Return For Sender

Every human being on this earth is faced with a choice the moment they open their eyes after a night of rest—what can I do today to move myself forward in life? Understandably, such a weighty question is capable of stopping a well-meaning individual dead in their tracks, leaving them hamstrung by powerful emotions of doubt, indecision, and fear. Aversion to failure is part of the human condition, and over the decades we’ve come up with all sorts of motivational expressions to combat this truth: Go Big or Go Home, You Never Know Until You Go, Seize the Day, etc. In recent years, a new slogan has gained traction amongst the youth, “Send it!”

Popularized by millennials and Gen-Z, “Send it” is an expression that serves as a clarion call for those struggling with uncertainty. A giant set-wave his headed your direction? Send it! You’ve got one more chance to hit that 360 air in the halfpipe? Send it! It may sound corny, but when you actually apply the saying to your life, it has the effect on truly simplifying matters in an increasingly complex and challenging world.

One of the things I love about writing is profiling people with an obvious lust for life in whatever it is they do. Surfers. Musicians. Skateboarders. Here in Santa Cruz, we are surrounded by inspiring people doing rad shit on the daily. People who are truly “sending it”. Today, I’ll be spotlighting arguably the biggest sender I know, and if you don’t believe me, just check his name tag.

Tyler Filkins, aka SENDER of the Made Fresh Crew, is a highly motivated and inspirational waterman, musician, and artist, who’s made it his life’s purpose to spread positivity and stoke with his actions and creativity. Schooled by the streets, this naturally gifted graffiti artist has made a name for himself with his bold and creative style, and now, after a stint absorbing the creative forces present in the Northeast of Brazil, has returned to Santa Cruz with a whole new steez to showcase to the world. 

Last week, SENDER and his wife Sindy presented an art show at the 9 3/4 Portal on Soquel Ave, where they showed off a bounty of work from their time spent in Olinda, Brazil. There, I was able to coax some cool words from the underground talent about his art and the message it conveys. Enjoy!

In a nutshell, describe your history with art growing up. How did that all come about for you?

In a nutshell, it started in third grade with Dr Suess illustrations. Me, Troy dude, and Gerald Stryker were always drawing them and trying to replicate the patterns. Then, I saw a graffiti piece underneath the bridge at Play it Again Sports— I think it was a Hi-Tek piece. From that point forward, I never stopped drawing letters. That was it. So, I had some natural ability, mixed in with some motivation from peeps all around town to draw with.

Inspired by the culture!

Yeah, and just art in general, how to draw things. It was just like with skateboarding and surfing, building BMX jumps, or anything else we did—we always wanted to get better. We’d all show each other our sketches and would be like, “What? You figured out how to draw a muscle, like a bicep, on a DragonBall Z character?” or something like that. Then I would copy pictures from Thrasher Magazine of people doing kick flips down huge stair sets…really focusing on the details in order to get the wrinkles in their jeans, stuff like that. I guess I just loved being able to recreate things like that at first. 

Then later on, everyone around town, all the older boys and stuff, they told me I gotta do my own style. So that was kinda the background about how I learned how important it was to develop your own steez, you know? Be your own, don’t be anyone else’s. Don’t copy. So that sent me off. Then once I’d met Gally, Adam Barger, and all the Live Oak guys, I’d already developed a pretty unique letter style by then. We were always trying to figure out our own personal style.

Yeah, it seems pretty paramount in street art to have that distinction.

Big time! Especially being from the Bay Area or Santa Cruz. But then also, my grandma’s an artist, my aunt’s an artist, and my dad and mom, they’re stick figure artists but they’ve always appreciated my art and supported it. But really, I’d say the inherent ability to do it was passed down from my grandma.

It sounds like you are more or less self taught. If not, did you receive any instruction in school?

No. Everything I did was always in homage to someone I was inspired by—to be as good as they were, if not better. Without getting too close to their style though, you know? I’ve been so motivated and inspired by all the older guys in town over the years. Everybody I do creative projects with, going back to the third grade, we’ve all taught each other. No formal education, just techniques I learned when I wanted to learn them, doing so by going through the motions of trial and error, knowing that I could count on the older homies for tips and guidance if need be.

I’d imagine that some of the allure to the street art is number one, that there’s some danger and risk that, to a little kid is super enticing. Number two, the cultural and tribal aspect of it because when you link up with these people to do art, you’re really coming together as a clan or a crew.  It’s probably like surfing or skateboarding, where there’s a real sense of camaraderie and belonging. Does that make sense?

Yeah, I’d say it’s motivation. That’s the main aspect of it. Sometimes people are highly self-motivated, and that’s rad. You’ll catch a couple random senders that go for it, regardless of what they’re doing. Insane, self-motivated senders. But being in a crew, or a culture, you show up to a spot, wherever that is, whether it’s the park, or the break, sketchbook session, the bridge- wherever you’re gonna do whatever it is you’re doing, you’ve got a crew and some motivation from people who will really push you. 

Everybody is trying to be the freshest or the best, so that was our motivation. Just to get better. It wasn’t necessarily ego-driven. What are you going to do? You’ve got something you love doing, are you going to stay the same? Yeah, you could, but, I think it’s always funner to challenge yourself and get better, too.

Your name, your moniker, is really important in street art. Tell me, obviously it’s clever, but the SENDR thing, can you describe what “sending” means to you and why you chose it as your handle?

It was a life-change moment in 2014. I’d been living up in Tahoe with all my guys out there, my friends, and the rock-climbers and the snowboarders, that was a figure of speech, a saying—“Send it!” Because you were about to literally send multiple limbs through the air, sending yourself forward. So that became, also back to the motivation factor, a really strong message. In 2014, my whole life flipped upside down and I found myself out there. We just grabbed that saying that all the boys out there were saying and took it further, used it for everything. If we’re going to go to the bar, “go send it.” If we’re going on a trip, “time to send it!” So it got repeated so much that we took it and energized it. 

I just think I was the one who energized it the most and gave it so much character outside of that world. That’s where people just started referring me to SENDR, because my life was changing too, so with doing graffiti style art and that stuff I just phased it into my personality. I’m going way beyond in life than I’ve gone before and I think the key is to not stop doing that—just go way beyond, all the time. If you have inspiration to do something, send it, and do it! So that’s where I developed it. And it’s kinda cool because you get to hold it up for everybody, cause everybody is a sender in what they do. If they’re not, maybe they’re just in a rut that they haven’t found a way out of.

Maybe they just haven’t found the right address?

(Laughs) Yeah, send that shit First Class! Priority mail! With tracking! It also just worked like that on so many other levels and gimmicks. Sendjamin Franklin, Jimi Sendrix, you know (laughs). We just have so much fun with it and I was lucky to be able to drive it and embody it in a graffiti name. Then Elijah came through with these envelopes that he’d been painting and told me, “I think these just need to be yours.” He was doing those a decade or two beforehand. So anyways, it was a culmination of being super psyched, and plus it’s just a good message in general. If you’re not sure what you’re doing, just go back to that message. If you’ve got a crush on a girl, just schemin’ and dreamin’—send it! Get it done.

Let’s talk about your art show. Tell me about your time in Brazil and how this influenced the art you’re showing off here.

That was an ultimate send as well. I went on a trip to study Spanish, in Puebla, Mexico. From Puebla I went to Mazunte, Oaxaca. Oaxaca is where I met my now wife, Sindy. At that time, we fell in love pretty quick, and it seemed like a true thing, so we held on to it and let it evolve naturally. It was really solid, and really true, unexpected for both of us. So it was like, “wow, this is a phenomenon that just occurred.” And from there I went out to Peru for three months and Sindy went back to Brazil. 

When I got home, I realized I would have enough money for another adventure to visit Sindy in Brazil if I worked for about a month or so. I said yes to that, and did it. That’s sending it to me. That’s what it’s all about. You get these opportunities, and you could easily back out, but you’ll never really know until you go. That’s how I was introduced to the northeast of Brazil, in a state called Pernambuco, specifically in Olinda, where we lived. They have a huge Carnaval culture out there—really traditional, really old. 

They just use all these incredible fabrics, they blow them up on everything, from the costumes they sell to the banner they make for each parade, essentially. And everything else plastered up on buildings and stuff, these fabrics were used everywhere. So I just absolutely fell in love and become infatuated with the banners that they made, and having our symbol be something we call the “sendvelope”, a square and a triangle, the international symbol of senders, I immediately put the two together, the fabric, the symbol, and said, “We need our own banners!” The crew of the senders is so international and ever-growing—everyone is a sender, right? You just meet these unique people from everywhere. So, it goes far, the symbol, and it’s snowballed every year. 

That was my desire, to share this fabric from Carnaval, in the form of the Sendvelope and create our own banners. Something a little more unique than paint on a canvas, which I very familiar with. I’ve always appreciated other mediums, too. Just to push the envelope (winks and laughs). Found objects- there was a lot of trash in the streets out there in that area of Brazil, so I never had to but anything to paint on- it was just there. Found objects whose traditional lifespan had run it’s course

What is inherently Brazilian about your Sendvelopes? Explain to me aspects of them that was inspired by Brazil?

Definitely the explosion of these radiant, neon colors that just pop and sparkle. Glittery. Crazy pinks and wild florescent colors. It’s that type of color that reminded me of that particular area in Brazil where I lived, in the northeast. They’re all extreme senders out there too. Naturally they’re just senders, they have to be. That’s who they are as a culture of people, they’re always getting after it, really expressively, livin’ life. So with these pieces, all the colors, we just don’t see that stuff here, you know. Like this would be considered “sparkle raver fairy shit” here (laughs). But there, it marks an annual celebration of culture. I wanted to bring a huge berth of these colors back here, to expose people to this, because I was just so changed when I saw it. Glittery sparkle gold and electric pink fuzzballs? I just thought it was so sick!.

As far as embroidering and doing all the nuts and bolts craftsmanship that went in, is that something you had experience in? Did Sindy help out with any of that stuff?

Yeah she did. I didn’t have any experience, but I definitely had the desire to work with fabric. So, I really had to work in Carnaval pressed up against millions of people—I had to get as close as possible to see how they made them. Every once in awhile I could get close enough to peel a layer back or something like that, checking it out. Once I realized how they did it, I just went for it. I don’t want to expose the technique, but none of it’s sewn, I’ll just throw that one hint out there. It’s all done in a different way. I learned that’s how they run everything out there. They have multiple generations of creating this certain type of costumes, signs, and banners. It really blew my mind.

What is next for the Sendr?

Currently, I’m here in Santa Cruz, working up at the Land of the Medicine Buddha, full-time. I’m creating art on the side of that. So, I’ll be developing a bunch of paintings here— also doing some tattoo work and continuing the fabric project. Always doing stuff in connection with Made Fresh Crew—we’re always having new things pop up, creating new events and community projects. The art evolves and moves on. That’s what I’m excited about— to develop a new body of art. Before I left Brazil, I went out to the fabric district and bought a bunch of materials, which I’ve brought back to the States. So, I’ll be here locally now, and we’ll also be doing more art shows here at the Portal—we’re hoping to do that monthly, so hopefully I’ll create another body of art here soon.

And in the meantime you get to expose Sindy to America! Return the favor…

Exactly! Now maybe it’s her turn to get inspired in a totally new direction…

To view Sender’s Brazilian bounty be sure to stop by the 9 3/4’s Portal, 3621 Soquel Dr., Soquel, CA

For more of Sender’s adventures, follow him on IG @deathmetalhippie