With an impressive portfolio, Walden is an illustrative painter, digital artist, graphic designer, muralist and a performance painter. He’s also well known for some amazing art around Hamilton, including posters for the RiversEdge Concert Series, David Shaw’s Big River Get Down, and StreetSpark’s RoBros Mural, to name a few.
See his works online at loganwaldenart.com.
Walden is from West Elkton, having graduated from Edgewood High School in 2005. In 2007, Walden graduated from Full Sail University with a film degree. He worked in the film industry for a while before he decided to pursue creating his own original art.
Walden, and his father, Chris Walden, who is also an acclaimed artist, will have their works on display at an upcoming exhibition at the Middletown Arts Center. Logan’s work will be on display in the Lobby Gallery at the MAC, beginning Aug. 31. and Chris Walden’s work, “The Wildlife Art of Christopher B. Walden,” will be in the Main Exhibition Hall Sept. 8 through Oct. 19
Journal-News recently spoke with Logan Walden in a Q&A, where he shared more about his work and the upcoming exhibition at the MAC.
Question: Tell us about your journey into art and how you got started?
Logan Walden: My dad, Chris Walden, is an acclaimed wildlife artist here in the area. I grew up watching him paint and draw. My mom is a performance artist enthusiast, so I grew up around a creative family and was always doing something creative growing up, and drawing was always part of that for me. I’ve always been a doodler and a sketcher, but I did the film thing for a while, and I was struggling there. I was getting a lot of encouragement from friends about my drawing, so I decided to take it seriously in 2012, and quit the film industry, and started learning how to actually paint and make art for a living. Then, I got a job as a graphic designer for a marketing agency in Cincinnati and I did that for a few years. I branched off in 2015, and started working as a freelance, self-employed artist and graphic designer.
Q: How did your parents encourage you or how did you draw inspiration from them?
A: My Dad has such amazing work. He’s a perfectionist when it comes to his work, so it was a little intimidating to try and follow in his footsteps, but really, just his work ethic, and drive, and his whole life story has been a huge inspiration for me, to see someone like him make it work. Then, to have his support, not just as a Father, but as a mentor, and as an artist has been really great. And, my mom, Joan Angst, she’s into theater, singing ... and she’s always loved instilling creativity into your children. So, she’s always been very supportive and embraced my decision to be an artist, and that’s helped me a lot along the path.
Q: Do you have any siblings? What’s it like to be a twin?
A: I have four brothers and a sister. My twin brother and I are the oldest, but I’m two minutes younger than my twin brother, Ryan. Being a twin is awesome. All of my brothers are my best friends, but Ryan and I have always had that twin relationship, so we’re reflections of each other, but we did the opposite, so he’s actually a scientist and I’m an artist.
Q: Tell us about some of the things you’re working on right now?
A: In order to keep my head above water as a self-employed artist, I constantly have multiple projects happening at once. Right now, I’m working with a disc golf club, and the disc golf pro tour, painting murals at tournaments across the country with Guardian Aliens Disc Golf Club, and we turn our murals into merchandise to sell at vending booths and on our website. I’m doing that as well as working with several other organizations, mostly of which are DJ’ or musicians, or entertainment industry events. '
With Hamilton’s Direct of Resident Services, Adam Helms, I’ve been working with him pretty consistently over the last three years to make a lot of the RiversEdge concert promotional materials, which are all custom illustrations and poster work as well as David Shaw’s Big River Get Down, and I’ve worked with Hamilton on other things as well. I recently did an exhibition at the Fitton Center, “Field Study,” this past winter, and that went really well. That was an outlet for me to show people not just my digital work but to show them my traditional media as a painter and I had 10 paintings on display during that exhibition.
Q: When it comes to the different projects, were there things you sought after, or was it relationships with different people, that helped your art to take off?
A: I think it’s probably a combination of both. I’ve always been good with people. I generally like most people (laughs.) I’m kind of a balance between an introvert and an extrovert, and I do a lot of live performance painting at festivals. I recently participated in the SHIFT event, which is a fundraiser for Inspiration Studios. I collaborated with one of their special needs painters, and the event brought awareness to their cause.
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