on the bus since way back…
We love tie dye.
Bright colors. Crazy designs. The reveal. Finding images in the abstract. The compliments you get at the grocery store standing in line. The good feelings of giving away amazing pieces of art to family, friends, and as donations. Even the perpetual dye stained hands. All of it. We love it.
2nd Show Dyes roots go back to Catholic grade school and high school days, being forced to wear boring uniforms day-in and day-out. Small rebellions happen in all kinds of ways though. For me, it was ripping that collared shirt off as quickly as possible each day after school to reveal my hidden Grateful Dead or tie dye undershirt! I can still remember that feeling clear as can be. It was a reflection of my personality, the music I enjoyed, and ultimately how I felt about what it means to be a human being living collectively with others on this planet. It felt good.
Flash forward to today. We grow up, take on responsibilities, and slowly put our childish games and thoughts behind us. Nevertheless, the cognitive dissonance within is strong my friends. Balancing my needs of supporting my family and professional interests, but also my desire to feel and sustain that old connection to the universe. Artistic expression has always been in my blood, as it feels good to create and share something beautiful with the world. This is where I would live every day, all day, if only it were that easy.
Well… small rebellions. There’s still nothing like throwing on an amazing and brightly colored tie dye to go about your daily life. It can send a message on how you want to be seen and move through the world, and a reminder that compassion and care for each other are never that far away. We’re all in this together.
Sure, it’s just a shirt. And some people may have no idea what I’m talking about, but for us however, it means much more than that. It’s wearable art, and a constant reminder of who we want to be. Our sincerest hope is that our work can do the same for you too.
Now on to the what we do - tie dye!
There’s very little new under the sun these days, and tie dye is not much of an exception. Whether they know it or not, pretty much everyone making tie dyes today owes the craft to Japanese shibori artisians from nearly 2,000 years ago. Shaped resist dyeing has come a long way in that time, but we are all still essentially working with those same fundamental concepts. There’s also even a strong correlation to origami folding techniques, albeit in a paper medium.
Our style is mostly modern takes on these classic traditional shibori techniques. We love Paul Kenney’s iconic adaptation of kumo shibori (spiderweb), and have made our interpretation of his Kenney Style a staple in our collections. Jon Riley of Trip Team Tie Dye is another person we sample heavily from after his Trip Style creations. No doubt there are countless others we’ve been influenced by, either consciously or unconsciously, so any other likenesses to our work and omission of credit is entirely unintentional.
We love to draw on influences from nature, music, world events, history, emotions, and people, and then “paint” our interpretations of these motivations using shapes, patterns, color, and fabric. There’s an endless world to pull inspiration from and play with in the abstract tie dye imagery, where the only limitations are the bounds of our creative imagination.
We hope you experience some kind of inspiration and feeling from our work, and find yourself drawn to a piece that speaks to you for whatever the reason.