Blank Slate: Ft. Journey Through

For this month’s collaborative mural project, we asked our friend, Journey Through, to come in and beautify our wall. For this project, he brought the outdoors in—literally. After spending time hiking around Austin, he found piece of limestone, brought it to our office, ground it up and painted it on our wall.

How’d he do it? And what inspires him to continue to spread awareness about Mother Nature and the resources she provides all of us through art? We’ll let him tell you himself! Also, be sure to check out the video he made of his chalk masterpiece.

Describe your style.

Journey Through is the alias of Heath Brodie, and aims to promote awareness of the natural environment by using the natural world as both palette and paint. Journey Through’s goal, guided by positive growth and change, is about helping others become aware of opportunity in the ordinary.

At it’s heart, Journey Through is inspired by the process of how nature transforms and innovates itself as much as how we humans interact with the earth. Journey Through aims to enhance sensitivity of the local environment by using the natural resources that are close at hand and make the process of creating art as meaningful as nature itself.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you created for The Black Sheep Agency office? Where did you get the idea, and what do you want viewers to learn from it?

Knowing that the design would reside on a blackboard, the first thing that needed to be done was find the chalk. Luckily, chalk is made from limestone (calcium carbonate), which is not scarce in Texas. I collected the raw chalk for this piece from Walnut Creek in Austin.

Since we have just had the Summer solstice, the idea was to celebrate this seasonal change. The circular design represents the never-ending circle of life and the Earth of which the work is made from. The Chinese celebrate the solstice as Yin (white), which represents femininity and the summer and is the reasoning behind the color palette. The Native Americans are said to have used the Big Horn Medicine Wheel for the solstice, which has 28 lines of stones radiating out to align the sun during the event. These 28 lines have been used to create the boundary lines of the spiral shapes. While the spirals represent the constant motion of evolution, nature and the expanding universe, the inner drops are the representation of seeds/life/growth; and the zigzag on the outer of the design represents the layer of earth with Native American representations of Earth Mother to the Sky Father.

https://youtu.be/eCGBkKG0UZs?list=UUmp2Bv8_Fq9ltZVJAdO76ng

What inspires you?

Nature is what drives the Journey! Every part of nature not only inspires, but also dictates what is produced! I have been lucky enough to experience many cultures around the world and I use their local knowledge for inspiration.

If you could be any artistic tool — pencil, crayons, oil pastels, computer, etc. — which one would you be?

The Earth.

What is your favorite thing you have created?

Just before I moved to America, I was sponsored for a bronze workshop with a local artist, Grant Palliser, in Nelson, New Zealand, where I’m from. I made a series of bird heads of a bird called the Huia, which is now extinct. I’m working towards doing a series of native birds.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning?

Open my eyes and let the light flood in! Then it’s time to brew a pot of tea.

What’s the first thing you do when you start a new project?

Let my mind wander by usually going for a walk through nature.

Artist are notoriously weird. Prove it. (Or argue it.)

Artists are weird!

I’m the dude walking the streets picking up feathers and earth in 100-degree weather.

For this month’s collaborative mural project, we asked our friend, Journey Through, to come in and beautify our wall. For this project, he brought the outdoors in—literally. After spending time hiking around Austin, he found piece of limestone, brought it to our office, ground it up and painted it on our wall.

How’d he do it? And what inspires him to continue to spread awareness about Mother Nature and the resources she provides all of us through art? We’ll let him tell you himself! Also, be sure to check out the video he made of his chalk masterpiece.

Describe your style.

Journey Through is the alias of Heath Brodie, and aims to promote awareness of the natural environment by using the natural world as both palette and paint. Journey Through’s goal, guided by positive growth and change, is about helping others become aware of opportunity in the ordinary.

At it’s heart, Journey Through is inspired by the process of how nature transforms and innovates itself as much as how we humans interact with the earth. Journey Through aims to enhance sensitivity of the local environment by using the natural resources that are close at hand and make the process of creating art as meaningful as nature itself.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you created for The Black Sheep Agency office? Where did you get the idea, and what do you want viewers to learn from it?

Knowing that the design would reside on a blackboard, the first thing that needed to be done was find the chalk. Luckily, chalk is made from limestone (calcium carbonate), which is not scarce in Texas. I collected the raw chalk for this piece from Walnut Creek in Austin.

Since we have just had the Summer solstice, the idea was to celebrate this seasonal change. The circular design represents the never-ending circle of life and the Earth of which the work is made from. The Chinese celebrate the solstice as Yin (white), which represents femininity and the summer and is the reasoning behind the color palette. The Native Americans are said to have used the Big Horn Medicine Wheel for the solstice, which has 28 lines of stones radiating out to align the sun during the event. These 28 lines have been used to create the boundary lines of the spiral shapes. While the spirals represent the constant motion of evolution, nature and the expanding universe, the inner drops are the representation of seeds/life/growth; and the zigzag on the outer of the design represents the layer of earth with Native American representations of Earth Mother to the Sky Father.

https://youtu.be/eCGBkKG0UZs?list=UUmp2Bv8_Fq9ltZVJAdO76ng

What inspires you?

Nature is what drives the Journey! Every part of nature not only inspires, but also dictates what is produced! I have been lucky enough to experience many cultures around the world and I use their local knowledge for inspiration.

If you could be any artistic tool — pencil, crayons, oil pastels, computer, etc. — which one would you be?

The Earth.

What is your favorite thing you have created?

Just before I moved to America, I was sponsored for a bronze workshop with a local artist, Grant Palliser, in Nelson, New Zealand, where I’m from. I made a series of bird heads of a bird called the Huia, which is now extinct. I’m working towards doing a series of native birds.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning?

Open my eyes and let the light flood in! Then it’s time to brew a pot of tea.

What’s the first thing you do when you start a new project?

Let my mind wander by usually going for a walk through nature.

Artist are notoriously weird. Prove it. (Or argue it.)

Artists are weird!

I’m the dude walking the streets picking up feathers and earth in 100-degree weather.