Interview: Miranda Kendrick, An Art Producer

Client: Nike / Campaign: Here I am / Artist: Yuko Kondo / Agency: Wieden+Kennedy / Role: Art Producer /

Ever wonder who’s responsible for the campaigns we love? From commercials and billboards to promos and magazine spreads, the ads that evoke our interest wouldn’t be anything without a huge muscle behind it – enter Brit-born Miranda Kendrick, an Art Producer from Bartle Bogle Hegarty in NYC. She works closely with creative departments to source talent, takes on the loads of work in creative development and produces all still productions for the agency – including assets for online production. In a nutshell, she handles the goods. We sat this creative wonder woman down to chat about her work, her passionate side-project blogs, and her favorite heavy hitting ideas…

Client: Asics, Onitsuka Tiger / Campaign: Made of Japan / Artist: Shooting the Breeze / Agency: StrawberryFrog, Amsterdam / Role: Art Producer

Smashbox Studios: Let’s get behind the scenes right away. What’s the skinny?

Miranda Kendrick: I’m an Art Producer at BBH New York and I produce commercial imagery for advertising. We provide art directional leads and propose relevant artists to work with, then negotiating the production arrangements and managing the process of delivering a beautiful, creative baby.

SB: Your bio and what your associates say about your work ethic end in top-notch compliments. Any secrets on maintaining longevity in creative relationships?

MK: I guess I just really like my job and I like who I’ve been lucky enough to work with, so if you’re cheeky like me and ask for a reference when you’re done with a project, you’ll find people write surprisingly nice things about you – especially if they happen to the industry’s best copy writers. I think my approach is that I don’t treat my job like a job. It’s part of who I am, so I’m attentive to performing really well because it’s not work, it’s much more important than that…it’s me.

SB: Aside from being an Art Producer, you have many other interesting endeavors – plenty of cooking, craft, and fashion blogs. How do you have time in one day?

MK: I just have a lot of ideas for things I’d like to make, which would be fine I think if I didn’t then challenge myself to see if I could complete them all!
I do a lot of crafts; sewing, knitting, quilting, baking, a little illustration, I love making costumes, props, stuff like that, (I’m a wanna-be Martha Stewart) and then I do some other online projects. I have a style blog called Working It At Work where I seek out the best styled individual in the work environment and blog about it. I help my sister run the website for her cooking brand, The Intolerant Gourmet, a foodie blog. My crafty stuff goes up on my Create&Borrow site which only my mum reads, but it’s just meant to be a little scrap book of the things I’ve made. I’m working on another site at the moment which is more work related – a collection of photographers, illustrators and artists that I admire. I like making things. Some things are more successful than others, but the day the clocks go back is my favorite day, one extra hour!

SB: Do you have a musing mantra you abide by daily to keep you going?

MK: “Excellence is not a skill, it’s an attitude”. I have it written inside my notebooks. My dad told it to me once and said he thought I might like it. I love it.

SB:What made you want to become a lunch-break fashion photographer? How does a persons original style inspire you?

MK: Working it at Work actually started life as a joke, but it kind of took off and interestingly it sparked a little flurry of competition. I just photograph my work colleagues when I think they’re ‘working it at work’ that day! I have some stylish colleagues and I like the people I work with so I just wanted to appreciate the effort they made every day. It’s nice to be noticed and appreciated.

Client: Axe / Campaign: Make Out More / Photographer : Sven Jacobsen / Agency: BBH / Role: Art Producer

SB: What is your biggest personal accomplishment?

MK: Probably…helping my sister secure her two book deal with Harper Collins!! It was a very humbling experience to work together with her on her project and be able to use the production and marketing experience I have from years working in advertising and apply it to something really meaningful for her. The Intolerant Gourmet is my sister’s 10 years of learning to re-love cooking and eating with her food intolerance and allergies. She’s very talented and her recipes are amazing, but publishing is a business like any other that requires a business approach if you want to get what you want from it. It felt serendipitous that I was able to help her achieve what she wanted to do.

SB: We heard that your husband blogs as well. Any worth checking out? We love discovering anything new.

MK: He has too many blogs to count, most of which remain unread by the world and are hilarious and mildly offensive – but his most consistent effort is Listbyjon, where he lists 10 things he liked online that week. The content is all industry related; photographers, illustrators, directors, artists etc. He’s got great taste and I admire his dedication to do it so consistently – every Friday, without fail (I’m not that consistent, as you’re learning).

SB: How long did it take you to get this multi-faceted?

MK: 18 months. Haha, no… umm, I definitely don’t think of myself as an artist, I just like to make things. But I’ve only be trying hard at it for about 6 or 7 years – Before that I was just at the party.

SB: Do you find yourself working with Los Angeles based clients at all? How do you view the creative world in LA? Name-drop, please.

MK: I haven’t spent enough time in LA unfortunately. I definitely want to shoot more on the West Coast and work more with artists and companies (Hello, Smashbox!) over there. I love how each area of the world produces tonally different work. Collectively we go through a visual consciousness together on multiple levels; world, country, cultural group, time, location and the same is true for the influence it has on a collective of artists. Without generalizing too much (!)

SB: Influence. Will you briefly give us your take on global influence and creativity?

MK: Without generalizing too much, I love that Dutch photography has such distinctive lighting and that French still-life is so conceptual. I love that LA has this epic, energetic portraiture that comes from the light and the people on the West Coast. You can feel the energy shooting off the page. Of course, there are many types of artist and styles, but the best of that feeling comes from LA, no question.I’m a fan of Giant Artists and DSReps for that young fresh energy feel, they all have great people like Amanda Marsalis and Lauren Dukoff. I’m a huge Norman Jean Roy fan, his work is so right. But I also love the design and illustration that comes out of the west coast like Mike Giant and Geoff Mcfetridge and the way Hollywood and the skate/sport worlds influence the scenes in different ways. It all comes together to make a wonderful, sexy mix of work.

SB: What’s the 411 in NYC right now, creatively speaking?

MK: New York has it’s own flavor, influences and high points. The city’s cynicism & ambition make for a powerful mix. It creates a sort of ‘do your worst’ slash ‘do your best’ venom that makes everyone try so hard. New Yorkers judge themselves hardest and I think it creates a frighteningly high standard of output. I love it here because it encourages the possibility to be the best you could possibly be. The photography and art definitely has a look here as well. It takes itself much more seriously, it’s grittier and darker. Everywhere has a look and an influence, I love it.

Client: Johnnie Walker / Campaign: Say It Without Saying It / Typography : Ben Wiseman / CGI: Plenty / Agency: BBH / Role: Art Producer for Typography and CGI Production (not photography)

PLAYING FAVORITES:

SB: …Artist?

MK: I’m not sure it’s possible to have one favourite anything because I change my mind too much… But I love all of these guys: Stephan Balleux, James Jean, Los Carpinteros, Will Cotton, Taryn Simon, Sol Lewitt, Alex Prager, all for different reasons.

SB: …Director?

MK: Same thing goes for directors and I’m actually not very good with film because I really seem to think in stills, but my favourite directors are always those that make every frame look like a photo in it’s own right, so directors like Sofia Coppola, Darren Aronofsky and Wes Anderson have me at the opening credits.

SB: …Designer?

MK: I’m a bit all over the place. I go from Sandra Dee sweet and innocent on Tuesday to Sandy Rock-n-Roll on Thursday. But in contrast I think my favorite designer is probably Catherine Malandrino, because she dresses the kind of consistent, sophisticated woman I wish I was.

SB: …Photographer? We are holding our breath…and go!

MK: I definitely have way too many favorite photographers to mention, different people for different reasons, but my current photographic crush is on French photographer Gregoire Alexandre who I was lucky enough to just shoot a big campaign with for Westin Hotels this Spring. He was wonderful. It’s such a reward when the artist is as good as you hope they will be and you get to watch them make the work better and better. I’ve also been hankering after this Swiss guy for a while. I can’t stop going back to his site to check out the diary section. It’s kind of addictive. All skate kids and bands and disillusioned youth. I want to find the right job for him so badly. http://www.germinalroaux.com/

SB: Did you actually become what you wanted to be? What did you want to be when you grew up?

MK: I did, strangely enough. I’ve actually wanted to work in advertising since I was about 10 or 11, I wanted to live abroad, I wanted a reason to learn a foreign language (my husbands Swedish) and I wanted to do something to do with photography so I’m not doing too badly, although I speak Swedish like a 5 year old…I think because England is quite a small market, advertising has a more powerful voice and I remember wanting to be the person that made the iconic images I saw everywhere. Like the cigarette ads with no cigarettes in them, they were weird and abstract and looked like modern art! I think there’s something so cool about us all experiencing the visual language together. We get to reach so many people with what we do. That’s why it’s so important that we should make it look good.

SB:Where were you ten years ago, and where do you see yourself ten years from now?

MK: Ten years ago I was just getting my first job in advertising in London. I hope in ten years time I will have lived in more countries, made a lot more work, started some kind of business of my own, met more amazing people, been in the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (I keep missing it), had a family, got paid and found a hairstyle I can stick with. And have a dog. What everyone wants, right?

SB: How are you going to evolve your work?

MK:I hope I keep getting to work with people I admire. Keep the standards high.

SB: Anything in the works that we can look forward to? You know, since we now have a sweetheart in NYC…

MK: I want to grow my photography/artist blog into something more useful and relevant for myself and the art directors I work with – I want to try to make it an extension of my experience & bookmarks with a search system that works the way we think. But I’ve also been working as an art director on a couple of big client pieces, which will be really rewarding to produce the work that’s been my concept as well. I’m working on a way too over ambitious Kaffe Fasset quilt in some amazing Liberty prints, so I hope I manage to finish that this year and do the fabric justice. I’m continuing to work on my sister’s project and that is going to be interesting and challenging to see how the brand grows, maybe into product lines. And I’d also like to start something of my own. Something involving ice cream and a lot of kitsch and cute outfits and making money. Everything is better with ice cream!

SB: Yummy. Now think fast…

Client: Asics, Onitsuka Tiger / Campaign: Misconceptions / Photographer: Satoshi Minakawa / Agency: StrawberryFrog, Amsterdam / Role: Art Producer

FILL IN THE BLANKS:

SB: My Idol is…
MK: In the Room.

SB: My solitude is…
MK: Solo dancing.

SB: My favorite song is…
MK: California Girls, of course!