Brewers hat giveaway, Milwaukee artist draws inspiration from legend
Milwaukee artist designs Brewers hat
Milwaukee artist Ric Stultz, who grew up in Mount Pleasant, was tabbed to create a Brewers hat giveaway.
MILWAUKEE - Ric Stultz is used to a lot of people seeing his work; he runs his own art business and is an illustration professor in Milwaukee. But 10,000 people wearing his art?
"Overwhelmed. A lot of gratitude. Feeling like ‘Me?’" he said.
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Stultz got the call-up from the Brewers earlier this year, tapped to make a design for hats the team would hand out at a game.
"I love the idea that I’m adding something to such a deep legacy that the Brewers have," Stultz said.
Milwaukee artist Ric Stultz, who grew up in Mount Pleasant, was tabbed to create a Brewers hat giveaway.
Behind the design
The backstory:
The design comes from Stultz's past, growing up in Mount Pleasant. While discovering his love for art by making popsicle stick dioramas, he was also cheering on the Brewers. In the team’s early 80s success, Robin Yount always stood out to him.
"He was the quintessential cool baseball player," Stultz said.
So just like Yount, Stultz said he "wanted to make something that felt a bit more classic." He used the Wisconsin state bird, and the rest just made sense.
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"Something that would look as good in 10-15 years when the young kid goes and pulls it out of his dad’s closet and says, ‘This is a cool hat, I’ll wear this today,'" Stultz said.
Stultz has worked with the Brewers in the past. He made a poster and wood designs for the team’s City Connect shoe drop.
"In a major league sports team, I think that they are doing some amazingly interesting visual identity work that I just don’t see many other teams doing," Stultz said.
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When he got off the first planning call for the hat design, it was all of six minutes before he got to work.
"Instead of turning that into anxiety, which is a real easy thing to do, I tend to turn it into fuel and propulsion," Stultz said.
And not long after that, his first crack at the robin was a home run.
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"The universe was on my side. It all just kind of came together into one thing," Stultz said. "It’s really fulfilling to see that connection."
It’s an opportunity that the diorama-making, Brewers-loving kid in Mount Pleasant couldn’t have drawn up.
"I don’t think he would believe it," Stultz said. "I think trusting your ambition and following what you truly love to do can lead to wonderful things."
Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Ben Hanson and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.
The Source: Information in this story was gathered from Ric Stultz and the Milwaukee Brewers.