We were lucky enough to sit down with Brian Meade, owner of Alma Mater custom apparel, and have a chat about art, Gainesville, and the joys of custom design for University of Florida Athletics.
GS – So you do the uniforms for the university?
BM – Yeah we do a lot of stuff for the athletic association for most of their sports on their custom screen printing
GS – Tell us how you got started with that.
BM – It was a small order for soccer or softball, and then after designing and printing stuff for them, it was just word of mouth after that. It just kind of snowballed from there.
GS – When did that start?
BM – I believe the first order was softball in 2005 and then soccer in 2006.
GS – What drew you to Gainesville as opposed to somewhere else?
BM – I had a job opportunity here for art. I came here to do some paintings and I liked it so I stayed. I’m originally from Vero Beach. I went to school in Savannah at SCAD and did some paintings here. I came here for the art then got into screen printing.
GS – Did you go to SCAD for painting?
BM – Yeah, it was illustration and graphic design. There’s not a whole lot of illustration jobs, but if you can use some illustration and a little bit of design, it helps out a lot in making t shirts.
GS – Do you do any paintings on the side?
BM – I do. This takes up a lot of time. I have about 5 or 6 canvases I’ve started right now that I’ll probably do something with. I usually finish 1 painting a year.
GS – Do you think having that degree has helped you out a lot in t shirt design?
BM – Yeah, for sure. I think its more having that connection to great artists. You end up learning a lot more being around those talented people and learning from them rather than just learning by yourself.
GS – Whats your favorite part about living in Gainesville?
BM – Probably just the fact that the whole town stays young. After a while it starts to make you feel a little bit old. You know the schedule. Its kind of predictable. Its going to get busy based mainly around the UF sports. Coming up to football season, its really exciting. Even in Savannah, there’s a lot of stuff going on, but you don’t have that rush of excitement.
GS – What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?
BM – I’d like to say I’d be sitting on a beach somewhere. I”d still love to paint more often. I wish I could sit in a studio and paint all day long, but its not really something you can make money with.
