April 2017

One of the rarest and most special moments in my life is getting emails from people or places I admire. It’s always a shock and I either have to sit down or jump and scream from excitement. This was one of those times. Steve Green who was an Art Director for Nike SB at the time, emailed me and told me he loved my work and wanted me to make art to go on some clothing. The production time for their collections takes an understandably, but also surprisingly long time to create, so this project wouldn’t see the light of day for over two years later. Talk about saudade.

The references of my work that Steve sent were all very colorful and very graphic. Sharp lines, bolder leaning colors. The cool thing about skateboarding is the environments that sport exists in, anywhere from complete concrete to sandy ocean towns to landlocked suburban neighborhoods. My abstract work in these settings felt right: the juxtaposition of my aesthetic against the hard-edge geometric shapes or flowing tree-lined streets. The pieces that were initially to be produced were shorts and shirts for skating, lightweight and airy, doesn’t trap heat, looks like clothes you could wear all day built with a purpose.

I remember sitting at my desk in April of 2019 when Steve DM’d me screenshots of the product live on the Nike SB. “Looks amazing!!”, He said. In the end, socks, bucket hats, backpacks, tees, shorts, and shirts, and some of the reversible, were all created from my artwork. Their team edited the colors of the final pieces and it all looked so amazing. I’m so proud and lucky I got to be involved in that, in an area of culture that I absolutely admire. The part that interested me as well was that they used a unisex angle on their site, showing two models of different gender wearing the same outfit. It felt inclusive and warm.

I’m really bummed about not buying everything available in the collection. I really try to be fiscally responsible, and sometimes it’s not possible for me to buy all pieces I work on. I just hope the pieces are out, being worn, getting torn and skated in and that the people who have them will cherish them.

Being on the same level as other Nike SB collaborators like Cody Hudson and Parra is so rad. If I want to put myself in a box, being a female artist and on that level, is super, super rad. So thanks Steve and team for believing in me and creating works that are still some of my favorite skate clothes I’ve seen to this day.