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Earth Day is every day, but on April 22nd it only happens once a year. We've buddied-up with the Willamette Riverkeeper and UBER to make it really easy for Portlander's to be good to the planet.
The Willamette River runs through the heart of this rad city and it deserves some love! So let's do our part and have a little trash pick up on the Eastbank Esplanade.
Free Rides from UBER with the promo code EARTHDAYPDX The destination is 05 SE Madison Portland, OR 97214
Words by Ayla Rose Gilbert // Photos & Movie by Alin Dragulin
It’s a mild, grey Portland day when I meet Kara to talk about all things Escape Collective. We order our coffees and sit down by the window. Kara stirs the foam of her soy latte with her finger and licks it off.
We start by discussing Escape Collective’s three main products: geodesic domes, motorcycles, and hammocks (among other things). But it becomes clear that when you purchase something from the Escape Collective, you’re not just getting a killer handmade product. You’re also sharing in the good vibes that come to life through the people who make it up. The Escape Collective crew are having what seems to be the time of their lives. They’re camping, hiking, and getting outdoors. They’re manifesting things they love and think others will love, too.
They’re working really hard, as well. “So many projects, at the end of it, I’m like, ‘That’s the hardest I’ve ever worked,’” Kara says. “‘I don’t think I can work this hard again.’ But then another project comes along and we work even harder.” They’ll stay up all night setting up a dome, racing against the clock, and then at the final moment it comes together. That’s the moment that makes it all worth it.
Kara leads me into the small garage that functions as their sewing room. I’m baffled as to how they’ve made the cover for a 36-foot geodesic dome in this tiny room. Kara climbs over a table in the cramped space to show off some hammocks. She holds up the Sunset Hammock and the Shibori Hammock. Their fabrics are so, so soft. She hands me a slide toggle, the metal piece that cinches the rope to the tree for hanging the hammock without having to tie a knot. It’s a piece they also make in their shop, because the Escape Collective team wanted to make sure that when you buy their hammock, you have every single piece you need to be up and running (or relaxing, in this case) right away. “Everything we make aids someone in some method of escape, whether you bring your hammock to the forest or hang it up in your bedroom.”
When I ask her what the magic glue is that holds the team together, Kara says, “I think it’s really important that we’re all friends. We are able to be honest and open about our dreams and visions.”
Next we head over to the shop where Hill and Trevor are working. Hill gives me the tour. Their shop is full of tools, machinery, and cool vintage cabinetry. Much of the equipment was passed down from Hill’s great-great-grandfather to his grandfather at their paper products and doily-making factory. Called Brooklace Paper Co., it was active from 1886 to 2003 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Hill and crew aren’t making doilies, but they carry on Hill’s grandfather’s legacy through the use of his tools.
Hill shows me a pair of red tail lights he’s working on. He made the tool to make the snap rings for them on their metal lathe. I’m impressed that he made the thing to make the thing. Hill has an easy laugh. He points out an engine from India that’s the inspiration for his next project—which he intends to build almost entirely from scratch. “Every single thing we’ve done has been trial and error,” Hill admits with pride. At one point he even purchased FigureItOutIHadTo.com. It was a joke, but it was also true. “We don’t put limitations on what we can build. It doesn’t matter if we don’t know how to do something—we are going to figure it out,” Kara adds.
I meet Trevor and ask him what he’s working on. “Just drawing up ideas for some furniture,” he says. Trevor has a friendly smile and endearing dimples. He is a builder/fabricator, but also went to school for business. They’re all there, getting after it. Getting up every day to take ideas out of their heads and put them onto the page. To create things in space that didn’t exist before. “We are just trying to have the best time we possibly can,” says Trevor.
Their genuine and authentic passion is infectious. It’s something you immediately want to be part of. You want to be on one of Hill’s motorcycles, racing to the next adventure, the wind against your skin. You want to be setting up a dome, feeling the magic moment when it’s finally complete. You want to be hanging in hammocks inside the dome, chilling out with your closest friends.
One day some years back, Andy had a 9-5 job, from which he would come home every day holding a briefcase. His friends would joke with him—“Dad’s home!” they’d say. So amongst their group, Andy became “Dad.” And when the gaggle of pals went to Sasquatch (the birthplace of Escape Collective’s very first geodesic dome), they realized that no one’s dad was probably at Sasquatch, so it could be how they found one another—by yelling out “Dad!” If someone was calling for Dad, they knew it had to be a person from their group. A few years and a few dozen geodesic domes later, this tight-knit group of friends have first and foremost one another to thank—their fellow Dads.
I’m grateful I got to have a peek inside the world of the Escape Collective. Thanks for showing me around, you guys. And thanks for calling me “Dad.”
Escape Collective is Hill Hudson, Andy Carlson, Kara Jean Caldwell, Conor Kennedy, Marshall Birnbaum, and Trevor Thorpe.
Learn More and buy a hammock at EscapeCollective.com
The fun-seekers at Landyachtz just released another travel movie. Check out what its like to skate Corsica to Vesivius!
3 Fish Studios was founded by two of the sweetest humans you’ll ever meet. Eric Rewitzer and Annie Galvin. Printmaker and painter. Husband and wife.
Their studio is in Stay Wild’s favorite San Francisco neighborhood in the Outer Sunset called Ocean Beach (not San Diego’s Ocean Beach). The waves are very rideable (by cold water standards), the sidewalks are very skateable (cracked and sandy), and the people are very talkable (crazy talkable). It’s the perfect environment for a studio that nurtures creativity and helps people resist perfection. But don’t take our word for it, hear it from one of the fish’s mouth (Eric's mouth):
The 3 Fish name comes from Annie’s Irish family crest, which also has the phrase “By Industry We Prosper” on it. Have those 3 Fish come to represent something different as the years have gone by?
People sometimes ask us who the third fish is, assuming we are the first two fish—which is a funny assumption if you think about it. We didn’t start out self-identifying as fishes, but as the years have gone by, we have embraced the association. Annie is a salmon. Eric is a trout. Sometimes we say the third fish is Orlie, our wonderful assistant who has been with us for more than two years (she’s a guppy). But more likely the third fish is San Francisco, or our creative community, or the ocean, or the redwoods.
Was 3 Fish Studios born from love?
Yes, love had a lot to do with it. We met in 1998, when we were both in other careers, and after a few years we thought, “Wouldn't it be great to do what we love to do every day, and do it with each other?” And 3 Fish Studios was born.
What is love?
We think love is a connection to the beauty that surrounds us. We feel so lucky to live and work right by the ocean in the wonderful city of San Francisco. We bring love into everything we do, and we believe that it's why people respond to our work so much and want to take a piece home with them.
What are some challenges and triumphs of being married and in business together?
When we first started working at the studio full time together, it took a while to realize that we are both good at different things when it came to running the business, so we developed a division of labor that works for us and takes our individual strengths into account. I mean, we love to make art every day, but we are still running a business, so there are some less fun things we have to do, like paying bills and taxes!
One thing we sometimes struggle with is talking about nothing but 3 Fish Studios when we are taking a walk or having a nice dinner out. It's easy to fall into the habit of talking about work all the time, so we really try not to.
And the triumph that we each get to work with our favorite person every day! How great is that?
How do you divide up the art side of 3 Fish Studios?
Annie is a painter, and spends hours a day with a brush in hand making cards, collages, and works on canvas. When her paintings are done, Eric sets up a photo studio in our backyard on foggy Outer Sunset mornings, takes a shot with his Canon 6D, and uses that digital image to make archival prints of her work. While Eric paints too, most of his practice is devoted to printmaking. Eric hand carves all of his plates and pulls them one at a time on our 48” Conrad Machine monotype press. So not only is our work different, but our approaches differ, too. When we collaborate it is always fun, because we end up with something that neither of us would have done on our own.
Where did the bear hug series come from? Why do you think people connect with it so much?
Annie has been painting bears since a dream inspired her more than a dozen years ago. The first bears stood starkly in the woods, often with a little girl peering up in wonder, and sometimes the bear would be wearing a wrestling mask. Hey, we’re talking the subconscious here. We called this series Bears in Thoughtful Repose and people really started responding to them. The bears were always looking at something, on the edge of a profound thought, or processing something just said or done to them. While cuddly, they were always painted with fierce claws.
Then about eight years ago, we stumbled upon a sheet music cover from 1913 for a song called “I Love You California.” It was a great discovery, and wonderful way to play with the bear design. We both were delighted the moment the first painting was done, and over the years, Annie has painted dozens of versions based on this revived image. People feel a great deal of love for California. Either they live here, have lived here in the past, or dream of living here. So a sweet bear giving the state a hug has really hit the right note with people all over the place, and we are thrilled to have played a role in reviving this iconic image. Many people have also been inspired to do work based on this image, but you can always tell ours by looking for the fierce claws.
What do you love about leading workshops?
We love watching people go from nervous to confident over the course of the workshop. Some people have done a little printmaking when they were very young, usually in grade school. Back then they jumped right into it joyfully without being afraid of making mistakes. So to watch them rediscover that part of themselves is very rewarding. When they resist perfection and take their time, people are generally happy and proud of their finished print.
Join 3 Fish Studios for a print-making workshop at the EXPO Adventure Festival
Portland, Oregon, Aug 26-28, 2016.
Tickets and more info HERE >>>
