Every day this week we will be introducing one of the partnerships of photographer / artist who have teamed up to donate an original collaborative artwork to benefit VH1′s Save The Music foundation. Art will be auctioned TONIGHT! at Billabong’s annual Design For Humanity event – music, fashion show and art auction, with ticket sales going to Save The Music. To purchase tickets to attend, please visit http://us.designforhumanity.com/
Today’s partnership is Shem Roose and Torrey Herbenar-Cook.
Ray Barbee
Government Camp, Mt. Hood, Oregon, 2004
Photo: Shem Roose
Art: Torrey Herbenar-Cook & Miss Anne’s class
24”x24” Photo and paint on fine art paper, hands on cardboard traced and colored with pen by students at Palisades pre-school age four.
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“I believe that music can open an entire universe to anyone that wants to learn it. Save the Music is great in that they are dedicated to keeping music education in schools, and encouraging kids to try something that maybe they didn’t know they could do or excel at; by providing the instruments and materials needed.” –Shem Roose, May 23, 2011.
“I want children to grow up to be insane creative adults. I want more art… more art… more art… I guess I am selfish that way. Save the Music. Save Art.” –Torrey Cook, June 10, 2011.
ABOUT SHEM: Vermont-based photographer Shem Roose came up in the progression-fueled early 90′s era of snowboarding. Roose’s photo career began while working for Burton Snowboards, and quickly evolved to include shooting the sport’s best riders and traveling extensively as Transworld Snowboarding’s Photo Editor and later as a staff photographer for Vans.
Roose has since expanded his range of subjects and clients beyond a strict action sports sports focus to include work for the NBA, Maverik Lacrosse, Parlee bicycles, and Cabot cheese.
Relocated back in the Green Mountain State, where you’ll find him snowboarding in the winter, road biking in the summer, and parenting his son and daughter year around, Roose’s appetite for strong, story-telling image creation continues to be his main drive. www.shemroose.com
ABOUT TORREY: “With a resume that includes gallery director / owner of AR4T in Laguna Beach, founder of Artists Republic for Tomorrow, board member of JLA Project, wife and mother, San Juan Capistrano-based Torrey Herbenar-Cook is a busy woman. ‘AR4T has been open for a full year now in Laguna, [the] I AM SNOWBOARDING art tour continues to travel with Burton Snowboards, and Mammoth Mountain’s ART PARK is hands down one of the coolest (and biggest) interactive art projects around,’ she says.” – 944 magazine, June 2011.
QUESTIONS WITH SHEM:
Please talk a little bit about Ray and about the day you shot these photos. The day I shot this photo was the first time I hung out with Ray in person. He was in Government Camp/Mt. Hood, Oregon at High Cascade on behalf of Fender guitars giving lessons to any of the kids/campers that wanted to learn how to play; and I was there shooting photos with the Vans team. We had talked on the phone a few times before, because he made a 30 second loop for my old website. We were introduced through a mutual friend who plays music with Ray from time to time. After we finished shooting photos, Ray needed a ride to the airport and I was headed to Portland to meet up with a friend; so I gave him a ride. The drive to the airport gave us a chance to talk more and get to know each other better. It was a great conversation ranging in topics from playing music with Mike Watt to religion and faith.
This is the second time you have donated a photo to a charity / collaborative project that I’ve been working on. Thank you!! What are your thoughts on the collaborative process? I enjoy the collaborative process when the person I’m working with helps me look at things differently. Working with Scott Lenhardt on the Jeff Anderson/I Am… piece was great because Scott had the freedom to do what he wanted after we talked about Jeff and a few ideas we had. Once the piece was finished, I was completely surprised with the image/idea that he executed. It was totally different and better than anything I had imagined. I enjoy the anticipation of what will be created through the collaboration.
What kind of animal(s) would you and your family be? would you play musical instruments? or just sing? I joke with my kids that I would like to be a falcon-fox….just a hybrid spirit animal that I made up one day. I also love the ocean, so maybe a sea turtle. My daughter loves dogs. She’d probably want to be a poodle. My son is a bit of a banshee… he’s great at making messes. He could be a tasmanian devil. My wife is very funny, intelligent, but also a smart ass… she’d be a great hyena. I try to play acoustic guitar, and my kids like to sing once in a while….my wife could be our manager/roadie if I sit still and focus enough to learn a bunch of songs.
What (if any) changes would you like to see in the American public school system? I’d like to see public schools offer multiple teaching styles to all students. Everyone has a different way of learning and should be taught in a way that will benefit them the most. I just watched a movie called Journey into Dyslexia, and it really opened my eyes to how unfair the traditional system can be to kids of all ages that cannot read or process information in the same way that you or I might be able to. There is another movie that I plan on watching called Race to Nowhere, which is a documentary on how the education system in America needs to be re-invented.
TORREY: “I’ve known Shem since we were both at Transworld together in the mid 90’s – I’ve always been a fan of his photography and I always remembered Shem as such a down to earth person… fun to work with. I’ve been fortunate to have Shem’s work in several shows I’ve put together over the past few years, but having a four year old daughter, I really wanted to be more a part of this show and I felt that Shem was the perfect person to force my art styles on.
Ray’s photo is so happy and full of such good energy. I originally wanted to add some happy little trees and animals, like Bob Ross. In the end I decided to try and mimic Ray’s infectious smile with some simple color block work. My husband Brian helped me build a frame, but it wasn’t complete.
On my desk is an art project I did with Levi in 2009. I traced both of our hands and cut them out, we colored them and I pasted them to a cardboard base to make them stand up. To me they look like happy little trees.
The day the photo was taken of Ray he was in Oregon giving free guitar lessons to kids. And the nature of this whole project is to try and support our children and provide them with every opportunity to reach their dreams. All of a sudden I knew what was missing!!
The next day I asked Levi’s preschool lead Miss Carrie to have the whole class trace their hands and color them. Each one of the kids made a set of hands, and they did them really well!! I could tell they were totally into the project by the way they took time to completely fill in the hands and use different colors. From those cutouts I made the hand forest… our future artists, musicians, scientists, engineers, politicians, technicians….” Torrey Herbenar-Cook
Shem and Torrey’s collaborative piece will be up for auction at the annual Billabong Design For Humanity event on June 15, 2011. This is a one of a kind piece, and is a piece of history. All proceeds benefit VH1’s Save The Music program.
Buy tickets to Design For Humanity at: http://us.designforhumanity.com/
AR4T would like to thank Art on Giclee for their support in printing for this project.