Artist Reifke presents 300-piece design show at Brandstater Gallery

01/27/2024 Brandstater Gallery Darla Martin Tucker

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – From the still of the northwestern Sierra Nevada mountains, Nate Reifke arrived at Brandstater Gallery to display his artwork in a signature show that celebrated 25 years of illustration and design. It was the first exhibit of his career centered on his commercial work created for a range of industries.

The "Don't Stop" exhibit at Brandstater Gallery featuring more than 300 pieces by graphic designer and illustrator Nate Reifke. (Photos: courtesy of Department of Art+Design)

The show titled “Don’t Stop” featured more than 300 pieces created for such companies as Patagonia, Sector 9 Skateboards, Mountain Hardware, San Diego Zoo, Outdoor Research, Camelbak and many others, and includes examples of sketches showing Reifke’s process in illustrating and designing product labels, skateboards, t-shirts, toys, film, and other elements.

The exhibit was on display Jan. 16 through Feb. 8 at La Sierra University’s Brandstater Gallery in the Visual Art Center complex. An artist’s reception held on Feb. 4 attraced more than 130 attendees in spite of extreme weather forecasts. All attendees of the reception received free stickers designed by Reifke through his business, Salty Timbers.

“Looking at Reifke’s art and designs reminded me of why I am an artist,” said gallery director and assistant art professor Tim Musso in an exhibition statement. “The strong graphic line-work, sophisticated compositions, variety of images, and beautiful color palettes all combined to make memorable images.” He noted that the show is the most complicated he has installed in the past several years and is unique in that it is comprised of hundreds of designs by a single graphic designer.

Reifke connected with Musso via a mutual friend who is also an artist and printmaker. Reifke got his start in the art and design world while studying at the University of California, San Diego from which he earned two bachelor’s degrees in communications and visual arts in 2000.

“Looking at Reifke’s art and designs reminded me of why I am an artist.” - Brandstater Gallery Director Tim Musso, assistant art professor

In 2010, Reifke established his own multidisciplinary design company, Salty Timbers based in Pollock Pines, California, offering illustration and design to the action sports and outdoor markets, among others. He also developed his own line of t-shirts, hats, skateboard designs, stickers, and other items.

Reifke spends about 20-30 hours a week making art and another 30-40 “researching, brainstorming, planning, prepping, sketching and communicating about all my projects,” he said. He uses “good old fashioned pen and paper” in the design and illustration process, he said, as well as watercolor. Most of his work is screen printed so he aims for illustrations that allow for clean prints. Lately he has added digital technology toward speeding project completion.

He found his way into the design industry through happenstance and networking, focused effort and self-instruction. For approximately 12 years before establishing Salty Timbers he pursued graphic design in the skateboard and surf industry designing decks for Sector 9 Skateboards and designs for outdoor startup, Mission Playground.

His interests in vibrant skateboard design sparked during the 1980s when he visited board shops as a kid. “I was immediately and irrevocably impacted by an array of art that unapologetically smacked the viewer in the face,” Reifke writes in his artist’s statement. “Skateboarding was the flash point, and it opened my eyes to the fact that these opportunities to make usable art were everywhere I looked. I was always drawing, always doodling, and never satisfied.”

Reifke comes from a line of craftsmen, he says, including his grandmother who was a seamstress, his mother, who is a painter and quilter, and his uncle a woodworker. “All of them had learned to harness their creative minds and put them to work. And not just in their most skilled niche either. They could all make something out of nothing,” he said. “I could supply an endless list of the people who have blown my mind and influenced what I think and make.”

"...there are many paths for an artist but all of them take drive, grit, risk, and tenacity." -- Nate Reifke, designer, illustrator

Reifke has rarely exhibited his work, he said, aside from a few past group shows and one solo exhibit. The show at Brandstater is his first to display his commercial designs. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to share what I do in such a different way,” he said. “There are countless people who have interacted with my art over the years and yet I almost never experience it alongside them. I'm particularly excited that this coincides with my 25th year in this career so it is an unexpected celebration of sorts.”

He hoped viewers of his work would bond with the designs and products he helps produce. “If that love is there, then there is a desire to hold onto that item rather than it becoming just another disposable good,” said Reifke. “I hope that folks who come out will start to see and engage with the world around them a little differently and understand the role that design plays in our day to day buying habits and psychology.

“As for students, I would just like to convey that there are many paths for an artist but all of them take drive, grit, risk, and tenacity. I want them to know that passion, commitment, and work ethic are perhaps more important than raw ability, and that the reward for their dedication and hard work will be the simple privilege of getting more work.”

La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway. For further information about gallery exhibits, contact Tim Musso at tmusso@lasierra.edu. Brandstater Gallery hours are Mon. – Thurs., 12 – 5 p.m.