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Originally from Detroit and currently residing in Seattle, Bekah is a talented designer and painter - and she’s also a former evo employee. The graphics she created for our Malover Eyes skateboard decks are based on a series of murals she painted in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood during the onset of Covid.
 

How did you come to work at evo?

Growing up in Detroit, with the Great Lakes nearby, I was always getting outdoors. I went to art school at the University of Michigan and afterward I was looking to work in the outdoor industry. evo popped up. They were hiring graphic designers and it seemed like a great fit. I was up for a new adventure and moved out here.

Can you tell us about some memories you have from your time at evo?

evo was such a fun job. The best part was working with everyone. When I moved to Seattle for the job, it came with a bunch of built-in friends. We were always biking or skiing or hanging out around Fremont.

There are so many really good memories. Especially with some of the volunteer work we did. A group of us once built a firepit with Mount Tahoma Trails Association. We worked during the day and then stayed at a hut. We made dinner and looked at Mount Rainier.
 
I used to go to ladies’ skate night at All Together Skatepark with Skate Like a Girl. We had an indoor soccer team for a while called the Gnarballs. I also liked playing foursquare at lunch by the canal.
 

How has your relationship with evo continued after you left?

A lot of my friends are still at evo. I still go to events and I hang around with the people I met there a lot. I feel very much like I’m still a part of the evo fam.
 

How did the design for the Malover Eyes skateboard deck come to be?

It was based on the Ballard mural I made. I thought it was interesting when everyone was masked up and you could only see eyes. I was kind of focused on that as a repetitive pattern. Steve Settles (evo Assistant Skate Buyer), thought it would be awesome on a deck and asked me to mock something up.

Painting for me is a really good therapeutic medium. I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself when I do it. When I unwind, I play around creatively - that’s what I do. I have a series in my house of the eyes, and I thought it would be kind of fun for the murals. So, first it was an 8" x 10" painting, then a mural, and then a skateboard graphic. I like that it’s being used and not just sitting on the wall.  
 

Can you tell us about the Ballard mural you created?

Shoutout to Ballard Alliance - they organized everything. They’re very community based. They find artists in Ballard to make the neighborhood prettier. At the time, all the businesses were boarded up with plywood and depressing. Everyone was scared. So the idea was, “let’s paint them and make it pretty.” You could feel the community. Everyone was taking pictures. It provided a little hope. It was a cool thing.

How would you say your work has evolved over time?

It’s always fun and funny to look back at your work. I feel like when I was at evo all my work was centered around the outdoors. It still is. As I’ve been doing this longer, it’s interesting to see how it lines up with trends. Clean line work and vector work was in a few years ago and it’s a little more gritty now.
 

Can you tell us about how the outdoors has influenced your work?

I think I take just so much inspiration from the outdoors. The textures and shapes. Being outdoors creates a feeling of connection to the earth and to each other as humans. The earth is so beautiful so it’s hard not to try to mimic that beauty. The more time I spend in nature the better because it makes me a better person and I make better art.

Learn more at @bmals

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