Author: Dean Hart

Last week PBDH’ers attended Woodland Park Zoo’s Thrive event — a major fundraising campaign for the zoo (attended by an estimated 600+ people). Inspiring presentations were given by Dr. Deborah Jensen, President and CEO of the zoo, and Dan Harris, Anchor of Weekend Good Morning America — who shared videos of his visits with zoo conservationists working with animals up close in the wild. A personalized video message from Betty White, as well as a delightful (and very well done) video featuring children enjoying their experiences at Woodland Park Zoo made the event outstanding. And to top things off, in addition to the $600,000 (and growing) donated at Thrive, the zoo received an anonymous gift of $4 million to be used towards building a new tiger and Asian bear exhibit complex!

PBDH recently completed work with the zoo, which was unveiled at Thrive – including a new logo and campaign theme More Wonder More Wild. It is an exciting time for the zoo as a leader in wildlife conservation and education — as well as a fun place to visit and enjoy. PBDH is proud to be a partner with such an incredible organization!

Watch the special message from Betty White:

I saw the French film Fears of the Dark when it first came out a couple of years ago. I recently gave it another viewing – and was struck again by it’s visual brilliance. A series of animated shorts woven together through striking black and white imagery, by acclaimed graphic designers and comic book creators. The subject matter is rather dark in nature, in fact quite frightening in some instances. Some of the stories come to life with minimal imagery — simplistic and stark, utilizing negative space for atmosphere and impact. Truly inspiring for any artist and a reminder of how you can have maximum power with minimal content.

Check it out if you want to be inspired — and maybe a tiny bit scared. Watch a clip:

At first glance, a uniform collection of circular art panels on the wall. But in fact, 21 individual concepts and artists.

Humble beginnings:

The project was initiated as a fun team building exercise here at PBDH. 21 circular discs would be created and showcased on the stairway wall — with the thought that this would be better than looking at a blank white wall everyday. Each person on the team (with varied degrees of artistic talent and comfort with an X-acto knife) would create one piece of art from their blank canvas disc, to later be hung as part of a grouping. The disc canvases were made from old 45 singles that might have otherwise been sent to the local dump or sat for an eternity in a dusty box in someone’s basement.

Bringing words to life:

Each member of the PBDH team chose from a pool of pre-determined words — imagination, grandparents, rhythm, and futuristic, to name a few. Those words would be the concept for their disc, and from which they would create an art piece using the materials of their choosing — paint, collage, wood, metal, etc., whatever they needed to illustrate their word.

Running with scissors:

An afternoon was set aside for everyone to come together as a group and create their masterpiece (with the help of alcohol and snacks of course). The team was cutting out tiny letters and images from scrap materials, wielding heat guns, applying gold leaf, stars and feathers to their creations.

The end result:

Because each piece was made from the same mould, the effect on the wall is a dramatic grouping of individual inspiration and imagination — with a unified look and presentation. Some might ask — is it great art or simply a good time? And the answer would be an astounding yes to both!