September September 2015
www.MoonValleyTattler.com
VOL 35 No. 9
MEET MOON VALLEY’S FRANK YBARRA: HE’S THE PROFESSIONAL ARTIST FOR THE MOON VALLEY GRASSHOPPER BRIDGE 5K RUN BY SU SA N M E R C E R H I N R I C H S , R E P O R T E R , T H E M O O N VA L L E Y TAT T L E R
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Moon Valley is all about neighbors helping neighbors. Becoming involved with their lives and their endeavors -- lending a helping hand when and where needed. And it’s just this kind of community spirit that propelled a talented Moon Valley artist to contribute his talents to a local event that will celebrate its tenth anniversary on Sept. 26. The artist is Frank Ybarra. The event is the 10th annual Moon Valley Grasshopper Bridge 5K Run/5K Walk/5K Two-Person Relay. And one day a decade ago, race organizer and Moon Valley resident Paul Ruckel, contacted his neighbor and longtime friend Ybarra with an idea. “Paul’s always been an avid runner and he started this benefit run,” Ybarra says. “The first time he called me -- he knew I’m a graphic artist -- he asked me if I’d design a logo for the run.” Ybarra considered the T-shirt design offer and said yes to what now can be considered a local tradition that has raised some 1 million dollars benefitting Phoenix Children’s Hospital, along with two nonprofit organizations, the Jaydie Lynn King Foundation and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research. For inspiration for his pro bono Grasshopper Bridge race work, Ybarra turns to our surroundings -- our nearby mountains, our desert landscape, local wildlife, flora and fauna and the iconic Grasshopper Bridge that is a feature in Moon Valley Park. “Every year, I try to do something about our neighborhood,” Ybarra says. “Something depicting the life in our area.” Ruckel has some input regarding the logo. He’ll usually choose the main Tshirt color, Ybarra says, to provide a shade around which the artist can lets his creativity flow. “Having Frank design the artwork for the 5K since its inception in 2006 has been invaluable,” Ruckel says. “. . . his talent is special. I am honored to have him share his talent with the 5K for 10 years now! Frank is typical Moon Valley -- a very caring guy, and he is a big, big part of the Moon Valley Grasshopper Bridge 5K.” For this year’s logo, Ybarra looked no farther than his front yard, where one day he saw a roadrunner. The bird provided the core of an idea for this year’s logo. Then the artist embarked on the creative part of his process. Initially drawing roadrunner sketches, he developed his idea over the course of four or five hours, and
then tweaked it to perfection. “It didn’t really take long,” to develop the idea fully, he says, adding the creative part of a work’s inspiration is the hardest. Next comes adding the colors that bring the work to life. “I like my color,” Ybarra says of the vibrant hues that typically invigorate his works; and the 2015 logo is ablaze with a roadrunner’s energies. The purple-hued bird seemingly bursts through a stretch of earthen desert-type racetrack flanked with cacti to a reach a stretch of a banner that could be heralding the finish line of a roadway race. The longtime Moon Valley resident says as a youngster, art always was a part of his life. He sketched; he drew; he painted. Studying graphic design at Arizona State University, Ybarra landed a job as a designer right after school, working in the art department of what now is the Banner Health system.
Continued on page 3.
LOGOS
THROUGHOUT
THE YEARS
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Saturday September 27, 2014