Shoemaking is a complex undertaking. Making shoes with sustainability in mind is even more complex. But Max Romey—who works with KEEN as an artist and Impact Maker—has a knack for making both things easier to understand.
This Alaskan painter and filmmaker has turned his dyslexia into a superpower for storytelling—with watercolours instead of words.
Telling stories was not always natural to Max, who was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child. Encouraged by his artist grandmother, he turned to painting to share ideas without having to spell them out.
These days, Max expresses his love of nature as a filmmaker and climate activist. KEEN partnered with Protect Our Winters as title sponsors of Max’s Footprints on Katmai which premiered at MountainFilm in Telluride in May. In the film, he travels to the remote beaches of Katmai, Alaska where alongside marine debris experts, he learns about all the people making footprints on Katmai without ever visiting.
“Sometimes painting is just a great excuse to spend as much time as you want in a beautiful place.”
Get to Know Max in 60 seconds (Shared from the KEEN blog)
3 Things Always in Your Backpack:
A sketchbook or two. (I have a hard time leaving home unless I am packed as if I will be stuck in the mountains for a week.) A spare diaper. (I am a new dad and am living that life.) A granola bar that I forgot to eat during my last trip, there is always one that lives in my backpack like a resident artist.
Fave Place You’ve Painted:
There is a mountain right above Anchorage, Alaska, where I live that I can’t get enough of. I have painted from sun up to sun down on the longest day of the year. And even went up to sketch all night long on the longest night of the year. Sometimes painting is just a great excuse to spend as much time as you want in a beautiful place.
Most Unusual Object You’ve Painted:
Once I spent 30 minutes sketching a frozen moose during a long ski. Sometimes no one will believe what you saw unless you bring a photo back, but it turned out a sketch worked just as well.
Number of Sketchbooks You’ve Filled:
I have about 40 sketchbooks started, but I usually get distracted before I can fully finish one cover-to-cover. My guilty habit to get myself back into the swing of things is cracking a new blank book open.
Bucket List Painting Destination:
My grandmother would always send me sketches of penguins from Antarctica when I was a little kid. One day I would love to visit that continent and sketch those amazing little birds.
If You Were a Hue, What Hue Would You Be?:
I would be a deep purple. Simple, fun but always a surprise when you mix it with other colors.
If You Were a KEEN Shoe, What Shoe Would You Be?:
I would be a Revel boot, because they have helped me stay out in Alaska’s winter without my toes freezing.
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