Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Sheetz.
Hi Adam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My love for art started as far back as I can remember. As a kid I was always drawing or doodling. I originally wanted to be a cartoonist – having grown up on shows like Ren & Stimpy and Rocco’s Modern Life. But gradually I honed in on just wanting to be an artist – whatever that was going to end up meaning. Long story not so short, my first real love as an artist happened immediately upon my exposure to gig posters of 60s and 70s rock and roll, I was maybe 11 or 12 – my dad had just gotten me a compilation book of posters from that era. It was my first introduction to the wild marriage of original art and visual communication. Filtered through a very esoteric lens, it was a unique visual language that seemed to speak to a specific audience and culture, and whether you were a part of it or not, you knew who it was for, and if you were a part of it, you knew what it said. I was hooked on exploring communicating to an audience through art (I didn’t yet know it fell under the category of graphic design).
Throughout high school, alongside doodling band logos into my textbooks (along with the typical crude scribbles only a teenage mind could produce), I would paint and kept a sketchbook, but what really got me inspired was doing flyers for my friends’ bands and bands I was in – we all played at Ray’s and Spanky’s back when they were the all ages live music spots downtown (west palm beach). Music has always been a driving force for me, and it was the thing that opened doors for other influences that would make their way into shaping me as an artist (mainly literature, lyrics, and politics).
Throughout college I had my focus set on art – no direction, just creating and exploring as many ways as possible through which I could convey something to an audience. This came in the form of bouncing around from painting, to drawing, to sculpture, and printmaking, then eventually studying design theory and visual communication to see how I could reign all of that into a career path (full disclosure, I’m still figuring out, but I think that’s kind of the point).
In my early 20’s I had the opportunity to conceptualize and design what would be a pretty successful and unique restaurant concept in Boca Raton – Rebel House. From tables to ceiling, and everything in between, I was given a blank canvas to run free, and run I did. It was a dream project and one where I had the opportunity to merge just about every form of art I had studied into one project. I’d say that’s where everything started. After completing that project I ended up joining the restaurant group (which also started El Jefe Luchador, Charm City Burger Co, and Sunshine Provisions) full time as their creative director, dropped out of college, and got my education through firsthand experience and two very open-minded bosses (thanks Evan and Mike!).
I stayed there for about 10 years before I branched out in 2020 and took the leap of faith to start my own creative/design business – Number Nine Creative (nine has always been a significant number for me – but it was also my number in baseball for 12 years). And I’ve been doing that for the last 5 years and have built meaningful relationships with some really great and exciting clients in South Florida and beyond. And that pretty much catches us up to today.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I audibly laughed when reading this question. As the quote goes, “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” It has most certainly not been a smooth road (or sea in the case of that metaphor). But I wouldn’t trade one bit of it, because in every challenge faced, there has been a lesson learned, and growth gained.
I think the biggest struggle for me outside of the general struggles of being a business owner in the creative field, is one I still have to navigate and work through – and that’s myself. I have been hyper focused on my career as an artist and designer from a very young age, and the fire has only burned stronger since then. But with that comes the downside of the natural progression to being a workaholic (and from time to time other forms of a ‘-holic’ of some sort). I have spent much of my adult life being consumed by the what I was creating and the work I was producing – and as any creative knows, sometimes that well of inspiration runs dry – and when you’ve built your identity around such things, you inevitably have to face yourself when those things aren’t present. So in this journey of building my career, it has been just as much of a journey in self discovery and working towards a more complete sense of self outside of the work. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My background is in fine art, and I’ve exhibited here and there – known mostly for Gonzo-inspired politically charged work I did up through the 2016 election. Graphically I got my start doing gig posters (mainly for Respectables) and have a few pieces I’m proud to say are hanging in the halls of the Fillmore, Miami (including one for a personal hero of mine as a musician, Jack White).
But these days I specialize in creative direction and design. My goal is to elevate everyday design into an art form, similarly to some of graphic design’s greatest contemporary icons, Paula Scher, Stefan Sagmeister, David Carson, and Peter Saville to name a few. To clarify, by no means do I hold myself in the same regards as them, but it is certainly an aspiration of mine.
Lately I’ve been enjoying exploring the ways in which emotion and messages can be conveyed through typography, which is an interesting exercise for someone who has predominantly lived life using imagery to communicate.
Beyond that, I just want to have fun and always maintain a sense of playfulness in my work – nothing in life should ever be taken too seriously.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Nothing worth doing is ever easy, but it’s even harder if you try to be anything other than who you are and want to be. Be yourself, do good work, and be kind.
Contact Info:
- Website: no9creative.com
- Instagram: @adamsheetzart @no9creative
