"For
the Love of God - Will Somebody Please Hire Sharon
Perkins?"
Art
is synonomous with longboarding...
Both are
intrinsic methods of expression, style and raw personality.
Thing is
- I'm an okay longboarder - but I'm REALLY awful at "art"
stuff...
I mean,
I can do "corporate-style" design, and I'm pretty
good at drawing circles occasionally, but I'm absolutely terrible
at drawing "cool designs".
Even my
old boards (that aren't for sale anymore)
were the classic "three line stringer" types of designs.
People thought
I was being "classy". Yes, in a way I suppose...
But the
overriding reason was that I simply couldn't do anything
else. It was either "stringers" - or nothing at all
:-)
Anyway,
a few weeks ago, I met up with a local artist in Kelowna named
Sharon. A friend of mine had told me about her, and that
she wanted to design longboards and stuff like that.
I thought,
"Cool. I'll put some of her stuff on LBD".
So I called
her up and we made plans to meet at a "bohemian" coffee
shop called the "Bean Scene" - which is incidentally
right beside what used to be my brother's old ice-cream/pizza
joint, "The Electric Pickle".
My instructions
for finding Sharon were "I have 'hairdresser hair'."
So off I went, in search of a girl with styled hair. (In Kelowna,
that's like saying "I'll be wearing pants".)
Nevertheless,
we met up, chatted for a few minutes, and I exchanged my charming
smile for a CD full of 278 megabytes of pure, unadulterated
art.
So I went
home, popped the CD in my computer and took a look at what this
girl with styled hair had to offer...
WOW.
I was totally impressed...
Sharon's
got an amazing talent for blending graffiti, expression
and emotion into each picture. It had me mesmerized...
Art
makes a connection with its viewer.
It
conveys - and in may cases - even creates emotion.
This is why art, imagery and "style" are used so heavily
by the marketing world to sell products - because you can
literally condition your audience to desire a product by controlling
how they feel...
And
you're in denial if you don't recognize this in boarding
culture. (Especially snowboarding and short-skating).
Sharon's
art - in my opinion - is able to very powerfully communicate
and almost initiate a dialogue between itself and the
viewer - especially with the skateboarding demographic...
The
art itself operates in a very different set of parameters than
how things are "supposed" to be. Exaggerated angles.
Bright colors. Accented features. Defiance of "rules".
This
is why it appeals to the spirit within a skater. Within my
spirit...
The
very foundations of skateboarding are based upon the philosophy
of being different.
Screw
Rules. Screw "Order". Be Yourself. Skate.
That's
the mantra that runs inside the bloodline of skateboarding
itself...
And
from my perspective - it's the basis and message of Sharon's
art.
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Business
Owners: As
you know, your mission is to support the scene you love - but
to do that, boards must be sold. Revenue must be generated.
Running
a business isn't so much about "selling boards" as
it is about connecting customers with a "dream".
When
someone buys a board, they're not actually buying a board.
They're
buying the emotion that having the "board" will create.
For some it's freedom. For some it's being different. For some
it's even vanity.
But
the fact of the matter here is that people are buying the ability
to enhance the way they feel in some way.
And
that's why having the right logo, the right symbol and really
- the right "emotion" attached to your product
is so incredibly powerful.
And
so, without dragging on any longer, let me get straight to the
point...
"For
the Love of God - Will Somebody Please Hire Sharon
Perkins?"
You
WILL sell more boards.
Your
boards will inspire the scene you love, and people WILL talk
about them - and thereby market your brand for you...
And
most of all, you'll be working with a beautiful young artist
with great "hairdresser hair"
:-)
You
can count on it...
Contact
Sharon RIGHT NOW at: divydesign@hotmail.com
Written
by Chris Rempel
The guy who owns this awesome site
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Here's
some more samples of Sharon's Stuff:
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Contact
Sharon RIGHT NOW at: divydesign@hotmail.com
