable experience that shapes his landscapes and perspectives. Explaining Detour’s work is no easy task, as ongoing experimentations in visual art, music, and interactive technologies have his practice continually expanding.
With his ever-evolving approach to art, Detour’s focus is on expanding customary views of creativity and challenging fine-art paradigms by mixing traditional mediums with new approaches—all the while opening up the creative process from that of a singular artist, to one that thrives on multi-layered collaboration and viewer participation.
