One of the best things about being a collective is the community and culture that we strive to cultivate. We are proud to work with local artists and craftsmen to bring unique and authentic goods to our customers. It's these partnerships that build the foundation for our brand. We are pleased to introduce Michelle Gefre as our featured artist and our featured product: The Wild Cub Trucker Hat produced from our collaboration.
Hello, my name is Michelle Gefre and I am an artist, photographer and Zip Line Guide based out of Portland, Oregon. Being a Pacific Northwest native I have always had a love for the outdoors and a sense of adventure. I am a huge adrenaline junkie, I enjoy snowboarding, surfing, riding ATV’s and trying out any extreme sport to get my blood pumping. Some of the more extreme activities I have done, aside from my zip line profession, has been swinging on a giant swing and skydiving.
Running a travel and hiking blog comes with the territory of needing to travel and see new things. I have seen 8 countries(U.S., Mexico, England, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia) and have been to 6 of those as a solo traveler. That’s where my love for wildlife photography came in. Photographing African animals was unpredictable and exciting! Pretty soon I plan on using my main job as a Zip Line Guide to travel all over the world. I use the inspiration from what I see all over the world and at home and project it into my art.
When it comes to art I have always loved clean abstract black and white ink art, which is what I practiced for a long time. Art is a way for me to stay in one place but go everywhere at the same time. As I saw more of the world I began to appreciate the colors and its beauty, so I started experimenting with different mediums. I fell in love with watercolor. With my need to have clean lines, watercolor presented a challenge for me. It taught me that messy can be beautiful but that I could also shape medium to my liking. After all the trials and errors I found a way for me to combine two very different mediums, Ink and watercolor with some acrylic for stand out details, in my own way. That is the art you see me producing today. I was able combine my love for animals, landscapes and drawing/painting into one piece. I have filled my life with all of my passions and it hasn’t let me down yet.
Wild Cub Trucker Hat
Visit her site trailthesun.com for more info.