Family often plays a part in life’s most meaningful moments, with common bonds and experiences reinforcing love shared. These dynamics might play a hand in the complexity of the art pieces produced by Slade Project. The artistic team is comprised of a mother and her two sons, bringing their talents together to collaborate on mixed-media imagery that commemorates or tells the “story” of an individual(s), through photos and memorabilia. Although a fine art collection is always prized, creating some personal pieces for a home and for future generations can be more valuable than any Monet.
The Slades, in an effort to transmit the personality and warmth of personal memories, create mixed-media portraits, showcasing the many experiences that the subject(s) have had, as one cohesive piece of art.
From the beginning , the artists and the client are highly collaborative. Clients provide the materials to be displayed and help choose the foundation photo and color palette. Finally, the client will have final approval of the digital collage before it is transferred to canvas.
So many items have sentimental value, so the material options are not limited to photos and can include writings, trinkets, and various memorabilia. Slade Project has already produced several canvases for notable sports figures highlighting all the important moments of a coach’s or team’s career. For these, they assemble photos of the team and players in shared historic events and congratulatory embraces. Breaking up the collages are headlines, clippings, and players’ cards.
Another “life vision” the Slades have worked on is that of love, like the Castillo Story which is 4′ x 6′ and incorporates 290 photographs. With such a selection, clients are not restricted to a handful, and it might even give them a reason to go out and take more photos. For this canvas, the artists assembled cherished parts of the couple’s life — like relatives, them as children, and special times spent together. Although most images are recognizable, some are meaningful only to the owners, like the photo of time on a stopwatch.
Memories are like dreams and the Slades have really been able to capture this effect on canvas, using special techniques to age the prints and give them an ethereal, historical feel. Whether it is the coloring or how they arrange the photos, the final product takes on the quality of a dream in the way the images fade in and out of one another. Some moments appear as quick glimpses, while others are bold and visually strong. Although seemingly random, the whole is significant to the dreamer and makes up a complete story. My favorites include the canvases that highlight the places a couple has traveled with snapshots of their lives documented by boarding passes, dive logs, and travel maps.
These unique art pieces would be a great gift for numerous occasions, from anniversaries and weddings to birthdays and graduations. Prices range from $6,000 for a 2’ x 3’ to $24,000 for a 9’ x 9′.
