Artists in Residence: Davidaisy aka David Steigerwald
If you have spent any time snowboarding in New Hampshire, in Salt Lake, or in Southern California, you’ve maybe gotten to take a run or two with David Steigerwald, aka Davidaisy. But if you haven’t been so lucky to get to hang out with this East Coast native in person, whose edge control is as smooth as his finesse with a paintbrush, it’s more than likely that you have seen his art and design–in the pages of SNOWBOARDER Magazine, in gallery shows in different parts of the country, on the Salomon 6-Piece, on tradeshow walls, on t-shirts, on movie posters and intro animations…from Keep the Change to Krusty the Snowman, Chikenmeat to Everybody, Everybody, Methodology to Superpark, Davidaisy’s versatile abilities are plastered across the strata of snowboarding. Since he graduated from Plymouth State University in 2013, each year elements of snowboarding have been further steeped in his aesthetic, which balances an unfettered and emotive artistic approach with a seamless design style depending on the project, and often combining both. The hallmark style of his paintings: bright, dark, and at play with the abstract are beautiful and entrancing. For five-plus years, Dave set the course for the look of SNOWBOARDER as its art director and now he is applying his skillset at Vans. If you’re not yet following @davidaisy on Instagram, definitely give him a follow as he is constantly posting new work, new daisies, and new projects–all that are really wonderful to look at. – Mary Walsh
Instagram: @davidaisy
Hometown: Costa Mesa, CA
Home mountain: Loon? Brighton? Bear? I’ve moved so much I can’t keep track of where that is anymore. I guess home is where the heart is, so I’m going to say Brighton. <3
Preferred medium(s): Acrylic is number one for sure, but lately I’ve been doing mixed media incorporating scraps of paper and other textures. Makes it fun and turns trash into not trash.
One tool of your craft that you cannot do without: My paint jeans that I’ve had for a couple years now that immediately put me in the mode. Second only to my pallet knives.
Favorite subject matter (in general and/or currently): Women and men and their relationships. Mental states as well, in a more general way. And of course, flowers.
All-time favorite snowboard graphic: The 2015 Salomonder.
Photo Credit: Salomon Snowboards
Do you listen to music or anything when you make art? If so, what: Audiobooks/podcasts are my go to when I’m building canvas, sanding. building frames, doing outline work. general work like that. When I’m just in full paint mode, I have to have music. I love music and a lot of my color choices and subject matter come from what I wish I could express through sound but I can’t play or sing, so I paint.
Advice on how to get over a creative block: I spend a lot of time just aimlessly painting on a canvas with no intention. I end up with a lot of stuff I don’t use or stuff I hate but it helps keep me going and usually will eventually unlock something that I get frenetic about and run with.
Artists that influence/inspire your work: Oh man that’s a hard one to itemize. Jake Durham, Mikey Gallant, Jack Moore, Brodie Jackson, Forest Bailey have been getting me hyped for a while now. Sydney Sousa (@sydsousa) is a new artist I just discovered that has been getting me stoked. Cole Navin and Kennedi Deck as well drop awesome stuff every now and then low-key—it’s more few and far between, but it’s always something that leaves me thinking, F**K, I love that and wanting to immediately get in my garage studio and start exploring new ideas. This is tough to answer, I’m so fleeting that I see someone make something and I just get so amped and want to start throwing color on canvas, so shout out to everyone out there.
Any cool collabs, work, galleries, projects, etc. that you’ve done (or that you’re working on currently) that you’d like to share: I’ve been busy since starting at Vans so I’ve been trying to keep it mellow to focus on my new job, but I do have a collection with The Drift Collective out of Portsmouth that should be coming out this summer. They are an up-cycle clothing company focused on trying to reuse old clothing to make new clothing, which is something I’ve been working with lately, just paper scraps and found material instead of buying new stuff, so I’m pretty excited about this one. We decided to take my portion of the profits and put all of it towards a local charity out there that helps keep the beaches clean, so keep an eye out and support a small company for a good cause. I have a small collection with Autumn Intl. coming out next season as well 🙂 so be on the lookout for that.
Where can people purchase your art: I had a store at one point but I don’t know how I feel about the lack of one-on-one communication. So, I sort have fallen off that and usually do transactions through DM now to help the person find exactly what they want at a fair price. My store should be back up one day…. Until then just hit me up!
More from SNOWBOARDER Mag here.
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