BEAST Public Outreach and Engagement Fundraiser

About this campaign

The Belize Estates Archaeological Survey Team (BEAST) is committed to doing excellent archaeological research, sharing our findings with local communities, and having the coolest t-shirts and totes in the field! By supporting this fundraiser, you'll help us in our mission and get a fantastic t-shirt in return. To create this design, we teamed with the amazing Dirk Fowler, a graphic artist whose work is distinctive and internationally recognized. Dirk has created posters for The Mavericks, Paul Simon, Amanda Shires, and others, but we are pretty sure BEAST is his first archaeological project! We asked Dirk to take our jaguar logo and "Fowlerize" it in his signature style. The jaguar was an important animal for the ancient Maya, associated with Maya royalty and mythology. Today, trail cameras around our project area commonly capture video of these powerful but elusive cats. We adopted it as our project's avatar because it is a bridge between the past and the present.

With the money we raise through this and our sister fundraiser (check out Dirk's full design on our tote bag!), we will purchase supplies for rural schools in northwestern Belize near our research area. Our Public Outreach and Engagement Team (POET) will deliver these supplies and host an archaeology day at the Casey Community School in Gallon Jug, Belize in April and at other schools in the summer. So, buy a shirt; it's a Dirk Fowler original! Do it for yourself and do it for the kids!

About the Design: Central to the drawing are the distinctive shape of Belize and its mirror image, which encompass the eyes. The cayes off the coast of Belize create the spots on the side of the jaguar's face. For the larger spots on the animals head, Dirk drew inspiration from one of the patolli boards BEAST crews uncovered at the site of Gallon Jug.