Ryan Kerrigan is a long time Phish goer and artist on the scene. Having been on tour for many years and seeing him and his work all over the lot, I caught up with him to get the scoop about his love for art, his family and Phish! Ryan is from Berkeley. California and has a great website for his art, check his Facebook page Here! Ryan is really talented and does an array of art, from prints, pins, stickers, clothing and cards to 60 second sketches.

Kelley Zilembo: How long have you been seeing Phish?

Ryan Kerrigan: July 18, 1991 was my first live Phish show.

KZ: How many shows have you seen?

RK: Before I got to 100 shows, I made the conscious decision to purposefully stop keeping track of how many notches were on my belt…I didn’t want to add any arbitrary significance to a particular show…but if I had to guess I’d say in the neighborhood of 300 shows.

KZ: What is your favorite year of Phish and why?

RK: 2013 because we still get to experience it live.

KZ: What has inspired you to be an artist?

RK: Saturday morning cartoons and baseball cards when I was young….as I sauntered into the college years I quickly understood that music would become (and really had always been) my greatest source of inspiration.

KZ: When did you start selling your Phish and music inspired art?

RK: Summer tour 1998 was the first time I shared my Phish inspired artwork, the ‘Technicolor Dreamcoat’ print.

Trey’s Technicolor Dreamcoat

KZ: How did your signature happy fish come about?

RK: I had a teacher in grade school who created a project where we had to illustrate different words in the shape of what that word was (like banana, or football). I loved it and it always stuck with me, though I never really did anything with it. There were four shows in 2010 (Hartford, Utica, Amherst and Worcester) that I did posters for where I contained all the words (city, state, and date) within the contour of these big sleepy looking fishies.  My mother really dug them and said I should do a whole tour of them … so I did! And summer tour 2011 started what has become the happy fish series of posters and pins!

Worcester December 27 & 28, 2010

KZ: You have a variety of art that you are making, from 60 second drawings to baseball cards to posters to clothing to making pins; what is your favorite form of art and why?

RK: Whenever I attend a show, or any event really, I have a 4″x6″ sketchbook on me and a black micron pen … just black ink on paper … something about it makes me feel most content.

60 Second Sketch- Charlotte, NC August 26, 2012

Happy Fish Leg 2, 2012

Party at the Lamppost- 100% preshrunk cotton

KZ: Do you have any plans for expanding to other forms of art that you haven’t tackled yet? If so, is there anything you can share with us about your future plans?

RK: I designed an electrical box in downtown Berkeley!  It’s always fun to see my work end up in so many forms, but truly I’m in love with my marker/watercolor/pencil combo, as far as creation goes…but ya never know what will happen!

Ryan showing his daughter his art on the electrical box he did in Berkeley

KZ: What are your thoughts on the resurgence of lot art at Phish shows, especially now that we have Facebook and Twitter to promote art?

RK: It’s fantastic! There are so many remarkably talented people expressing themselves on tour, as well as an equal amount of art-lovers eager to support the artists.

KZ: You seem to have such a wonderful connection with your daughter, art, and music. How has fatherhood influenced your artistic style?

RK: Not so much the style, but in just about everything I draw, I feel I’m creating for her, kind of like keeping a journal. She’ll be able to look back and see what d’ah was doing when she was three. A greater responsibility perhaps? I’ve always taken pride in my work but with my daughter, everything feels like it has more purpose.

Hard at work with Dad!

KZ: Living in Berkeley, what Bay Area bands and causes have you worked with in the past?

RK: I have worked quite a bit with ALO, Tea Leaf Green, Hot Buttered Rum, California Honeydrops, The Bay Recorders Organization, The Earth Island Institute, High Sierra Music, and many more.

California Honeydrops- Summer Heat Tour 2012

KZ: Do you do any art for local bands or businesses? If so, who and what was your inspiration to work for them?

RK: All the time! I like to have a connection to the people I am working for, it’s fun to see your work around town too!

KZ: Do you ever find yourself facing artists-block (ala writers-block), when it comes to Phish?

RK: Never.

KZ: Do you have any plans of music festivals this summer that you plan on attending to sell your work?

RK: Most likely a good deal of tour! I’ll be at High Sierra Music Festival for the 13th time. I’ll be taking part in the annual Rock Poster Society’s show in San Francisco and there will most likely be a few other things popping up!

____________________________

Keep your eye out for Ryan and his work throughout summer tour!

Presenting: The alPHabet! This poster, an idea of Pete Mason’s, with a little help from Mike Zwaryczuk, has been brought to life by Ryan Kerrigan. This poster takes you through all 26 letter of the alphabet, with a Phish-spin on things. A is for Antelope, B is for Bathtub, F is for Farmhouse and P is for Possum, among others. This print is great for fans of ALL ages and is suitable for framing and for learning the alPHabet properly.

This poster is printed in an edition of 420, measures 13″ x 15″ and is signed and numbered by the artist. The cost for the poster is $15 shipped, or 2 for $25. You can get the poster by sending a payment via Paypal to ryan (at) ryankerrigan (dot) com.

What started as a soundcheck and became a sold out pin is now available as a t-shirt. This 100% cotton preshrunk natural color shirt features an original Ryan Kerrigan design. This is a limited edition shirt of only 55, with each shirt signed and numbered. Shirts cost $20 each plus $5 shipping per order, in sizes Small through 2XL. There are very limited quantities of each size available.

Order now and you are welcome to pick which number you’d like on which size shirt.

Send money via Paypal to ryan (at) ryankerrigan.com

Well, 2012 was an incredible year for PhanArt, with more art than ever before, plus the addition of five staff members to the site – Taylor, Kelley, Chris, Jim and Chris. Fans have been submitting more and more art to PhanArt for sharing on the site, which led to a record number of posts as well as a record amount of money raised for The Mockingbird Foundation – over $3700!

What was popular this year? Well, shirts and posters as usual, but anything that had that Cheerio/Henrietta design took top honors for the most common piece of phanart. It seemed that every bit of clothing and all sorts of art were seeing this design, any why not? It’s iconic, only Phish fans know what it is, making it a silent calling card for other fans whether at a show or in real life. There was at least one wedding party with Fishman ties for the groomsmen!

Then of course, there are pins, which has basically become a flooded market. Everyone is making them, few are buying and many are trading for them. Some of them are truly amazing and we are likely only a few days away from the first ‘Golf Ball’ themed pin of 2013. There are a reported 1700-1800 pins total made already, according to Fred Hosman, who would know, because he collected pretty much every single one up to date. That number of pins is more than the number of individual pieces of art in PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish! 

So, here we are with more art being made, Phish being at the top of their game and the 30th anniversary likely to shed a great deal of art, especially if there are more shows than the last two years. Without further rambling, I present the Best of PhanArt, 2012 edition. This list of 12 was compiled with input from fans on the website, Facebook, Twitter, as well as reported sales from artists and feedback on lot. Some of these pieces of art are still available for sale, while some sold out a long time ago. Click the links to see what you can still get and support the Phish Art Community! Remember, the Phanart made in 2012 was amazing and the following is just some of the best. If you think something was overlooked, share what was missed below in the comments section below.

Honorable Mentions

 Otto NYE print

AJ Masthay Kansas City

TRiPP NYE

Tim Ripley Colorado

Michael Ortiz San Francisco/Colorado/NYC series

Ceramic Pheesh from Matt Pace

And now for the Best PhanArt of 2012…

12. My Other Vehicle is a Second Set Tweezer

A simple Tweet led to an incredibly popular sticker, so much so that it was sold in bulk to a few fans during Summer Tour. Andy Cary’s wit led to a sticker that was begged for at shows, Jiggs’ design made it the perfect bumper sticker for a car, and led to some nice donations for The Mockingbird Foundation, as Andy deferred any profit to them. In keeping with that, all sales of this sticker through the month of January will go to The Mockingbird Foundation, after shipping and handling.

11. Split Open and Melt pin

You couldn’t make a more literal pin, but Jeff from My Phavorite Things did, and succeeded. It doesn’t look like there are any pins left for sale, but if you can get one, this is a well through out and produced pin.

10. Kerrigan summer print 

The return of the Happy Fish in one incredible print! Ryan Kerrigan continues to create incredible Phish posters for each show and tour, and this one stood out as one of the best of the Summer!

9. Life is Hood shirt

Life is Good < Life is Hood. Brian Kushner of PhanBadge made a great shirt with a familiar guitar sticking out, and the response was incredible. Many shirts were out of stock by the time SPAC rolled around. Brian graciously donated a few shirts to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation, all of which were snapped up quickly. The crossover aspect is huge with this shirt, since you can wear it to a show or just in daily life, getting more than a few heads to turn when they notice the slight difference in this now classic shirt.

8. Party Time/Playboy shirts 

Seen on the lots of Bader Field in June, this is a great shirt, hands down. The Playboy brand has an aura of epic parties in the grotto, and ‘Party Time’ is the perfect way to to tie the two together. This shirt was only seen briefly on tour, so we have no purchasing info, so if you know who made this shirt, contact PhanArt (at) gmail and we will do our best to have it up on the site. Again, great shirt to the creators!

7. Otto summer leg 2 

Branden Otto has been making posters since 2010 and in 2012, he found his groove, creating incredible work from start to finish. Fans sold out one edition, leading to a second variant being produced. Stacking the vehicles, adding in tour dates and some subtle Phish references, as well as great creativity and color schemes showed that Otto is moving on up among his fellow artists.

6. Jam Jars

5. Summer Tour Pac-Man shirts

These were seen through much of Summer Tour, although the creators never got in touch with us to get on the site. Based on the number of fans wearing them, it’s likely they sold well on tour, if not sold out. Using the one and two-stops on tour as general pellets to eat, and the four 3-day runs the Power pellets is just smart designing. This was well thought out and a great design. It would even be higher on the list, but black isn’t a great color shirt for the summer. But being in the top half of the Best of 2012 isn’t too shabby. Big ups to the four levels at the bottom, one for each tour to date in the 3.0 era.

4. TRiPP Atlantic City triptych 

Try saying THAT five times fast. This set has been sought after by fans and sold quickly, making for yet another classic TRiPP trio of prints that connect to form gorgeous imagery.

3. Jiggs Oklahoma City Zoo

Jiggs has branched out from his earlier designs and t-shirts and delved into some great posters in the past year, starting with NYE 2011 and going through 2012 with Bader Field, OKC Zoo and Dick’s prints. This one stands out among them all, capturing the song that would cap off the band’s first show in Oklahoma, in a most unique fashion.

2. Ties from stuPINdous Creations

Never in a million years did I think that Phish-themed ties would be a thing, let alone a well produced thing. Well, Adrian from stuPINdous Creations proved that one wrong, a few times over. First there was the Henrietta tie, then the Cactus and Big Red ties (seen below) and most recently, a Henrietta Bow Tie. Many of these ties sold out quickly, especially the Henrietta tie. These ties are stylish, they are great for work or play and speaking from experience, get compliments nearly every time. That’s a great tie – when they don’t realize there’s a Phish theme to it, but you do. Adrian, nice work on these. Can’t wait to see the Page tie! Here’s to hoping it involves sandwiches!

And the best of PhanArt 2012 is…….

1. Ben Whitesell’s NYE

The intricate detail of this limited edition print from Ben Whitesell and the overwhelming response from Phish fans made this a runaway #1 choice for 2012. Ben has made great prints in the past and this one is the culmination of his growing skills in making great posters. Examine the way in which Ben detailed Trey’s guitar, going deeper with a mechanical angle and creating one of the best posters of 2012. Ben, here’s to hoping you can keep making art of this caliber in 2013!

So, did we miss something? Was there some art that should have made the list? If so, tell us what you think we missed in the comments below. Art is all around us on Phish tour and this is just a small slice of the great art out there this past year. With greater input from fans taken into greater account this year, we feel this is a great representation of the Best PhanArt of 2012. If this past year is any hint, 2013 will be even better.

- PhanArt Pete and the PhanArt Crew

This is an almost complete set of Ryan Kerrigan’s Summer 2011 Happy Fish series for Phish Summer Tour 2011 made by FlipPinOut Productions.

Included in this pin set are: Holmdel, Detroit, Cuyahoga Falls, Cincinatti, DarienLake, Camden, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Portsmouth, Gorge, Hollywood, Tahoe, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver and Essex Junction.

Not included in this set are: Bethel, Mansfield, Merriweather, Watkins and New York City.

Six of these pins are completely sold out from individual sales: Tahoe, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Hollywood ad The Gorge.

Featuring 17 of the 22 pins from the set, each pin is individually bagged and is in perfect condition. These beautifully detailed pins were based on the design’s of Ryan Kerrigan’s prints from the summer tour run of 2011. Each fish has the city, state and the dates played of a venue from the tour written into the scales. Each is individually numbered 1-100 from a limited press of 100 and has a double prong backing and the artists web site on the back. There will be no reprints. Each pin measures 1.25″

All net proceeds (after shipping and ebay fees) will benefit The Mockingbird Foundation to benefit Music Education.

You can bid on these 17 pins here. Please share with friends and fellow pin collectors!

Welcome to the Fourth Annual PhanArt Holiday Gift Guide! Since we don’t have Shakedown to hit off to do our Holiday shopping (remember Fall Tour?), PhanArt brings you the best of the lot here, compiling great art and deals for Phish fans. Get everything you need for family and friends, as well as phamily and phriends. Stay tuned for great deals as this page will be updated throughout the holiday season.

SPECIAL DEALS

Cody Schibi has free shipping on all orders and free prints when you spend $15 or more

Nate Duval’s holiday sale includes free shipping through 12/14 and deals for different days of the week

TRiPP is offering 25% off and free shipping on all orders Tuesday 11/27 through Wednesday Night and 25% off orders until Wednesday night with code “wassail”. From 11/29 through 12/31, code rudolPH will work to give you 20% off, plus if you spend $100 or more you get free shipping through 12/31. Don’t forget to check out holiday cards and limited edition archived prints.

Doctor Fluff Tees is offering holiday specials store-wide. Use one of their two coupons to get even greater discounts! 20% off on Cyber Monday with code GIVETHANKS and 10% off with code PHANART through 12/31 (but you can only use one code on Cyber Monday, so go with GIVETHANKS)

Among other deals, Tube, Tweezer and Doctor Fluff posters are all 25% off!

Plus all Tie-dye Grateful Dead shirts are 25% off and you can pre-order these onesies pictured below.

You only get one set of ears and if you see live music, your hearing can be damaged quite easily. Read a little about how earplugs are beneficial when seeing live music and pick up Pete’s recommendation – Hearos Xtreme Protection.

POSTERS

Four posters for $40 – With a great deal of posters donated to PhanArt to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation, there’s a ton of great posters to get and for $40, you get FOUR prints, with the $40 going to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation for music education. If you want to request a tour or a specific artist (who has been featured on PhanArt.net in the past few years), we will try to honor your request as best as we can.

Ryan Kerrigan has his NYE Canvas for sale, as well as handdrawn mandalas and butterflies

Jiggs has two of his prints from this summer available. 

Bader Field Posters: $15 shipped

Deer Creek posters: $20 shipped

Branden Otto has four prints just added to the site, and if you Buy 2, you get 1 FREE. Click over to see Branden’s latest and pick up some incredible art. He’s had an incredible year! All orders will also receive a promo code for 25% off Otto’s NYE poster that will be released in early December.

Marq Spusta has created “Morris” to help raise money for the MS Society via Screens ‘n’ Suds.  Morris is a 5″x7″ screenprint on textured paper and available in one of two variants, gold or vanilla for only $17. All proceeds go to MS Society! Plus, there are a ton of other great prints available as well! 

BOOKS

The PhanArt ‘Read the F#$%ing Book Club‘ has reviews and links to buy all 14 books written on Phish, as well as reviews by members of the Phish community. Prices vary.

PhanFood cookbooks, the first cookbook by Phish fans for Phish fans is available for only $20, with net profits benefiting the Chittenden Food Bank in Burlington, Vermont. PhanFood features appetizers, salads, soups, sandwiches, entrees, desserts, drinks (with and without alcohol) and a variety of other concoctions that Phish fans enjoy while they are in the lots, at the site, or just sitting at home waiting for the next tour to be announced.

SHIRTS

The original Eat More Kale shirt (and hoodie) is available for $25

You Enjoy Me  -has onesies and tees for the little ones, with great prices – 2 for only $25!. Check out a gallery of designs from our writeup on them.

The Woods Tees in three colors are now discounted to $18!

Indigo

Count 8 Festivals shirts are only $10 each, with just TWO remaining! These shirts from Festival 8 features Count von Count in sizes Medium and Large only. Free shipping on orders.

Of course, there are Golgi/Google, Tweezer/Twitter shirts, plus “Me No are no Nice Girl” shirts for ladies (only sizes left are: 1 small, 1 large, 1 XL and 1 XXL - shirts run a little small). All shirts come with a free sticker and free shipping. Order in the PhanArt Store.

Plus there are Summer 2011 shirts for only $6 with free shipping

Also, the pre-order for YEMSG shirts and hoodies has been extended until 11/30! Pick them up in the PhanArt Store because they are only available on pre-order. Free YEMSG sticker and NYEMSG 2011-2012 sticker with each order! Shirts ship in mid-December (free shipping too!)

PINS

Phanbadge MSG Subway Tokens and Manhole covers are $15-16 each or in a three pack with a free bonus pin included!

Golgi/Google and the Mound/Joy pair of  pins are $15 each.

Ryan Kerrigan’s Happy Fish are only $15

Jiggs has his Kuroda pins for $10 each

Pin Me Down has your the freshest new pin designs on the market, offering Phish, GD and many more designs. Pins cost $8-35, with a few pins costing only $5 during their holiday sale. As always free shipping on orders over $30.

Crazyredbeard has a number of pins for sale, notably his new Birds of a Feather Omnidirectional Love pin. This pin is an original design by Jonathan Blake, a raven and an eagle interlocked in the center by a heart with the four directions of the compass symbolizing love radiating outward in all directions. This pin is only $15 plus $3 shipping.

JEWELRY and MORE

Jennifer Kahn’s 2012 Commemorative NYE NYC MSG Token pendant is available in Sterling Silver or Brass. Her 3rd token, this design features an upward spiral emanating from the big apple. Take the New Year’s run energy and grow, expand, move forward and reach out in the coming year. There’s nowhere to go but UP!

Jami Dudenhoeffer has stickers and iphone skins available for $5-10

Glowstickwars.com is having a Red, Green and Blue sale. From now until Boxing Day (thats December 26th to you and me, tubes of Red Show Sticks, Green Show Sticks, and Blue Show Sticks can be ordered from the GSW online store for as low as $6.49 per tube of 100 8″ glowsticks, with 100 bracelet/necklace connectors included. That’s a 35% discount! And remember, 10% of all Show Sticks sales are donated to The Mockingbird Foundation.  Take advantage of this great limited time offer and MAKE IT RAIN this Holiday season!

STICKERS

Stickers are a great stocking stuffer!

Jiggs stickers  include Kuroda / Laser Pointer and Stop Analyzing

Also, conceived by Andy Cary and designed by Jiggs is the runaway sticker design of the summer, “My Other Car is a Second Set Tweezer”, available in the PhanArt Store

YEMSG stickers, inspired by PhanArt Pete on 12/4/09 and designed by Jiggs are a classic and 1 for $3, 2 for $5. 

Read Icculus stickers from Christine Liotti are only 1 for $3, 2 for $5 and can be picked up here.

YEM WE CAN, celebrating both Phish and the President’s re-election are also 1 for $3, 2 for $5

YEM Family Decal stickers – A spoof of those stickers we see on the back of cars detailing who is in the family. Well, this one is for phamily, via Glowstickwars.com – less than Three Dollars!

Available in the PhanArt Store, all Ryan Kerrigan posters are 20% off, with all three prints available for $30, which includes a $10 donation to the Mockingbird Foundation.

http://phanart.weebly.com/posters.html

We posted this last year as a heads up to Phish fans who might be selling posters, shirts, stickers, pins or other items outside of MSG. Read on for a true life story from the NYE 2010 run and avoid getting arrested this New Years Run!

Woke Up This Morning…

NYC Tax Evasion

One Way To Avoid Jail If You Plan On Vending This NYE run

by Uncle Ebeneezer 

If you enjoyed the Makisupa on 1/1/11, you’re welcome.  I got arrested before the show that day for selling artwork on the first poster I sold that day.  I was arrested with another phan who was selling pins (really awesome pins too).  Why?  Neither of us had a tax id. After selling a poster in front of the venue before doors opened, I was approached by a police officer and before I knew it, was in cuffs. I was searched and placed with a vendor who was selling pins. There was a semi-circle of 5 cops around us, as if we were active threats to public safety.  After a half hour, we were loaded into a paddy wagon and driven to a station to be booked. We were hassled and we were mocked at the station for being phans, we were threatened and insulted, we had our shoelaces, belts and strings from our hoodies removed, we were fingerprinted and photographed…all for selling posters and pins.   Luckily we made it out (with a ticket to appear in a New York City court in February) and inside the venue without missing any music, but I don’t recommend the experience to anyone.

This poster was the case

Following the steps below could have saved me from a major bummer of an experience. Be safe if you’re vending in NYC this year. Let’s face it, with all that is going on down on Wall Street, NYPD are going to be extra anxious to crack a few heads this year.  Don’t be that head. I made it out of the precinct and inside MSG without missing any music, but I don’t recommend it to anyone. The City of New York requires all vendors including artists and written matter vendors to have a sales tax ID and carry it with them while vending.

Some more great info courtesy of Noah Phence: http://knol.google.com/k/selling-art-on-the-street-the-basics#

The need for a vending permit to sell anything in NYC was brought to our attention. According to this link, a vending permit is not needed for specific things:

LICENSE DESCRIPTION:

You must have a General Vendor license if you sell, lease, or offer to sell or lease goods or services in a public place. 

You do NOT need a General Vendor license if:

• You sell newspapers, periodicals, books, pamphlets, or other written matter.
• You sell artwork, including paintings, photographs, prints, and sculptures.
• You sell food. Note: Food vending requires a license from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/health for information about food cart vendor licenses and permits.
• You will only sell merchandise from a booth or stand at an authorized Street Fair (e.g., street fair, block party, or festival). Please note that you must obtain a Temporary Street Fair Vendor Permit to sell merchandise at an authorized Street Fair.

Ryan Kerrigan’s smiling fishes are following us to MSG NYE run ’12! Along with the fishes are canvases and pins.

You can see more of Ryan’s work by ‘Liking’ his art page on facebook the art of ryan kerrigan or his website www.ryankerrigan.com.

The Madison Square Garden canvas is 29″x14″ stretched and ready to hang. Edition of 27. Commemorating what will be a total of 27 MSG shows. The banners in the canvas list all the dates of all the MSG shows!
$150 shipped (with holiday extras!)

2012 MSG happy fish pins. Edition of 100, $15 each.

2012 MSG pinboard with three circle light pins. The foamcore board is 18″x10″x1/2″. Edition of 55. Pins are exclusive to these boards. The board is designed to showcase anywhere from zero to all 21 of the happy fish pins in the 2012 series.
The board plus 3 light pins are $50 each, shipped.

PayPal all orders to ryan@ryankerrigan.com

Free and immediate shipping on everything.