In 2018, I led a partnership with Creative Growth and four of their artists to bring the studio’s creativity to new heights with an exclusive stationery line.
As a long-time fan and supporter of Creative Growth, an Oakland-based art center for artists with disabilities, I was excited to initiate and launch an exclusive product line with them during my time at Mixbook. The collection featured five different colorfully abstract designs from four Creative Growth artists: Casey Byrnes, Maureen Clay, Dan Hamilton, and Nicole Storm. Each card was thoughtfully designed to highlight the artist's original work as well as Mixbook's style and customizable templates. To further support the artist community, 5% of sales of this collection go back to Creative Growth.
Featured Artists
Maureen Clay
A resident artist since 1991, Maureen Clay has an intricate sense of graphic design and paints with thickly brushed impasto, layering colors repeatedly until the entire composition has been covered several times. While her work appears abstract, her subjects are often distorted versions of meteors, fish, and food. She employs the use of paint pens to achieve complex, constellations of color that draws people in and gives the viewer a glimpse of the surreal.
Casey Byrnes
Casey Byrnes is a skilled multi-media artist who creates fantastical pieces that draw on myriad techniques that embody self-expression. When he first began at Creative Growth in 2013, Casey dabbled in painting and drawing, displaying impressive range in both spare compositions and more nature-inspired watercolors. Over the course of his time at the center, his work has grown to include everything from textiles to wood sculpture, including large-scale pieces like a towering wooden bear.
Nicole Storm
A Creative Growth resident since 1995, Nicole Storm is known for reaching for whatever material— be it scraps of cardboard or paper grocery bags— is nearby when inspiration strikes. Her work reads like an archaeological record of her own day-to-day experience showcasing her thoughts and observations floating amidst ethereal washes of vibrant acrylics and watercolor.
Dan Hamilton
Dan Hamilton’s brightly rendered works are always imbued with mystery—polka-dotted logs are “loaves” of bread, and he alludes to various animals through simplified four-legged forms. Though Dan has experimented in a variety of media over the course of his residency since 1975, he now focuses primarily on ceramics, refining his signature smooth surfaces punctuated by flat expanses of a pop-infused palette.
Each design was available to be used in customization with Mixbook’s templates. Template designs include party invitations, notecards, wedding invitations and save the dates, thank you cards, baby announcements, and more as well as a blank slate for more advanced or experimental customers.
Blank stationery or with a simple “Thinking of You” headline was a hit. We also used these to send out to creative influencers along with Tombow markers encouraging them to promote the collection to drive sales with 5% percent of profits to go back to Creative Growth.
MY ROLE
I thought of the partnership idea and then brought it up to Mixbook’s executive leadership. I then approached Creative Growth and worked with both Mixbook and Creative Growth teams on site to make it happen. I led all aspects of the partnership, including working with internal design, marketing, social, storytelling, fulfillment, and business teams as well as Creative Growth’s marketing team and individual artists.
The Mixbook x Creative Growth collection can be found on Mixbook for purchase and on Creative Growth.