Adam Niven is Solbar’s artist-in-residence this month.

His show officially opens tomorrow night.

The Mountain Creek designer, who moonlights as a drummer, has created designs for many local bands.

Some of them include Chamber Lane, Catching Salmon, Likeside, Dunnill Blues, The Vee Bees and SUBSKRYPTION.

“It will be my first solo show and I’ve put together a new bunch of monster musicians to hang out on the wall,” he says.

“I just love drawing and designing them. Solbar is the perfect fit as a music venue.”

Adam sells his work at markets and on his website, where people can order T-shirts with his designs.

He has even worked with businesses, such as the beer-friendly folk at Your Mates Brewing.

Adam created the brewery’s Mateship Tour (pictured) tee for a campaign which shouted 3000 schooners across 30 Queensland pubs.

And he even won their T-shirt competition earlier this year, featuring the “Larry-can”.

A lifetime of drawing

Adam has been drawing since he was a cartoon-loving kid.

“I remember drawing so many Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, when the first one came out.

“I always scribbled and drew cartoon-style doodles over everything.

“Doing art and being creative gives me life.”

It’s been a busy month for the owner of Builtfromboxes, who has been drawing up a storm ahead of AusMusic T-Shirt Day on Thursday.

The AusMusic Month Drawing Challenge was started by Mid-North Coast illustrator and designer @aidan__is who decided in 2020 he wanted to support Australian bands.

The challenge raises money and awareness for Support Act, which helps music industry workers in crisis, and the bands get to choose the winning pieces.

In the comp, Adam won the bidding for The Vee Bees and 50 LGE.

“Other bands have seen me doing those designs and then got me on board to do something for them.”

While he uses digital art for this challenge, Adam mostly paints on recycled items such as records.

“I still love the simplicity of just scribbling around with lead pencils and most of my designs start there.

“I also love doing some that move from pencils to inking and colour, but normally I’m using water-based coloured inks and watercolour paper.”

A creative holiday house

Adam grew up holidaying on the Coast after his grandparents “made the greatest decision of his life”, retiring here in the mid-80s.

His business was inspired by the kind of art he would create on those long school holidays.

“Builtfromboxes is inspired by spending time with the kids and creating something, whatever the imagination can power out of a box.

“And you’d have a tonne of fun with that. Maybe for an afternoon, maybe for a few days. And maybe the box would hang around for a month or so.

“The power of those creative moments, just held loosely, is something I try to keep connected to as I create the different art that I do.”

A popular local musician

Adam is the drummer for five bands, including one aptly-named The Locals.

He also played in ska group, Gerald, which was popular in the early 2000s, and is a bass guitarist in original pop-outfit, Padre, which has a new album out next year.

“I’ve been drumming since before the original ‘Point Break’ came out, and added bass to my repertoire in the last couple of years.

“I just played a couple of unreal shows with Gerald a couple of weeks ago. It was great fun to play with The Sunny Coast Rude Boys at Solbar and The V Room.”

His simple dream is that people continue being creative.

“I hope people just keep creating for the sake of creating. It’s hard work, and sometimes has little financial reward.

“But it’s such a lifeblood of what builds communities as people gather around creative experiences that inspire and provoke them.”

Adam Niven’s Solbar exhibition opens tomorrow, from 5pm-7pm, and runs until January.

Check out some of the merch for AusMusic T-shirt day or visit ausmusictshirtday.org.au.