Jose Barraza, a customer service representative at Modern Postcard, is only just embarking on an arts major, but his work so far has already earned him high marks at his workplace.
Barraza, who has worked at Modern Postcard for 7 years, uses recycled materials that can be found around his company, including boxes, press sheets, metal printing plates and damaged or unused products to create into large, colorful sculptures, from spiders to dragons and robots.
"It's something I do on the side, after work," said Barraza, who in addition to working at Modern Postcard is looking at majoring for digital animation. "It's something where I look at something and try to make it happen with the materials that I have."
Barraza started small, but soon he started applying his techniques to life-size sculptures."
His first major project was shortly after he started working at the company, when he re-created a droid from the movie "Star Wars" using newspapers and print sheets for Modern Postcard's Halloween party, which had a Hollywood theme. It was a big hit among the employees, who encouraged Barraza to continue to express himself.
"It's been awesome," he said. "They give me ideas and it helps me with the creativity. Everybody loves the pieces, and they tell me they're waiting to see what else I'll be coming out with."
Since then, Barraza has created about 15 sculptures and more traditional collages that have been prominently displayed at the Modern Postcard headquarters. His drawings include a spider, a robot reminiscent of the mascot for Bad Robot Productions and a dragon that appears to snake in and out of the ground.
Most take about two and a half to three weeks to complete, said Barraza, who said he is most proud of the dragon, which included cutting and painting individual scales for recycled postcard products and then attaching them to the frame.
Barraza noted that it's gratifying that his work receives so much attention, particularly because he works with a lot of talented digital artists that work at Modern Postcard.
"It's great that I work with so many artists and that I can show them the pieces that I do," Barraza said.
He added that the fact that his creativity has been encouraged at work is one of the big perks of his job, one that helps him be a more dedicated and productive employee.
Stressing creativity and supporting its employees is one of the company's guiding principles, says President and CEO Stephen Hoffman. It's a winning strategy, one that helped Modern Postcard earn the 2011 Medallion Workplace Excellence Award from the San Diego Society for Human Resource Management.
At the time, Hoffman stated that the founding principal is about the employees, whom he described as the cornerstone of the business and what makes it special.
"We do our best to give the team a great environment in which to thrive," Hoffman said. "Modern Postcard has discovered ways to balance creativity with productivity, offering quality of life features that include profit sharing, holiday bonuses, company-sponsored events, employee recognition awards, on-site massage therapy, a mobile car wash, dry cleaning services, on-site ping-pong, movie nights, and more."
Barraza, who has worked at Modern Postcard for 7 years, uses recycled materials that can be found around his company, including boxes, press sheets, metal printing plates and damaged or unused products to create into large, colorful sculptures, from spiders to dragons and robots.
"It's something I do on the side, after work," said Barraza, who in addition to working at Modern Postcard is looking at majoring for digital animation. "It's something where I look at something and try to make it happen with the materials that I have."
Barraza started small, but soon he started applying his techniques to life-size sculptures."
His first major project was shortly after he started working at the company, when he re-created a droid from the movie "Star Wars" using newspapers and print sheets for Modern Postcard's Halloween party, which had a Hollywood theme. It was a big hit among the employees, who encouraged Barraza to continue to express himself.
"It's been awesome," he said. "They give me ideas and it helps me with the creativity. Everybody loves the pieces, and they tell me they're waiting to see what else I'll be coming out with."
Since then, Barraza has created about 15 sculptures and more traditional collages that have been prominently displayed at the Modern Postcard headquarters. His drawings include a spider, a robot reminiscent of the mascot for Bad Robot Productions and a dragon that appears to snake in and out of the ground.
Most take about two and a half to three weeks to complete, said Barraza, who said he is most proud of the dragon, which included cutting and painting individual scales for recycled postcard products and then attaching them to the frame.
Barraza noted that it's gratifying that his work receives so much attention, particularly because he works with a lot of talented digital artists that work at Modern Postcard.
"It's great that I work with so many artists and that I can show them the pieces that I do," Barraza said.
He added that the fact that his creativity has been encouraged at work is one of the big perks of his job, one that helps him be a more dedicated and productive employee.
Stressing creativity and supporting its employees is one of the company's guiding principles, says President and CEO Stephen Hoffman. It's a winning strategy, one that helped Modern Postcard earn the 2011 Medallion Workplace Excellence Award from the San Diego Society for Human Resource Management.
At the time, Hoffman stated that the founding principal is about the employees, whom he described as the cornerstone of the business and what makes it special.
"We do our best to give the team a great environment in which to thrive," Hoffman said. "Modern Postcard has discovered ways to balance creativity with productivity, offering quality of life features that include profit sharing, holiday bonuses, company-sponsored events, employee recognition awards, on-site massage therapy, a mobile car wash, dry cleaning services, on-site ping-pong, movie nights, and more."