As the Art Director for the first annual Albany Mushroom Festival in Oregon, I was asked to think of some interactive art pieces for the festival. The vision was: mushroom, animals, family-friendly, photo ops.

With little to no budget, we made do with donated supplies including scrap wood and some interesting paint colors. A handful of local businesses and hardware stores were kind enough to donate some primer and custom paint colors.

I started off designing everything digitally and then used a projector and the wall of my in-house art studio to scale-up my designs. The mushrooms were turned into large paper stencils as a guide for cutting. As for the mural panels, I had to drag those 8 foot by 4 foot hunks of wood into my house and stencil the design on them completely sideways, then lay them flat on the floor and draw out the design.

Painting was the fun part. Many hours, rollers, paintbrushes, and coats of paint later, my plans became tangible, life-sized pieces of art. I am so grateful for the organizers of the festival for giving me creative freedom and trusting me with such an essential part of a first-year festival.