Today we’d like to introduce you to Kc Badger.
Hi Kc, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My creative story is.. I feel like ive been creative/ creating since a very early age. I remember drawing pictures of desert landscapes before i started school even. But maybe larger than that, I grew up outside, in the desert of Arizona, one of my earliest memories is ripping through the desert on the gas tank of my dad’s YZ 250 dirtbike.
From there on my childhood was spent riding dirtbikes, flyfishing ( i learned when I was 7) and riding bmx bicycles. The latter led me to a life of being a professional bmx rider in my late teens through my 20’s where I traveled the United States, and all over the globe riding. I was fortunate to have a signature line on bike-parts, frame, handlebars, seat, where they gave me complete creative control and I aside from choosing the geometries and colors, designed the theme of the name and graphics as well, combining my artistic knowledge and my niche in the bmx world. While living this dream of being a Professional bike rider, i was also continuing my art education, studying art at Arizona state university. Where I graduated in 2007 with a BFA with an emphasis in drawing.
The bike, as well as flyfishing to me are just different forms of expressing creativity, that often blend over into traditional “art” as well. As I often focus my art in my passions of the time.
When the professional bike riding side of my life slowed down, I picked up the flyrod again and dove in headfirst. Ended up becoming involved with a few endemic brands, being featured in Advertisments, traveling, and fishing around the north and Central America. And, much like bikes, the flyfishing world completely engulfed my brain, and my artistic style shifted to being very “fish-centric” and led to me getting to design a large amount of graphics for softgoods for a few brands within the space, as well as some more traditional art as well.
Someowhere in there I also began working in marketing/ production doing everything and anything I could to help on set, creativily by creating the set design, using my painting/ drawing/design background, running lighting, shooting photos, etc, and in the pre-production side through creative conceptions, storyboarding, and whatever else was needed.
I continue to freelance in the production world. Still getting in where I fit in, and hopefully bringing an extra eye and unique skill set to wherever i am needed.
And I am still creating art, both traditionally and digitally, for whoever calls.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If theres a smooth road. Im not taking it. But, just like my life on the bike.. the bumps are the fun part. Haha
I think the human experience is meant to have its ups and downs, and thats what makes us…human. Mine has been no different, but im extremely thankful for the life i have lived. Both the good and the bad parts of it have led me to be the person I am. And it took me a long time, but i have learned to love that person, and ive also learned to love the bad times as much as the good times.
The one constant through all of the shit is i have had my passions to lean on in times of despair. Bike, flyfishing, and art have all been lifelong therapists to me, something i didnt realize for many years.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Ive been extremely fortunate in that i have made a living out of my passions. from day 1 my father instilled in me that money isnt the answer. But doing the things you love, with people you love will make you the happiest, and happiness is wealth.
So after my dad passed away when i was 18. Ive chased exactly that. Happiness.
And that chase has given me SO SO much, experiences, friends, and a vast array of skills that i bring with me to wherever the road leads.
And right now, I get to work with my best friends, creating commercial photography and video assets and art for companies and products that i love, in communities that i know, and am passionate about. Im not a rich man, but i am a happy man.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Risk taking and conquering the fear of failure has been a central theme of my life. Bmx riding is very obviously that. Art, of any form is taking the risk of taking a conceptual idea and translating it to a physical form.
As humans risk taking is how we evolve. Personally, it’s the only thing i know.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Kcbadger / wildinthecreeks
