Visiting Artist: Brian Knep

The SMFA Film-Animation Area will be hosting Boston-based artist Brian Knep to present and discuss his work in the field of new media interactive installations. His work bridges the flow of science, biology and art, and is strongly attuned to the role of the human being as it's viewer and user. His subjects frequently fall into the category of microscopic living organisms, and his work is investigating their relationships to each other and the forces of change and struggle that are imposed upon them. Written into the code of these microorganisms' progress and change are most frequently the potential methods of healing. It is how these organisms deal with this struggle that most fascinates Knep, and marks a clear point of focus for the development of his works.

Brian frequently uses abstraction and most recently, cartooned drawings to render visible the presence of these imagined organisms. Animation is an essential aspect of the "life" that is expressed by these imaginary creatures and forms, even though it is animation derived from computer generated code.

Brian has had solo shows at the New Britain Museum of American Art, the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and Arizona State University and has been part of group shows at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Laval Virtual in France, MobileArt in Sweden, and the Insa Art Center in Korea, among others. His works have won awards from Ars Electronica, Americans for the Arts, AICA/New England and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2005 Knep became the first artist-in-residence at Harvard Medical School in a program co-sponsored by Harvard's Office for the Arts. He lives and works in Boston and is represented by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NY and Judi Rotenberg Gallery, Boston.

• Visiting Artist: Brian Knep
• Time/Date: Thursday, Jan 27th, 12:30pm-2pm
• Location: Studio B113, Animation Studio, SMFA Main Bldg
• All SMFA related people are invited to attend.

Nina Brings the Toons

It's not for a while yet, but why not plop this event right into your calendar now so you don't forget. Nina will be there to speak about the film and her experiences in the production and distribution, which are verrrrry interesting.

SITA SINGS THE BLUES

Screening of the film and a conversation with filmmaker Nina Paley.

Time/Date: April 4, 2011, 6pm
Location: SMG Auditorium; 595 Commonwealth Ave., first floor auditorium, Boston, MA, 02215 MAP

Boston University's Program for Scripture and the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Distinguished Teaching Professorship welcome filmaker Nina Paley to Boston University. On April 4 we will present a showing of the groundbreaking animated film Sita Sings the Blues, followed by a conversation with the filmmaker.

Sita Sings the Blues was written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Paley, and weaves an autobiographical story with events from the Hindu scriptural text the Ramayana. The feature length film uses music, shadow puppets and novel animation techniques to re-imagine the artist's experience through the lens of the god Rama's wife, Sita.

Tough Love, Anime Style

Anime creator and director Yoshiyuki Tomino responds on Global Voices Online to a query by an 11th grader who is an aspiring illustrator. Miyuri wants to know if Yoshiyuki has any advice for how to become a professional illustrator, and he does: Quit this dream and go be an office lady. Here's an excerpt:

... If after reading this you find yourself saying "but I still want to do it," that isn't desire. You need to know IN YOUR BONES that you are willing to STRUGGLE to do this, that you're willing to starve before taking another kind of job. Desire alone isn't enough for a job that requires you to have the facility in a wide range of styles to draw hundreds of illustrations of a certain quality within a certain timeframe. As a freelancer there's the fear of never knowing when the next job is coming in, meaning you have to put your all into whatever comes your way, meaning you don't have any real control over what you're working on. You can always take a job at a studio, but only those with the drive and physical strength to do the same thing in the same place over and over again for a decade or more on end can make it there. This is why I'm telling you you're better off going to school and becoming an office lady.

It's an interesting and provocative post, and the full translation can be found here via Matt Alt's blog.

Identity Element: Works from the New Axiom Group

THIS IS a local gallery exhibition of note for anyone interested in integrating animation into their work through inter-disciplinary means.

(the following taken from the axiom website)

Opening Reception: Friday, January 14th, 6-9 pm

Axiom celebrates recent organizational and structural shifts by kicking off 2011 with Identity Element: Works from the New Axiom Group. The first exhibition organized by the new Axiom group, it showcases Axiom’s new identity while maintaining its presence as an arts organization supporting innovative and experimental approaches to art-making.

Identity Element features the diversity of medium, process, and theoretical content present in the creative practices of the Axiom Group members. Derived from a mathematical concept, the title denotes a neutral part in the context of a group, playing with the idea that the identity, voice and vision of Axiom spring directly from the people involved.

The show features work by eleven artists in the new group and one outside artist curated by a group member. The artists’ backgrounds range from art history to traditional painting and sculpture to computer science. Building on their skills and interests, the artists work in animation, video, installation, design, sculpture, photography and hypermedia. Subject matter in the show ranges from conceptualization of the individual body in space to an exploration of free resources in the Boston area, from public access databases to collective unconscious memory.

GALLERY HOURS

During exhibitions
Wed 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Thurs 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Sat 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
and by appointment

LOCATION

AXIOM is located at the corner of Green and Armory Streets in Jamaica Plain, MA. The gallery is on the ground floor level of the Green Street train stop on the Orange line. 141 Green St. Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Be Creative: Finding a Job in the Arts via NYFA

The New York Foundation for the Arts has posted a helpful article, found here written by Maria Villafranca, which is aimed at YOU, the artist looking for employment. NYFA, as it is otherwise known, maintains an active online presence. While it is primarily there to serve the NY artist group, its reach is further than that, as in this instance. They provide "classifieds" and The SOURCE, both of which are full of listings for arts related jobs (mostly in NY,) grants, residencies, and more. You can sign up for their email list and receive a regular update on news that could provide your next big thing! As an example, I searched the word "animation" in The SOURCE and 45 results came up listing grants, fellowships, residencies and even a student scholarship. What are you waiting for?

Miwa Matreyek is another contemporary live performance artist that incorporates animation (projection) and multi-media, and has likely influenced Shana Moulton's movement into a specific style of live performance with her "Whispering Pines 10" mini-opera (see previous blog entry).

Myth and Infrastructure 4 minute excerpts from Miwa Matreyek on Vimeo.

Miwa does collaborative work as well as solo work, and seems to be dedicated to animation as the dominant environment in her mixed-media performances. She also has the surrealist approach in that she is blending fantasy and dream-like states into our viewer's real time world. Her use of her live body as a silhouette within the animation provides a narrative graphic function, engaging with the graphic animation, but her body doesn't necessarily stop there. Her physical, tangible form will enter into the work as well, and in some instances the work incorporates objects and forms. Matreyek goes between breaking/reforming the inferred "4th wall" between the viewer and the viewed.

Whispering Pines 10 Performance at New Museum

Whispering Pines 10 - Trailer from Shana Moulton on Vimeo.

Shana Moulton and Nick Hallett's epic multimedia one-act opera Whispering Pines 10 will run at the New Museum on Saturday and Sunday, January 8 and 9, 2011. Shana Moulton's Whispering Pines series focuses on the surreal existence of Cynthia, an agraphobic New Age-y hypochondriac, looking for magical ways to cure her imagined illnesses.

She incorporates lots of animation in these works, which is why I'm posting about it here. While this series began as a multimedia performance based entirely in video, it has now extended itself to live performance with multi-media animation, effects and musical score.

You can get tickets early through the New Museum site. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Henry Selick's New Studio, Cinderbiter!

Hey - did you know that Henry Selick has signed a new deal with Disney and has settled into San Fran with his studio Cinderbiter Productions, Inc.. They are committed to providing stop-motion "scary films for young 'uns"! Now THAT'S a great promise! Possibly all the way into PG-13? It's what Henry does best.

They're starting to hire their early development people, so hang on tight for the eventual hiring of all kinds of other talent when production begins!

Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train and Looney Tunes

This is a RE-BLOG of a post on Brian Carpenter's site. Brian is the brilliant composer/arranger/musician that has crafted the musical score for Lorelei Pepi's film (in production) "Happy & Gay."

Facebook event listing

Friday December 17, 2010
Ghost Train Orchestra
Barbes
376 9th Avenue
Brooklyn NY
10:00pm (2 sets)

Friday January 21, 2011
Ghost Train Orchestra
Barbes
376 9th Avenue
Brooklyn NY
10:00pm (2 sets)

Post by Brian Carpenter on November 19, 2010 9:34 AM

I've recently been preparing arrangements for a short set of early American cartoon music the Ghost Train Orchestra will perform on Friday December 17th and Friday January 21st at Barbes in Brooklyn. Raymond Scott and Carl Stalling are two of the composers most often associated with cartoon music, although there were many others -- Scott Bradley and Sammy Timberg, to name two other notables. Irwin Chusid, the man perhaps most responsible for bringing Raymond Scott to the public eye over the last two decades, sent me some of the original charts for sextet. Scott did not compose his music for cartoons but his music was often quoted by Carl Stalling in his scores to Looney Tunes cartoons of the '40s and '50s. I've been fascinated with Carl Stalling's work ever since the days of watching Looney Tunes on Saturday mornings as a kid, maybe without knowing it at an early age. My score for Lorelei Pepi's film Happy and Gay was inspired by Stalling's work for animator Ub Iwerks. For the 12/17 performance, I've added guitarist Danny Blume (who is a huge fan of Carl Stalling's work in particular) and bassist Joe Fitzgerald, to join the regular cast of GTO. Hope you'll come see us perform this unique music.

MFA Boston Reinstates Women's Art Prize

After 4 years of absence, the MFA Boston is (hopefully) restoring the valuable Maud Morgan Purchase Prize, an "annual" award which was established to recognize an accomplished woman artist with a $5,000 fund and an MFA solo exhibition. Edward Saywell, chairman of the MFA's contemporary-art department, says that the MFA has chosen to award the prize less frequently so as to be able to generate a more meaningful amount for the fund. Sooooo, since they've been sitting on it for four years, that should mean that there is now $20,000 attached to this prize. We'll see.

Big kudos to Greg Cook, the Phoenix's art blogger/reviewer for bringing this topic to public attention.

"Keenan at Sea" music video

“Keenan at Sea” is the latest music video by The Girls, Alison Cowles and Mikaela Davis, and directed by Jeremy Galante and David Cowles, with special thanks to Janis Dougherty. Jeremy was a student of mine at the Rochester Institue of technology, in the grad dept studying 3D CG animation. Right away he showed up as a super talent, and it's clear why he's succeeding now! Rock on, Jeremy!
|| post by Lorelei P. ||

Funny parody from Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Via Jerry @ Cartoon Brew, this parody of an old news reel about the animation studio RadicalAxis is pretty funny!