Sonic Youth the art of don & ryan clark

OUR STORY

In the beginning … there was passion, manifested only as doodles in the margins of school text books. From very early in our childhood, we knew exactly what we wanted to do with our lives. This passion, though possibly unrealized at the time, was not altogether arbitrary. Our grandfather, Alfred Paulsen, had been an illustrator throughout his entire professional life- 28 years of which he spent at NASA. Additionally, our father devoted a good deal of his spare time in the home workshop, crafting perfectly executed woodworks in the form of furniture, toys and various other goods. The desire to create, and the potential to do it with precision and imagination, was simply ingrained in us.

Growing older brought change in our motivation and expanded ideas of exactly what it was we wanted to create. In our teenage years, we found punk rock. By the time our school years were coming to a close, we’d found ourselves utterly immersed in the culture. Just a few short years later, our passion for music gave way to starting bands, signing record contracts and touring the nation. Our time spent in the trenches of a DIY music scene, and the knowledge acquired therein, would eventually prove to be the groundwork for a longstanding future in the arts.

In 2000, to further pursue our career in both music and design, we made the move from Sacramento, California, to Seattle’s ever-blossoming artistic frontier. After finding ground in our new city, and suffering various 9-5 dead-ends, we took a series of very necessary steps towards making a living with our core passions in mind. The 5 years spent with Asterik Studio, our first legitimate design company, allowed us to expand our portfolio in a very short period of time. Additionally, our newly-founded metal band was seeing its own share of success, with album sales in the hundreds of thousands, and sold-out tours across the U.S. Juggling these two worlds was no easy task, but somehow we managed- and loved every minute of it.

As the first decade of the new millennium began to pass, more changes were brewing. In 2006, we decided on a mutual split from our good friends at Asterik Studio, and launched a new company, just the two of us. With an increasing desire to focus our efforts on print design, and a reinvigorated passion for illustration and our own products, Invisible Creature was born.

We've had the honor of receiving 4 Grammy nominations for music packaging and have worked with clients such as Target, NASA, LEGO, Nike, Wired Magazine, The New York Times, Adobe, Xbox, MTV and more. Our work has been featured in the pages of Print, HOW, iDN, Communication Arts, Step, in addition to publications of the hardbound variety by publishers such as Juxtapoz, Die Gestalten Verlag, Chronicle, Fantagraphics and more. Our toys and products have been sold in stores such as Target, SF MOMA, Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods, Discovery Channel Store, Nordstrom, Anthropologie and more. In 2010, we even met the 44th President of The United States. 

In 2016, as we celebrate our 10th year of IC, we look back fondly on our story and marvel at the varied paths we've had on this incredible journey as artists.

As we do that, we've realized one thing: We're just getting started.

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Studio

Located 30 miles east of downtown Seattle and residing on 10 acres of wooded farmland, the Invisible Creature barn studio was originally built by Bill Anardi & family in 1964. In 2012 (48 years later), our family purchased the property and converted the old barn into our studio. Our goal was to create a unique and creative space — not only for ourselves — but for clients, friends and fellow artists looking for a change of pace and scenery.

To commemorate the completion of our studio, we partnered with Uncle Goose Toys to create a 1/100th scale wood block version in 2014 - 50 years after the barn was originally built.