jer collins

Last week was a good one… except that I was battered with a sinus infection, bad back, and possibly a kidney infection?  I don’t know. Other than that it was good.  We had the opening of the new space and the turnout was fantastic- roughly 300 of our closest friends and most of the artwork hanging on the walls sold.  Thanks to the many of you that helped us help our friends the Moores with their medical bills.

Also- here’s a fun interview with me done at a tradeshow last august by James Edward Mills.

Good times with great people, and Kansas City Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff went home with the final painting; an inuit-inspired polar bear portrait. Viva la Nikita!

So many stories to tell… so sorry I have ignored you my wee little blog.

I’ll keep it short, though, cuz I am sitting here gearing up to climb in Yosemite for the next couple days- here’s a quick note about an event in Kansas City next week. Come drink some fine beverages and learn about polar bears at the KC Zoo.

To Love is to Fly
Book signing by explorer & photographer
Jonathan Chester

Performance Painting
In 30 mins KC artist Jer Collins will create a formidable artwork that will be auctioned on the evening.

Plus Penguin and Polar Bear multimedia presentations by Extreme Images Inc.

Corks for Conservation

Wednesday, November 11   5 – 7 p.m.
Kansas City Zoo

Everyone is talking about Corks for Conservation, a private wine-tasting event benefitting the Kansas City Zoo’s conservation fund! Join the Zoo, from 5 – 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11 to see what the buzz is about.

This month’s event features special guest speaker Jonathan Chester – a photographer, writer, environmentalist, nature guide, and mountaineer for more than 35 years. Guests will enjoy first hand accounts of his travels in the tundra among polar bears and other Arctic residents.

Tickets are available online through November 11 and a limited number of tickets may be available at the door that evening. Pre-registration by Friday, November 6, is strongly suggested as this event can sell out.

Tickets are $15 for Friends of the Zoo (FOTZ) Members and $25 for Non-FOTZ Members.

Sponsored by Q104.

Location:
Kansas City Zoo
6800 Zoo Drive
Kansas City, MO  64132

I keep thinking I will have time to sit and write a story about suffering through another 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell, but I cant seem to find the time.  “Hell” is an endurance climbing competition in northern Arkansas. Here’s a wrap up of how Tommy and I survived.

thanks to Lucas Marshall for the pic in our post comp suits.

Today my family and I went and visited our friend Marley as we have often in the last couple months.

She is on her 54th day in Childrens Mercy Hospital, after brain surgery, a stroke, a blood transfusion,  many ups and downs, and now… immense hospital bills. This beautiful and inspiring 18 month year old has been through a lot, and many of us are trying find ways to help her parents Brent and Nikki deal with the financial aftermath.

October tenth is a walk in Liberty Mo. to help raise funds. I encourage all in town to join them for the walk(I will in fact , sadly,  be out of town).

If you can’t walk, pick up a shirt I designed and help out.

I’ll sweeten the pot- If you order a t-shirt, or do the walk, let me know, and I’ll hook up a 20% discount on any print or canvas reproduction ordered from my online store.

Heads up on two designs of mine over at PrAna-

One is based on my sculpture work, where nature is overtaking the mechanical and structured world-

The second is inspired by the Lao Tzu poem-

Nature Doesn’t Hurry

Yet

All is Accomplished

This particular tree drawing inspired a series of paintings in which the tree roots adapt and thrive showing the layers of earth beneath, as the roots wind through tires, steel pipes, debris, and waste.

Both drawings are ink on paper and the originals are available.

I had the great honor to be asked by my good pal Andy Chasteen to paint at his wedding last weekend in Arkansas. It was a 12 minute flurry of paint and beats while friends Steven Charles and Jason Roy jammed out on guitar and didgeridoo as people were being seated.

photo by Lucas Marshall

quoted from prAna.

A couple years ago, we ran into climber and artist Jeremy Collins, on his hands and knees in Vail, Co. building a monstrous sculpture out of a huge pile of outdoor sports equipment he picked up at the Denver landfill. (yes, we said “landfill”).

We were familiar with his work, but had never seen him working live, let alone in 3D!

We asked him to take on a special project, building our prAna logo out of similar found objects.  He took a few measurements, sent some teaser images, then showed up at our offices in north San Diego, sunny California  with a single suitcase.

From it he pulled a few simple tools, and installed the sculpture of our logo that hangs in our entryway.  Connected with various screws, welded points and beneath folds of metal are random pieces of climbing protection:
- a cam
- carabiner
- nut
- re-purposed road signs
- two skateboards
- and various refuse found at climbing crags and in landfill transfer stations in the Denver area

One man’s trash is another man’s… priceless logo artwork.

Some people were just meant to do certain things.

Michael Phelps was meant to be a swimmer.

Mother Teresa was certainly meant to be a humanitarian.

My friend Craig Luebben was meant to be a climber.

After an immensely successful three decades worth of adventure all over the world, he died last week from a random ice slide on Mt. Torment in the Northern Cascades in Washington state.

The randomness of the event is painful; Craig was training to get his AMGA license for alpine guiding.

He could potentially be called the most knowledgeable person in the topic of climber safety.

As a contributing editor at Climbing magazine, he wrote articles about safety, adventure, as well as put his own neck on the line testing ice, snow, and rock gear to help all of us climbers know and understand how better to protect ourselves in wild places.

Beyond writing, he was an internationally known guide, photographer, off-width(wide crack) specialist, and inventor.  With a degree in engineering behind him, he invented the “big bro”(left) device for protecting the wide cracks he so loved to climb.

I had the absolute pleasure to co-author an instructional book with Craig, as well as illustrate four other books he penned, all based on his expertise of climbing how-to and safety.  We had plans for more in the near future.

Click the titles below to learn more and purchase.  Craig was always adamant that his royalties go to his family should he pass on.

Of course, throughout all of this work, Craig and I became friends, enjoyed climbing adventures together, talking about raising children, and dreaming of the next big adventure.

I talked to Craig two weeks ago, and he was looking so forward to his daughter Giulia(6) growing up and sharing the ski slopes, and mountains with her more and more.

Rest in Peace, Craig.  Thanks for all the encouragment, empowerment, and inspiration

You once saw a picture of me climbing an off-width with only one cam above me.  You ran downstairs and brought back up a “big-bro” to give me.  I never forgot that, and always considered you a big-bro as well.

On a random side note…

I had recently finished the map below of Mt Torment & Forbidden

I had planned to climb the exact same route

Craig was on two weeks from now.

It has certainly left a sour taste in my mouth.

The Northwest has recently seen temps in the triple digits for multiple days, certainly influencing the instability in the high peaks, that most likely led to Craigs demise.

I celebrated 8 years of marriage last week with my beautiful wife. We decided to go bouldering(climbing small rocks) in paradise- the island of Virgin Gorda in the british virgin isles.

We also took a short boat ride to the neighboring uninhabited island, Fallen Jerusalem.
Hope you enjoy a look into our journey to paradise. For you non-climbers, the pads we carry on our backs are to lay on the ground and protect our falls.

Virgin Gorda + Fallen Jerusalem Island from Jeremy Collins on Vimeo.

Music by Matisyahu