Every once in a while a project just sort of falls into your lap and at the time it seems like no big deal and before you know it, the project is bigger than big, in reality – it’s huge! That is exactly what happened to today’s Shout Out recipient Kari Kumura. Kari is the creative director for Victory In Grace Ministries and last year about this time, a church that is associated with the ministry decided that it would like a new interchangeable backdrop for it’s Christmas pageant. Kari then embarked on the biggest project of her life, and when I say big, I’m talking eighty-nine feet worth of big.

Quote Kari: "I designed and printed the entire backdrop. The backdrop is based on a photograph, but was greatly altered, added in the sky and trees myself. The dimensions are 13′ tall by 89′ wide. The Magiclee Torino was donated by a very generous company, who wanted to remain anonymous, and was printed on an Epson 9600. Our Pageant director has always wanted to change the backdrop, but until this year, we were unable to do so. With much sweating and almost brain-draining work, this is what we came up with. Behind it is a huge Christmas tree, and these panels were "dropped" by a remote release system mid-way through the production."

Put together with stock photos, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, this work of art took 30 hours to print and about 12 hours to install. The backdrop was a triumph and all of Kari’s countless hours working on the project paid off. So much so that she was even interviewed for a wide format magazine and featured this month. Click the picture below to read the full article.

Today’s Shout Out goes out to Kari Kumura for not letting this overwhelmingly large project get the better of her. It is a beautiful work of art and I think she deserves major props for it!!! And the next time you are faced with a project that you think might be too big, just think of Kari and her 15000 square feet of printed material.Maybe then your project might seem a bit more manageable.

To contact Kari or learn more about her work, click the pic at the top and check out her portfolio.