Jay Merryweather | MWX Design

Young Joseph Smith.

2012-01-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

Here I have panted a young Prophet Joseph Smith in a more academic manner.

New Work...

2012-01-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

In the last several weeks I have been able to finish several paintings from the 10 days project. Here they are...

New Work for All You Can Eat, at Bunny Gunner, Feb 2012

2012-01-24T12:35:00.001-08:00

Pursuasive Product Sketch Demo...

2012-01-17T11:51:00.000-08:00

Today in my branding course we went over how to create a pursuasive sketch. This is what I did as the demo.

Love working here!

2011-12-19T13:42:00.001-08:00

Check out our little co-workers! Brenna made a very nice snow man yesterday and Conner is always very entertaining in the studio.

SUU Gymnastics Facility Banners

2011-12-19T13:02:00.001-08:00

For the past month, the studio has been working on some large banners for the SUU Gymnastics Facility. There are 2 banners, each about 8 feet tall and 70 feet, and 120 feet long. The athletes on the banners are record holders and national qualifiers. The imagery was meant to illustrate the technical side of the sport. Each photograph has a drawing offset to represent what the gymnast is thinking about or striving for as she moves. The banners are being installed this week, so photographs of the final product in it's space are to come soon!

Small section of the large banner.

Smaller banner. These were the 'cue words' chosen by the current SUU gymnastics team.

Section of the small banner.

As a secondary project, we created a door vinyl to block out the sun coming into the facility on one of the doors. This is a mock up of the door frame over the image, but photographs are to come soon.

Drawing with Brenna

2011-12-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

So my daughter Brenna and I spent the morning drawing together. I believe this is her first still life. Not too shabby for a six year old.

Painting Day

2011-12-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

This week the designers learned something new! It is no secret that Jay is an exceptional painter. If you are unfamiliar with his work, head to Merryweather Studios and check out some of his work. Lots of color, lots of faces and other intriguing imagery. Spencer and I were "hired on" to help promote the studio, design great things for old and new clients, and assist with any projects. Painting though, is not on the list of talents for either of us. On Friday we began a painting phase and learned Jay's particular process which was a ton of fun.
Spencer and Ari are already hooked.

This is a previously prepared work that Jay is getting back to now.

First portrait for me!

Spencer's first portrait as well.

Our lovely painting set up.

ROD Conference Photos

2011-12-05T09:28:00.003-08:00

Here are some long overdue photos of the Return on Design Conference. Our booth looked great (best one there if you ask us!) and we talked to some great people that were interested in Merryweather Studios. Because Jay is a professor at Southern Utah University, he was able to bring a group of students down as well. We had a great time at the conference and had some extra time to walk around Vegas as well.

Looking good, right?

The iPad had a presentation of what we do at Merryweather Studios. It was a fun detail to add to the display.

Spencer, Jay and I

The whole crew!

Taking full advantage of the great giveaways from paper companies, distributors and other design shops! Our vehicle was loaded full!

SUU Student Work

2011-11-24T01:38:00.000-08:00

Student work form some great artists here at SUU.

All Nighter, but We Made It!

2011-11-21T22:45:00.003-08:00

Alright, I am days behind on uploading the latest activity in the studio. The past 4 days have been long and crazy. Here are quite a few photos from last Tuesday and Wednesday. We worked hard to complete the characters and design a trade show booth that will catch us some attention at the Return on Design Conference. So thankful the work is done for a day or two!

Painting Robby

Reassembling Violet after finishing her outfit.

These are the magnets we will use to hold the characters in place.

Yay! Complete minus her nerdy glasses.

Amanda came to assist with the cutting and matting.

We decided to call the upcoming residency "Urban Exit". An Artist Residency for Creatives. This is the final logo for the event. I love it!

Imagining how they will look at the booth.

Final draft of the postcards and a side of the display. The smaller form with the Merryweather Studios logo will go on top of the display.

The third side of the display has an ipod mounted inside and will show a motion piece promoting the studio and what we do.

The crew just hanging out together.

Finally complete! The boys did all the constructing and I think they did a great job! Also note, the white brackets on the edges are handmade! Casted in resin and marked with an M for a little extra detail. Very cool.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

2011-11-21T22:45:00.001-08:00

Far too tired to post pictures this evening, but tomorrow the work will be done one way or another. Excited to show off our hard work going into the Return on Design Conference. Also, very excited to be in Vegas in 2 days! Staying at the Monte Carlo Las Vegas which will be a new and fabulous experience.

Sewing, Painting and Casting!

2011-11-21T22:44:00.003-08:00

In these next few days I'll try to post some other work along with the characters. Currently obsessing though! We are making awesome progress. The guys worked hard this weekend to assemble a couple more characters and I worked on clothing today. The hand dilemma has been solved and Jay is casting hands for each of the characters. Tomorrow I am hoping we can assemble all 4 characters going to the conference, finish painting and complete the basic outfits. Then we will focus on our booth, obviously more pictures to come!

Rachel's outfit. Her cowboy boots will be painted red and her waistline will be smoothed out a bit.

These are the molds for each of the hands. One for the guys and a smaller set for the girls. As the silicone sets we are able to shape the hands as needed before they set completely.

Violet's head is painted and waiting for some killer glasses. Her hands and any exposed skin have also been painted and finished with a glossy coat.

Here's Robby! Sculpted, baked and ready to be put together. Check out his hair! Both on his head, and the sexy curl on his chest. I think he might end up being my favorite!

Here are a couple teaser ideas for postcards we will be handing out at the Return on Design Conference. The original idea was to emboss "Artists That Design" to be a positive image on her face. Then on the back we were playing with the idea of printing right over the negative image for a visual illusion. The embossing may not work out before Thursday but we will see!

Upcoming Excitement

2011-11-21T22:44:00.001-08:00

Still working away on these characters. Merryweather Studios was invited to the Return on Design Conference in Las Vegas later this week. We are excited to have a both and promote the studio with some awesome material. A nice end of week design vaca sounds like the perfect start to the weekend. Can't wait! With that in sight, we are working our tails off to finish 4 of the characters and design a killer booth. Little bit of everything this week! Check out the ROD Conference info at Return on Design Conference

Color schemes for each of our characters. Meet Violet, Rachel, Robby, Georgia and Kipp. Just the first 5. More to come!

Jay working on Robby's hair.

Spencer fine tuning body parts before they are assembled.

Great resemblance don't you think?

Starting to sew clothing for each of the characters. Rough mock up of Violet's micro-dress. Tights and a purple vest to come! Hopefully I will be quite the seamstress by the end of next week.

Sculpting, Sculpting, Sculpting...

2011-11-21T22:43:00.001-08:00

These are some in progress shots of our sculpting efforts. We are creating a series of characters as part of recruitment material for the Urban Exit Artist Residency taking place in May. More details about the residency are to come as the project comes together. These are body parts, heads, hair, and hands that we have been working on for each of the characters. They are being wired together and prepped so we can add paint and clothing later. Very fun!

Check out his hair! I think the hair of these characters will give them the most personality.

Very Tim Burton in this phase, right?

Merryweather Studios

2011-11-21T22:42:00.001-08:00

Take a look at Merryweather Studios. We are working on some fun projects right now and have a great set up to get work done! Really excited for the months to come.

Roxy Swimsuit Design Contest

2010-07-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Roxy |rocks-she|: noun:

The look uses a fresh typographic treatment indicative of the Roxy brand. After perusing through another great Roxy catalog and the accompanying motion graphics on the website and quickly jotting down buzz words based on my reactions to the look and feel of the Brand I worked the concepts into a design that moves as a statement.

The words in the design are: sprotsglam; sunbeam; dinasexy; superpop; wavescraper; sandblaster; lovetickler; colormixer; watertumbler; sasssparkler; smilecatcher; skywrestler; movehustler; curvetotn'; and lastly uberoxy!

The design uses a combination of embroidery, custom stitching and graphic print. The lacing a water coral pattern.

See a high res version of the design here:

easy petals

2009-11-20T22:28:00.001-08:00

Warm blossom filled days skipping through clouds and nights sailing along a river of stars. Someone works very hard to keep things rolling smoothly for her. Moods change, but circumstances may not. We were all 4 years old once.

Evening in the Soup

2009-11-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

At time we are forced to confront the way in which our identity is defined by others.

The last 7 days.

2009-11-18T08:59:00.000-08:00

Construct Deconstruct
I spent the evening away from the office in open life drawing tonight. It was great to construct and deconstruct an image without concept getting in the way. Just trying to keep the momentum going.

Relocating the Mouth
Of course, these circumstances are hardly unique. Consider for a moment we think about why we say rather than what we say. Maybe the displacement of the mouth as an instrument of identity would create multiple new identities.

The Becoming Prince of the Multitude
Kant dedicates reason as an animating force in doubt, and enlightenment as a police armed to banish the "fanatical vision". What does it mean, it means a resulting death of philosophy. Doubt then, not reason itself reveals the revolutionary passion in reason as emerging from the margins of art history.

"The becoming Prince of the multitude is a project that relies entirely on the immanence of decision making within the multitude." —Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri

This piece reasons with the decision of joining the "Furrydom", anthropomorphism, and a courtship with the multitude.

Of Love Posessed
If love is like the wasp and the orchid; love becomes an engagement in the production of subjectivity. It is no longer spontaneous, romantic, or passive. It then being a production of affective networks, schemes of cooperation, and social subjectivities is and economic power. This leads to the production of the common and under these circumstances love itself becomes susceptible to corruption.

Lets have love defined by the common and then through the introduction and reoccurring encounter and experimentation of singularities within the common we can produce more common and more singularities. It is in the reproduction of singularities that we can study how people are and analyze the passions that actually animate them.

The productive, passionate, and industrious bee and its relationship with the flower as a common overtakes in its singular relationship the hedonistic relationship of the wasp and the orchid.

This is a response to an art forum article, Reckoning with Empire. The piece produced today is a further response to the issue of love, self, and identity.

The Repose i
I spent the morning teaching Brenna my four year old how to cut squares out of paper. She is getting very competent with her new scissors. Conner (my 1 year old) helped me paint the background of this piece. I was thinking about the "i" in identity and how it is a powerful signification today. I was also entertaining how the "i" in ourselves is in constant competition with the self. The "i" may be the true identity of our competitor.

Swift Identity
So I spent a bit of time today walking around with Brenna, my 4 year old daughter. We picked up leaves and she was not selective at all when it came to the old ones, color, size or shape, she just collected. We took the leaves to my office and I scanned seven that mirrored a change. I then sketched an aging portrait of Taylor Swift. I overlapped the two elements to see what might come of the juxtaposition.

I am interested in further investigating the idea of the transience of identity and the hybrid object, toying with both the formal and ideological traditions of the art world.

My focus will be to clarify the direction of my body of work for a summer 2010 solo show in Los Angeles. My brand will be evident in the breadth of work that will be produced following this exercise.

Untitled Identity 1
Digital watercolor, pencil, and paper.