New Project: Traverse City Maker’s Market

Early this summer my friend Kelly & I agreed to join forces on the totally awesome event that she dreamed up and founded in 2010—Traverse City Maker’s Market.

It’s been a whirlwind few months (since these things generally take a year of planning), which involved the two of us collaborating on a new website, recruiting over one hundred applications from awesome artists and crafters from all around Michigan, planning and promoting the coolest new thing in Traverse City.

This Saturday—October 22nd—the event finally arrives! (RSVP on our Facebook event page)

We’ve got 25 of the coolest vendors from around the state, plus a half-dozen amazing food & beverage vendors (including hand-squeezed brats!) and local musicians providing a great backdrop for us all day.

(plus some pretty sweet event merch too!)

October is a wonderful time to visit northwest Michigan – come on up this weekend for Maker’s Market!

PS. After-party at Right Brain Brewery is gonna be insane in the membrane.

Here are a few products from our vendors that I’m definitely looking forward to checking out:

reindeer_troy — Reindeer by Lisa Congdon

Lisa Congdon is inspiring to me because (like me) she’s a self-taught artist—no fancy art school, no grad school connections with whom to jump-start careers—and didn’t start working as an artist until she was in her thirties.

She’s one of those people that give the self-taught, mid-thirties, bible-college-grad like me a bit of hope for this “career” I’m working on.

Because I have a tendency to want to do everything NOW.

John Hughes Illustrations Published

Last summer I created a set of posters for the Traverse City Film Festival commemorating nine of John Hughes most iconic films. This month a couple of those illustrations were picked up by Open Skies magazine – a Motivate Publishing print magazine that serves as the in-flight mag for Emirates Airlines.

The posters are currently on exhibit at Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City. I’ve already sold a few out of there and they are each a limited edition – so come on out to my reception this Saturday to get one before they’re all gone!

You can also order the posters from my online store.

Strong Odors Art Exhibit: Opening Party July 16

Proof! I'm an artist! — Illustration by Troy DeShano

I’m excited to announce my exhibit opening at Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City next weekend!

All the work is already up, so you can stop by anytime to check it out, but I’d really love it if everyone could come to the opening next Saturday night!

If you are anywhere near Traverse City or even in Grand Rapids or lower Michigan wondering what to do for fun next weekend you should definitely make the trip up to beautiful Traverse City! Nothing’s better after a long day at the beach or hike along the dunes than a hand-crafted brew from Right Brain Brewery!

My reception will be from 7-9pm so please stop by and say hello and hopefully you or a friend can go home with some radical new artwork for your walls.

If you’ve never been to Right Brain then you’ve been missing out! Each beer is hand-crafted with the same kind of TLC that we visual artists know is required to create something that we can be proud of. The atmosphere is really fun and relaxed—way cooler than a bar with no big-screen TVs in sight!

Come support local art and just have an awesome Saturday evening at Right Brain!

Let me know if you can make it by Likeing the event on Facebook.

Here’s the details

Right Brain Brewery July Artist Reception

Date: Saturday, July 16th
Time: 7-9pm
Place: Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City’s warehouse district. (map)

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New in the Shop: Lots of Crows

I suppose I could have called this “angry birds.”

5″ x 7″ limited edition giclee on fine art paper – $22

Live Now: New Book by Eric Smith & Friends

A couple years ago I discovered illustrator Eric Smith and his Live Now project. At that point it was a handful of illustrations, contributed by a variety of great artists—each with a particularly positive message.

After meeting Eric I came to find out that he is—like me—a cancer survivor and the project was inspired by his own experiences enduring treatments and learning the invaluable lesson that each moment of life is precious.

I found this interview with Metastazis founder Valnoir incredibly inspirational.

When I first started freelancing as a designer I had this attitude that my ideas may be weird, but I believe in them—and only clients that love to take risks and can trust me need apply.

Valnoir obviously has the same foundation to his work. From metastazis.com welcome page: Read more

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