Blues is blood for annual festival’s artist

Published 11:49 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

SNOQUALMIE – Phil Chesnut has two passions, the blues and art.

He gets to share them both with Snoqualmie this weekend during the city’s annual Railroad Days festival, where Chesnut’s artwork will be seen on posters and shirts and his connection to the blue’s community seen in the featured musical lineup. Chesnut designed the festival’s logo and has helped organize the blues acts that will appear on the Main Stage Saturday and Sunday.

Chesnut has cultivated his passions for blues and art from an early age. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with an art degree and went to work for a large advertising firm called Ellis & Guy, where he designed the Godfather’s Pizza hand and a slice of pizza logo.

He tired of the corporate design world and left it in 1989, working as a freelance artist ever since. As his own artistic boss, Chesnut has had the freedom to blend his art with his other passion, blues music. His favorite subjects for art and photography have been blues musicians. Some of his work is on permanent display in the Delta Blues Museum and he was awarded the U.S. Congressional Recognition of Special Achievement for his art work when Congress celebrated Year of the Blues in 2003. Chesnut writes for a Northwest live blues magazine called Blues to Do Monthly, and he even won a beer label art award for work featuring blues musicians that he designed for his own micro-brewery called Lucky Mojo. His love of blues spans so many artists that Chesnut said he has no one favorite subject.

“I like them all,” he said.

Chesnut made his connection to the Valley when he moved to Snoqualmie in 1989 at the behest of a local friend. He tended bar at Smokey Joe’s for a couple of years, then moved to Portland, Ore., before moving to Shoreline in 1997, where he has lived sever since.

He started designing logos for Railroad Days festivals in the early 1990s and was asked to design the logo for Snoqualmie’s Centennial Celebration last year. He has since designed many more logos for Railroad Days and the festival’s assorted events, such as the Thunder in the Valley event and the Tour de Peaks bicycle rides. Though he still lives in Shoreline, he said he is proud of his Snoqualmie connection.

“I still have a lot of good friends there,” he said.

A dedication to art and the blues has satisfied Chesnut for many of his 50-plus years, even though they may not be the most financially rewarding passions to have in life.

“One of these days I would like to make some money,” he said.

* More of Chesnut’s art and photo work can be found at www.bluestodo.com/staff/phil/phil3.htm.

Ben Cape can be reached at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at ben.cape@valleyrecord.com.