From music to the page, Aaron Gomes draws for a cause

We all need some "me time" every once in awhile.

It’s hard, though, to think Aaron Gomes taking some "me time." The giving father, teacher, and executive director for the Visalia-based Sound N Vision Foundation, which exists to create and promote culturally diverse and creative events throughout the Central Valley, is always up to something.

He is a familiar face for anyone who have attended his high-profile events that have drawn some of the biggest names on the national music scene including Built to Spill, Modest Mouse and Vampire Weekend.

During a recent winter break from his day job working as a teacher in Tulare with his fourth-grade students, he was drawn to do something for himself, a chance to step out of his creative box.

“I challenged myself to do 60 drawings in 60 days,” Gomes said. “When it comes to getting something done I’m very much a type-A kind of person. I like having that deadline to meet.”

His method very much ties into his passion for music.

“The way that I’ve been doing it is that I sit down and I put on a record, and by the time the record is done, the drawing has to be finished,” he said.

The results range in subject matter from surreal gags like a walrus with saxophone tusks to moments of purely observational humor with characters being “social” by sitting at home and scrolling through their smartphone.

His influences include the equally surreal and uncomfortably honest artist Gary Larson, who created the infamous single-panel comic The Far Side.

“I like to spend the least amount of time with the least amount of lines. It’s minimalism to me,” Gomes said.

His new single-panel series "Braindrops" will now appear the last Friday of each month in Choices, the Times-Delta/Advance-Register's weekend entertainment section. The artwork will also soon be featured on the walls of the Cellar Door in downtown Visalia as part of a music and art party on Friday, Feb. 5.

As much as his work is stepping out to the public eye, his choice to explore the medium required him to take a step backward to reach into his childhood.

Although exploring his talents now as an artist, Gomes first started drawing when he was 10 years old alongside his best friend Mark. Together they would work on drawings that would often find themselves crammed into a storage box Mark had at school.

Mike Love and The Beach Boys head to Visalia

“He ended up dying that year,” Gomes said. “It was some sort of freak farm incident. Since that was our relationship and that was what we always did — that was heavy. So I stopped drawing for a while.”

He took up different creative pursuits including skateboarding and, of course, music, but decided he would rather not pick up the pen.

“I sort of stopped drawing and stopped being creative in that way for a long time,” Gomes said. “I probably didn’t deal with that the way I should have.”

It wasn’t until an opportunity arose earlier this year that Gomes decided it was time to step back to the drawing board.

And it should come as no surprise that he did it in the fashion that he did.

He began drawing for himself while still helping others.

A vibrant year on the Visalia art scene

“I got a call from Ryan Stillwater who heads up Rainmaker Productions and works with the Visalia Rescue Mission. He saw some of my stuff on Instagram and had this idea,” Gomes said.

The idea was the simple screen-printed T-shirt to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Visalia Rescue Mission with each shirt sold serving as a donation to the organization that benefits men, women and children across the community.

“I said, "Dude, I already know what I want to do,' ” Gomes said. “I had this image of a heart that just kept coming to my mind — because it really is such a giving thing that happens when it comes to the exchange between the Rescue Mission and the people that they work with. I wanted to real simply do something that in an eyeshot says a lot without a lot of words.”

Minimalism is key, and it’s evident in the eloquent design he made of a simple out-stretched hand being met by a bird carrying a heart.

“We all need each other,” the type on the shirt reads.

For Aaron Gomes, that is a powerful message to draw from.

How to help

Currently Gomes is promoting his illustrated screen printed T-shirt design as a benefit in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Visalia Rescue Mission. To support the Visalia Rescue Mission and receive a shirt, make a donation by visiting: www.vrmhope.org/tangibles.