In Part I of the Dispensary 33 Artist Series, we commissioned local artist, JACKOAT to design exclusive cannabis-inspired Air Force Ones. The collaboration supports Chicago’s community and expresses the D33 cannabis culture through precise color matching and hand-painted icons.
We love to collaborate with Chicago Artists. Read more about the Dispensary 33 2021 Artist Series.
From the Artist
When it comes to art, I am an individual who dabbles in many different styles and takes on many different projects, but this one was special because it dealt with two passions of mine, Cannabis and my more recent passion for shoes and customizing them. When I was approached about this project it instantly made sense to me, especially with today’s culture of unlikely entities collaborating to make something special! I used my design skill to merge the different yet intertwining worlds of cannabis and sneaker fashion to create something that can both be worn for style and appreciated as art. When thinking about how to customize the shoes I took the approach of treating it like a “collection” almost as if Dispensary 33 collabed with Nike itself to create some exclusive Air Force ones, and the results were none other than a professional but fun and simplistic final product. Normally when customizing shoes or doing any form of art I don’t have an exact process, I dive in headfirst and let everything take its course but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some small prep/planning and meticulous moves made to ensure everything is to the highest standard but there is no exact step-by-step process I normally take. I wanted to ensure that these customs were of the highest quality so I did something I’ve never done before and made a mockup Air Force One template so that I could sketch the design I wanted to use beforehand.
After sketching up the designs, I went to the shoes drew my design onto the shoe itself and then began to figure out my color palette so that I can lay down the paint. Everything was hand-painted except for the logos which were created by way of stencil and airbrush. Once all the shoes were painted and details finalized, I went back in with a protective clear coat to give them a factory finish look, and the Illinois AF1 cannabis collection was born. In my opinion, this project was a perfect way to illustrate how cannabis can be incorporated into everyday life let alone specific areas of interest to make a seamless display of cannabis culture as a whole and its versatility.
