STREET, ARDS AND DESIRE: BLAKE JAMIESON AND HIS JOURNEY TO TOPPS PROJECT 2020

GROWING UP IN THE 1980S AND COMING OF AGE IN THE ’90S, BLAKE JAMIESON WAS ALL ABOUT THE BASH BROTHERS — MARK MCGWIRE AND JOSE CANSECO. FROM MARIN COUNTY, JUST NORTH OF SAN FRANCISCO, HE WATCHED THEM LIVE AT THE OAKLAND COLISEUM WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. AT HOME, HE AND HIS FATHER AMASSED A COLLECTION OF AROUND 70,000 BASEBALL CARDS.

- RYAN CRACKNELL

A lot has happened to Jamieson since then, something we all experience when youth gives way to adulthood. His journey has had plenty of stops but, in many ways, is coming full circle. Now an artist working out of New York, Jamieson’s work can be found in Topps Project 2020. In turn, it has helped bring him back to the hobby that was a major part of his earlier years.

“It feels surreal. A lot of the cards in the 2020 series are fitting into that ’85 to ’95 window where I was collecting cards so I remember them,” Jamieson said. “The fact now that I’m going to create something that is art that is also an homage to one of my favorite icons of my childhood like Mark McGwire.”

A PATH TO THE JOURNEY

Besides baseball, art has always been a part of Jamieson’s life. When it came time to head off to college, it was his parents who were encouraging him to do something in art, whether that was on the production side or with art history.

However, it was business that he went with, studying economics at UC Davis. That led to a successful career in digital marketing, working for big companies like Zynga and smaller startups in a field that was just starting to emerge.

“It gave me a little bit of an outlet to have some creative freedom, whether it was writing blog content or shooting videos for those companies,” he said. “That was creatively stimulating for a while.”

But on his 30th birthday, Jamieson recognized it was time for a change.

“I was just dreading Monday and I didn’t want to go into the office,” he remembered. “I only get one shot so I want to do something that makes me truly happy.”