Pure Project is an independent brewery operating in San Diego County. They currently have five locations, producing a myriad of amazing beers and kombucha, with an emphasis on promoting sustainability through community engagement and their daily operating practices.

In 2022, they invited the public to design can art using labels they supplied from past beer releases. I created a piece entitled "Space CANopy" - the CAN signifying  both Canvas and (Beer) Can. As a collage artist by heart, the theme revolves around repurposing materials and creating a new “space” or context out of images that normally stood out on their own. My neighbor down the street was an artist that frequently put out used canvases for free on the sidewalk. I thought with Pure Project’s idea of sustainability, that this was the perfect nod to them both.

I started with a base layer of gesso and began cutting up the beer labels and pasting them on the canvas until I had a solid collage layer. From there I experimented with acrylic paint, and finished off with some more linear-minded acrylic pen. Lastly I sprayed the entire canvas with 2 coats of Krylon clear glaze for a protective sheen.

While it did not win anything at the exhibition, it was featured in part of a segment about Pure Project on CBS! That achievement was totally unexpected !