Darrin Brenner

According to Moonalice Legend, each year March is designated Women’s History Month to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. In celebration, we are highlighting talented women who have contributed their creative artwork to the Moonalice poster catalog.

We are now featuring the creative Darrin Brenner who has selected 12 of her favorite Moonalice posters!

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Darrin Brenner's Favorite Posters

I was born in Los Angeles in 1960, to a family who always encouraged me to cultivate my creativity, which I expressed by drawing all the time as I grew up. As I got older, album covers began to interest me, so I started closely studying the various styles and techniques involved. When I was fourteen, I was introduced to the Grateful Dead by my older sister which opened my creative awareness to the work of psychedelic album and poster art, by artists such as Kelly Mouse Studios and Rick Griffin. Inspired by them, I began creating my own psychedelic illustrations, using colored markers, pen and ink, and watercolor.

After high school, I moved to northern California, attended Sonoma State University, and worked professionally as an animation cel painter. In the 1980s, I moved back to Los Angeles, and there began my career of graphic design, working for a variety of companies by doing production
art and design for newspapers, magazines, film production companies, video distribution houses, advertising firms, RV companies, et cetera. However, I never strayed from my personal creative pursuits, and would do freelance work just as frequently; I have created numerous logos and posters for bands, as well as other types of businesses, designed invitations, business cards and brochures, as well as illustration, design and layout for a number of books, packaging, and promotion for various industries, and so on, and so on.

But through everything since the very start, I dreamed of doing artwork for the Grateful Dead. That finally came to be when I first saw Cubensis (a Grateful Dead tribute band based in Southern California that got their start in 1986) in 1998, and fell in love with the band. Upon asking the band’s lead guitarist, Craig Marshall, who did their band’s art, Craig said, “No one.” To this, I said, “Now I do.” From that point on, I did all of the band’s artwork. Being the artist for Cubensis not only allowed me to finally have an outlet for my Dead-centric creativity, but garnered me an audience for my poster work, coupled exponentially by the placement of my art on social media. Now, people across the country and around the world were able to see my art, gaining me clients who would have never seen my art otherwise. This wider audience included Roger McNamee of the band Moonalice, who, after opening for Cubensis in 2010 and seeing the posters I created for them, invited me to create artwork for his band. My first Moonalice poster was released in 2011, and has begun what I like to call the greatest art gig I have ever had. On top of having total creative freedom when designing posters, and retaining the copyright to all of that art, my audience has grown even more, and I gained opportunities that once were only dreams.

Just like Cubensis opened the door to Moonalice, Moonalice in turn has opened many doors for me. Since working for both bands, I have been honored to create numerous works for the Grateful Dead Scholar’s Caucus,The Rex Foundation, KPFA’s “Dead to the World”, the annual June Lake Jam Fest, The Skull & Roses Festival, and countless local bands throughout the country. I have met so many of my own personal idols at the annual 4/20 shows Moonalice throws in San Francisco, including people like Stanley Mouse, who inspired me to create the art that brought me into the same room with him in the first place. It was at the first of these Moonalice 4/20 shows that I attended when I saw the alley behind the venue, Slim's, completely lined with hundreds of posters created by the Moonalice artists, including mine. The physical embodiment of all this tangible, diverse and amazing art that would not exist if not for Chris Shaw and Roger McNamee's vision, coupled with Roger's generosity, brought me to tears, and the incredible community and environment that has been allowed to prosper is not lost on me. Today, I continue to do freelance graphic and illustration work more than ever. ~ Darrin Brenner