Style Imitating Art | Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series: Grand Canyon National Park by DKNG Studios

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Terri of MeadowTree Style, and Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as curator, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the curator by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the curator will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join! You are invited to share your images on Instagram or other social media platforms. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Terri, and Shelbee or use #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

The Inspiration Artwork

The inspiration artwork was chosen by Salazar. You can read why she picked this work here.

The Artwork
Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series: Grand Canyon National Park by DKNG Studios

About the Artists: DKNG Studios

DKNG Studios is an innovative studio based in Los Angeles, California founded by creatives Dan Kuhlken and Nathan Goldman. Both artists were drawn to music, film, and design from an early age, eventually merging their creative talents together to form DKNG Studios in 2005. The duo has carved out their own unique niche by combining their personal and unique aesthetics with some of the most talented and iconic musical artists, brands, and businesses in the world. With skills ranging from fine art to film production, the pair is able to offer diverse perspectives for every project.

Dan Kuhlken is a fine artist whose passion for painting and drawing began at an early age and continued through his college years at California State University, Long Beach, where he honed his unique fusion of design and illustration. As a young child, he first learned to illustrate by observing and drawing the wildlife at the San Diego Zoo. He worked as a designer for Disney’s Consumer Products Division as well as for various fashion labels before transitioning to full time with DKNG Studios in 2009. where he currently serves as Creative Director and Senior Illustrator while also running the marketing and retail side of the studio’s business. He met his future business partner Nathan Goldman when the two were in high school.

Nathan Goldman discovered an early interest in graphic design that was inspired by his aunt who was a brand and textile designer. He attended the University of Southern California’s School of Film & Television with an emphasis in art direction and subsequently went to work in the art department at Warner Bros. Television. Nathan also served as Director of Design at the USC Design Studio before joining DKNG Studios as full time Creative Director. He is currently in charge of the graphic design section of the studio with a particular passion for typography for lettering and branding projects.

This talented design duo has worked for well known brands such as Disney, Marvel, the United States Postal Service, Doritos, Clif Bar, Oakley, Under Armour, the US Open, Paramount Pictures, Simon & Schuster, Nike, and Stub Hub among others including lots of bands and musical groups. You might even recognize some of their branding work.

About the Art: Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series: Grand Canyon National Park

In 2016, the National Poster Retrospecticus came together with a group of nature loving artists and designers with an initiative to promote the beauty and diversity of America’s beloved National Parks. The eclectic mix of artists have captured the unique beauty of each national park in these vibrant poster designs. With every poster screen printed in the United States, the goal of this poster series is “to get poster nerds into the parks and park nerds into posters.” The full Fifty-Nine Park series is currently archived by The Library of Congress. Proceeds from poster sales have resulted in over $160,000 being donated to The National Park Service and similar organizations since 2016.

If you love this gorgeous illustration of the Grand Canyon National Park, you can purchase your own 18″x24″ print for $40 with 5% of the proceeds going back the National Park Service.

Resources/References:

• 59 Retro Posters Celebrate the Colorful Diversity of America’s National Parks
• DKNG Studios
• THE NATIONAL POSTER RETROSPECTICUS
• Fifty-Nine Parks Project
• Crewkoos Rock Poster Artist Interviews: DKNG Studios
• Meet Nathan Goldman and Dan Kuhlken of DKNG in Culver City
• The DKNG Show

About My Outfit

I cheated! I photographed this outfit back in early September when the weather was much warmer but I never got around to sharing it. When I saw Salazar’s choice for this art challenge, my eye was immediately drawn to the deep shades of purplish brown that form the water at the bottom of the image and I thought of this plum colored knit dress straight away. And then I remembered that I had recently worn the dress with a striped wrap that resembled the stratification lines in the mountains on the poster.

So I went digging through my photo folders, opened up the images, and realized that I could not have created a better outfit to represent this poster than the one I had already created three months earlier.

The color of the dress along with the stripes on my wrap and the colors of the stripes are just about as perfectly matched as I could get to the hues and patterns that appear in the poster. As serendipity would have it, I also happened to wear cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat with this outfit which fit the whole southwestern vibe that comes to mind at the mere mention of the Grand Canyon.

Since everything seemed perfectly on point, I did not feel it was necessary to create a new outfit. Every once in a while when serendipity happens, I seize that opportunity to save myself some extra work!

I have actually had this type of serendipity happen with five previous SIA challenges. For two of them, Sweet Dreams by Rus Khasanov and Lotus Pond by Ray Morimura, I still created a new outfit but shared the preexisting outfits as well. But my outfits for Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth by John Singer Sargent, Sky above Clouds IV by Georgia O’Keeffe, and Aurora Borealis by Frederic Edwin Church were all completely and totally serendipitous occurrences where the artwork was announced very shortly after I had styled and photographed the perfect outfit. So maybe it isn’t really cheating at all. Rather it is the universe just giving me some little breaks along the way. And I am very grateful for it!

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of this poster and feel inspired to play along! Be sure to check out Salazar’s interpretation of the artwork as well as Terri’s take on it. If you would like to participate in this challenge and have your photo included in Salazar’s round up post on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, be sure to email your photos to her by Tuesday, December 5, 2023, by 10:00 p.m. EST. I am excited to see what you all style!

Also check back on Monday, December 11, 2023, for our final SIA challenge of the year. Also, it will Terri’s last art choice as she will be stepping down as a co-host from Style Imitating Art. After a short holiday break, Salazar and I will resume this series on January 8, 2024, with my choice of art. And we will also be looking for a new co-host to fill Terri’s shoes. If you are up to that challenge, please let me or Salazar know. Until then, happy styling!

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Joining with these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Dress-Torrid / Kimono and Hat-Wona Trading / Boots–Idyllwind Fueled by Miranda Lambert / Horn Necklace-Traveling Chic Boutique (Asheville, North Carolina) / Crystal Necklace-Black Forest Trading Post (Ulysses, Pennsylvania) / Mushroom Necklace-Rainbow Zen / Earrings-Upcycled by me from a broken bracelet