Sloth creates mural at GoPro Mountain Games

Art is celebrated at the GoPro Mountain Games in many forms, large and small, and you may have witnessed the live art happening up on the CoLab stage, but did you realize there’s also been a large work of art that has been coming to fruition throughout the four-day festival? Timmy Ham has been creating a huge mural on the east entrance of the Vail Village parking structure full of color and iconic images of the Vail area.

“This is such a cool space to work with. It’s a unique, curved, angled wall which I’ve never done before and I like that it is one of the first things you see when you enter Village Village,” Ham said. “The angles are different. The dynamic’s different.”

This is Ham’s second trip to the GoPro Mountain Games and you may also know him for his lifestyle brand which he started in 2007 called Sloth, which was first his tag in his artwork, but it eventually became his full time job. That full time job has lead Ham to work with Fortune 500 companies and do fun collaborations for brands like Vans, Oakley, Nike and more.

Much like his other signature works, this new mural will feature bright colors and will predominantly be done with spray paint.

“I’ll probably use 15 different colors, but a lot of it will be shades from similar colors. It’ll be a lot of pastel and a couple bright, almost neon colors,” Ham said. “I love bright colors that make people stop and kind of just smile.”

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Ham is using his surrounding to direct the content of the mural.

“The mountains here are a huge inspiration and then I had to bring in some wildlife, so I’ve got to a moose and then my character is a sloth, but he’s kind of like a yeti Sloth. So, it goes really well with the mountains,” Ham said. “And then, where I’m from is Arizona, so I’m trying to tie in a little bit of everything into one. I bring my piece into the art as well as bring Vail into it.

Ham estimates it may take him 10 to 12 hours to finish the mural at the Vail Village parking structure since spray paint is a medium that dries quickly.  

In between working on the mural, Ham plans to participate in various events at the GoPro Mountain Games. His wife and four kids are along and they are looking forward to the bike events, the trail running races and the Nature Valley Mountain Mud Run.

Art and athletics come together in this Arizona-based professional artist and athlete, but it didn’t start out that way. Ham was focused of sports in his youth and played Division I football for the University of Nevada.

“When college football ended for me, I had a lot of free time on my hands and I realized I loved being creative,” Ham said. “I think I just so happened to pick up a spray can and loved street art. So, I took the work ethic from football and applied it to the creative world and have just been grinding after it ever since.”

Ham’s work inspires others with slogans like “All is Possible” on his hats and t-shirts and he lives that ethos daily. Follow his Instagram and Facebook accounts for more inspiration and check out the latest episodes of “The Creative Life” on YouTube.