I don’t get downtown to Thump Coffee nearly enough, but it is my favorite of the various coffee shops I’ve visited—I love the brick and open beam atmosphere (it reminds me, in fact, of Café Paradiso of days gone by). That atmosphere is also helped by the monthly art installations they feature, and for this month of January they are featuring an exhibit named “Sent from my iPhone.” Read on for the full press release.

(Bend, OR) “Sent From My iPhone,” an exhibit of cell phone photography, or “iPhonography,” by Carlos A. Perez will be on exhibit throughout January at Thump Coffee in downtown Bend. The coffeehouse will also host an exclusive sneak preview of “Push” skateboard decks customized by dozens of local, regional and national artists. The skateboard artworks will be auctioned off to benefit the Division Street Skatepark Project.

“Sent From My iPhone” is a series of images captured on my iPhone and ‘processed’ on the iPhone, with no trips to a film lab or launching any professional digital photo editing software from my desktop computer,” explains Perez.

“Before my iPhone, I would snap photos with my Nokia or one of other countless camera equipped mobile phones I’ve had over the years. This low-fi, disposable digital imagery captures fleeting, and sometimes drab moments.”

A total of 180 images printed on postcards will be displayed approximately 60 at a time, and Perez will rotate them throughout the month.

Perez is “El Jefe” at Perez design, the graphic design studio that developed Thump Coffee’s logo and branding. He is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University – School of Visual Arts with a degree in design and a minor in photography.

For more, visit http://carlosaperez.com

According to organizers, Push is modeled after a similar community skatepark project in Montana and inspired by Portland’s famed Burnside skatepark and similar DIY parks. “Though we have lots of sun here in Central Oregon, a covered skatepark designed, built, and maintained by skaters without the help of the parks dept, or the city is the goal,” say organizers.

Situated on Division Street under the Bend Parkway, the land is currently vacant and strewn with large boulders. The project crew, comprised of volunteers who have dreamt of such an opportunity for years, formed a 501(c)3 nonprofit in order to secure grants and funds for building the park, which has already won the support of the Oregon Department of Transportation. For more information on the skatepark project, go to divisionstreetskatepark.org.

Thump Coffee is located in downtown Bend at 25 NW Minnesota Ave. For details, visit www.ThumpCoffee.com or call 541-388-0226.