Happy New Year all! I apologize to any of you who landed on my page recently only to find an outdated SXSW post from March as my most recent update. The dates seemed to have gone haywire on my posts and I’ve just fixed the issue. Dates & posts should be in order now.

Two days ago I just returned from an adventure I will never forget. My brother, his girlfriend and my boyfriend trekked out to Ecuador for the turning of 2011 into 2012. It was an adventure of a lifetime.

I’ve barely been home long enough to unpack my suitcase let alone absorb what I have experienced in an articulate story to share, but as I sort through the 3000 photos that we captured and 70 video clips we took, I’ll be stiching together and mapping out our adventures and post them here for you.

I just wanted to say a very quick happy new year to those of you who swing by regularly. I’m very excited to start this year with fresh eyes and optimistic outlook. Feeling full of creativity & love and excited to start 2012 off with some sparks….

Hey guys, if you are in or around Brooklyn on Saturday, December 10th, please stop by 3rd Ward‘s annual Handmade Holiday Craft Fair. This is my first year as a vendor and I am excited to be sharing a table with my good friend and creator of HerbanLuxe handmade organic cosmetics. I will be displaying my new line of Danger wall art, prints, resin jewelry and screen print tshirts.  It will be a warehouse full of unique items and great holiday sales by many different local artists. Come check it out, visit us and say hi!

Here are the event details from 3rd Ward:

Friends don’t give friends bad gifts! Get your lists ready for the 5th Annual 3rd Ward Handmade Holiday Craft Fair, an extravaganza of beautiful, clever, never-before-seen gift items for your friends, family and—while you’re at it—you!

Come browse all types of creative handmade gifts including jewelry, bags, housewares, paper goods, toys, clothing, winter essentials, culinary treats, and much more! Plus stay warm and merry with live music, DJs, cheap seasonal cocktails, and some quirky surprises. This is one craft fair you won’t want to miss.

Saturday, December 10th
Noon to 6 pm
195 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn, NY
FREE admission

Hi Folks!  I have a new show announcement that I’m excited to tell you about…

On Thursday November 10th, a new collaborative performance project that I’m working on, The Moon, will be debuted locally at Franklin Street Works. FSW is a not-for-profit art space and cafe that recently opened in downtown Stamford, CT.

I’m performing with musician Jeff Schram who will be filling the atmosphere with his original acoustic songs, heightened by electronic elements, vocals & digital manipulation. I will be cooking up a visual cocktail of projections and real time camera effects live, and together we aim to transform the space into a colorful dreamworld of visionary motion, art & sound.

If you are local, please join us!

Click here to RSVP on Facebook

Here are the details:

Franklin Street Works
Thursday Nov. 10th, 6PM-7PM
Franklin Street
Stamford, CT

A few months ago I saw a video online that stopped me in my tracks. It was a graduation speech that Steve Jobs had given a few years ago. Funny how I found it too. I had an image of a Day of the Dead skeleton on a blank card and I thought to myself, if this card were to have a headline, what would it be?  I came up with the phrase, “Live before you die”.  Having been really happy with coming up with this profound little phrase I decided to google it and low and behold, up came this brilliant speech that blew my mind.

Rest in peace Steve. We are all grateful your vast inspiration & the creativity that you brought to this universe.

The “live before you die” speech:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In two weeks I am heading off to do something I have never done before – I’m hopping a plane to San Francisco to participate in the city’s annual foot race, Bay to Breakers for their 100th year!

The race starts at the north east end of the downtown area adjacent to San Francisco Bay, and runs west through the city to finish at the breakers of the Pacific coast on Ocean Beach. The complete course is 7.46 miles (12 kilometers long) and is not a traditional race by any means.

Participants are known to dress up in all sorts of crazy costumes and some have even run it naked! This year for their hundredth they are enforcing some rules that they haven’t in the past. No alcohol, no floats and no nudity. We’ll see just how much the public abides. There will be 50,000 runners this year!

Since I’ve never done anything like this, I’ll be thrilled just to complete the course. I made it my personal goal to focus on various upgrades in all different aspects of my life to start 2011. There have been many times in my past that I’ve sat at my computer editing 60 hours a week and ditching the fitness in favor of deadlines. As a result of changing that dynamic this year I’ve felt so much happier and more productive on a daily basis.

My training started in January when I began the 4 Hour Body diet, started taking latin based dance classes, and mixed it with training runs. While I haven’t been 100% consistent with my training, I’m really proud of how far I’ve come. I’m lucky enough to have a great partner to run with and support me along the way, and I’m super excited to meet this epic achievement in my life. 8 miles may not seem like a lot to most people, but I have hated running all my life and I’m not a runner by any means. The closest I have come to this has been inline skating 10K races in the past. It’s very different when you have wheels on your feet!

This makes me all the more energized to meet this challenge that I set out to accomplish at the beginning of this year.

If anyone wants to meet up, say hi, or cheer us on while we’re out there, drop a line here or keep a look out for my Danger shirt among the sea of runners. I’ll be deconstructing one of my shirts and representing Danger all the way!!

Here is what the course looks like!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Last Friday morning I got on the early train to Roseland Ballroom for the 2nd birthday of New York’s finest and freshest motion graphics design conference  F5 Fest. I was lucky enough to attend back in 2009 for it’s first installation and having had such an inspiring experience I signed up to attend again. It is seriously amazing to be in a room with all your heros and surrounded by so many creative folks. F5 has proven to be one of the most intimate conferences I’ve been to. It’s an intelligent mix of artists, designers, art directors, vjs, scientists, technologists, film makers and musicians. They even set up scheduled drink breaks in between speakers so that everyone can meet and hang out. Doesn’t get better than that!

Click here to view the embedded video.

One of the most memorable moments for me this year was getting time to talk with one of my main inspirations in the design world for over 10 years, Scott Hansen, aka ISO50 / Tycho.

Scott was awesome and walked me through his VDMX setup that he uses to VJ with during shows. I’ve been on the verge of transitioning VJ software for quite some time. Thank you Scott for helping me realize I should get on board with VDMX, and taking the time to chat about Burning Man, VJing and for inspiring me further.

Another highlight was listening to Jacob Escobedo, creative director behind Adult Swim and the Cartoon Network. He described a really funny story about when he was younger, living in Nevada, and suffering through eating his first ever goat taco.

After eating this wretched food, he walked outside and saw the image of a severed goat’s head on top of a refrigerator which stopped him in his tracks. From then on, he developed his design mantra to be: “Does this image have severed goat’s head?” Which means,  Is the image I’m designing:  1) Arresting  2) Simple and  3) Memorable ?

I’ll never forget that concept or this image he showed us:

Cartoon Network and severed goats head graphics aside, Jacob happens to be another design hero of mine.

The design concepts that he developed for Broken Bells album artwork last year inspired my entire Wanderlost collection of wall art. I only wish I could have met him over a beer at the F5 bar!

We also got to listen to Scott Belsky discuss the creative process. Are you the Dreamer, the Doer or the Incrementalist when it comes to creative thinking?

Knowing which category you fit into ultimately helps a creative team get things done from the concept to the execution by learning to become proactive instead of just being reactive. Scott is the founder and CEO of Behance, and the Behance Network, Action Method, and The 99%.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Scott had the most advice to offer in the ways of helping us to create, not just be creative. Here are a few highlights from his talk:

• Create windows of non-stimulation 2-3 hours a day. He says this is your sacred space for deep thinking.
• Spend energy on staying organized. Being organized is a huge competitive advantage.
• Organize with a bias to action. Measure the value of a meeting in action steps.
• Tap the power of circles. Find your network.
• Seek competition. You will drive yourself harder and faster if you feel the urgency to create something first and best.
• Don’t become burdened by the consensus or by the unremarkable.
• When it comes to ideas and design, find one or two sacred extremes to present to your client. It will help shape the direction of your thinking.
• Overcome the stigma of self-marketing. Build a following. Curate your stream.
• Foster Accountability. We need to share our ideas liberally, in order to get other people to hold us accountable to them.
• Gain confidence from doubt.
• When finding people to work with you, seek initiative over experience.
  

There were so many highlights from this years festival that it is impossible to write about each one. Here are some folks to keep your eyes on:

• Creative motion graphics studio powerhouse Onesize. Mind-blowing graphics work.
• Creative illustration and motion graphics by Buck.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Syyn Labs, a scientific twist of art & technology. These guys were responsible for the engineering of a mind-blowing Rube Goldberg machine used to create OKGO’s “This Too Shall Pass” music video.
• Shantell Martin, friend and VJ sketch projector from the UK. The top image of me above was shot during Shantell’s live performance, Hidden Ora, that she orchestrated on the fly with her wacom tablet and sketchbook pro during the F5 after party at Good Units.
• Mark Romanek, visionary film director behind “Never Let Me Goâ€� and “One-Hour Photoâ€� – as well as countless iconic music videos and commercials.
• Kid Koala, Eclectic Method, Nathan Love, Wayne White, Neil Huxley, Adam Bly, the list goes on.

All in all, an amazing weekend. It was really wonderful to meet all my new friends as well. Keep in touch. Looking forward to the next F5 Festival.

Regardless, Day 5 was epic!! I woke up bright, early and stoked to finally see my first round of films! Spent so much time in the interactive sessions that I hadn’t seen any despite having a 5 day film badge! Plus it’s hard for me to sit in a dark theater when it’s 75 and sunny outside. Today I made the effort. I drove over to the Alamo Drafthouse theater and took my seat at the narrative shorts showing. I forgot how much I love that theater!  The seats are cushy, and they will deliver beer & food to you while you sit back and watch. The narrative shorts ended up being hit & miss. I liked 3 out of 8 films.

OK, so the one’s I enjoyed were:

Equestrian Sexual Response (TERRIBLE NAME!! – but well made film)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pancake Breakfast (ANOTHER BAD NAME and I’ll tell you why – Due to misreading the guidebook, I thought this was announcing that there WAS a pancake breakfast at the theater!! Ha! I was actually disappointed to learn that it was the name of the film! Regardless, this one was funny, I wish there was more to the story.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lastly, Girls Named Pinky (Good simple story, shot & acted well, with a twist!)

Click here to view the embedded video.

The last film dragged on for so long. The audio wasn’t mixed and my ears were bleeding, I nearly left.

I was also late to approach my next item for the day – seeing Broken Bells downtown! Former frontman for the Shins in collaboration with Danger Mouse! However… due to Austin SXSW traffic mania, I got to 6th Street pretty late and had to make a choice. It was 12:40PM – Do I race to find a spot, find the venue and wait in line to see Broken Bells who were going on in 20 minutes, or do I take my time and head over to see Tobacco play at Emo’s at 1:30? After seeing all of crazy long lines at each of these venues, I nixed my plan of racing to catch Broken Bells. Oh well. Next time! Tobacco gave me all the excitement that I needed. There were THREE Emo’s venues to scavenger through to find the right one, but I made it just in time. He played a pretty cool set, although he had no stage presence whatsoever. I snagged some video & some photos and happily strolled up the sunny street in search of lunch.

Tough day!

Just a quick note to say that I have a really exciting show coming up tomorrow, this Sunday, 11/14. I’ll be performing with Kodomo at 3rd Ward’s Moviehouse as part of The Social Theater.  I’m excited – this will be our first collaborative show since August of this year. Please come out if you are in the hood! And if you are not in the hood it will be broadcast live via ustream right here on hollydanger.com.

Here is a brief description of what you can expect from the night:

Performance artist Chloe Bass and filmmaker Catherine Chao will use the ChatRoulette template to explore interactive relationships and layers of performance in a show that is broadcast to random strangers around the world.

Plus always-inventive Holly Danger downloads her own VJ performance with the beats Kodomo to the ChatRoulette world. Before the show enjoy snacks from two sides of the globe with Masala Loca. Sure to blow your mind!

Doors are at 7, performances start at 8. It’s free, but Moviehouse suggests a $5 donation to keep Brooklyn independent video thriving.

The details:
Moviehouse: The Social Theater
3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Sunday November 14, 7pm
$5 suggested donation

For more info, please visit:
Moviehouse page: www.brilliantp.com/moviehouse
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115950581802826
3rd Ward page: www.3rdward.com/moviehouse

The shirts are now available on the Etsy Danger store.  The mixed media wall prints will be available on Etsy next week!!

In other news, if you are interested in coming out to see one of the next upcoming performances scheduled, there is a nice variety for you to choose from!

NEXT UP//

NOV 14. – VJing for KODOMO @ 3RD WARD, Brooklyn, 8PM

NOV 18. – VJing for BIG MOSEY @ ARLENES GROCERY, Manhattan, 9PM

NOV 20. – VJing for MANTYHOSE @ SEASIDE TAVERN, Stamford, 10PM

DEC 2. – VJing for EXIT MUSIC @ UNION POOL, Brooklyn, 10PM

DEC 9. – VJing for DJ KILLA MONJARO + MORE @ SEASIDE TAVERN, Stamford, 10PM

This year in Black Rock City, my partner in crime, Jeff Schram, decided to document our adventure with his flipcam. The resulting video is very low-fi, spontaneous and fun, just as you’d expect from a drive to Burning Man. I started working on editing part two but it hasn’t made it out of my studio yet. It seems that we spent more time filming the trip on the way in than getting footage while we were out there enjoying it all. Nevertheless I still plan on exporting Part two sometime in the coming months. I swear!

Hi guys!

I am gearing up for my annual romp in the dust. That’s right, it’s my yearly visit to the Black Rock desert.  By all means if you are attending, please let me know so there is a chance of meeting up outside of the digital realms. I’ll be staying with my friends, Camp Monkey Business at 4:30 & G this year – and once again I’m bringing my VJ gear and would love to meet up with other VJs out there. Right now I’m deciding which equipment can stand to be in those desert conditions.  I’m also lining up my VJ performance schedule right now and hope to nail it all down before arriving. Once I arrive, anything goes!

So here is my current schedule & VJ lineup for the upcoming week:

Saturday – (Aug 28) I arrive in Reno to collect my supplies/bike/tent etc. out of storage & take care of biz..
Sunday – Buy whatever supplies I need, food, water, etc.
Monday – I arrive on the playa – early morning!  Set up - Possibly VJing at Nexus in the evening hours.
Tuesday –  VJing the False Profit party (4:30 & Esplanade) – Timing TBD
Wednesday – VJing the Apres Ski Party – (3:30 & B) – Sundown til late night.
Thursday –  VJing at Nexus (10 & Esplanade) – Sundown til 11pm
Thursday Late - Possibly VJing at the Phage party after Nexus party (4:30 & Esplanade)
Friday/Sat/Sun/Mon –  Anything goes ~ Possibly VJing on the Robot Heart Bus on those nights.
Tues/Wed – (Sept 7/8) Wash off the dust & travel home

That is the good word on all my latest news. This week is for collecting gear & packing..

See you the other side my friends!…..

The summer is in full swing, my blog has been quiet for the last few weeks, and I’ve been struggling to nail down one big opening date for my studio party – HOWEVER, I finally decided to set it in motion and see what happens!

Next weekend I’ll be having an official open studio night, Saturday, August 7th, featuring multi-projector live video mixing, and a poster exhibit displaying my new design series.  It is a private party, so please, if you are interested in coming – Email me to RSVP.

If you can’t make the opening party on the 7th, you’ll be happy to know that another date is also potentially in the works for a Kodomo show on Saturday, August 21st. Hope everyone is having an adventurous and creative summer!!  See you soon.

Pix & Reviews to come!

After every trip, I am immediately fueled into an active wanderlust, longing to go somewhere else…

I always come up with the most visual ideas when I’m outside my routines and experiencing different cultures, conversations and vibrations of people in other places. Traveling is something I became obsessed with years ago when I first started designing. Having only been back in town for a week, I can happily say that Austin sparked a new light for me. It’s the beginning of spring and the beginning months of my studio. There are good energies all around, exciting shows on the way and hopefully more travel in the near future. New visuals on the way!

Two shows are on the horizon that I’m really excited to be a part of and wanted to let you know!

First up is APRIL 15th at 10PM I’ll be projecting live visuals for Only Son during their last residency show at Bowery Electric!!

Then, MAY 22ND at 7PM, an exciting collaborative audio/visual Moviehouse show at 3RD WARD, called Four by Four. The projection screens are split four ways and each VJ gets a section to simultaneously visualize & interpret the live music. VJ’s include Sketch Projector Shantell Martin, Daniel Hai, myself, and one surprise guest.

By Day 3 I was hitting my stride and in full information-absorption-networking-documenting mode! I trekked to the convention center with my laptop & I began my day with a panel called Real Time Video Blogging led by the makers of Rocketboom, a witty, successful NYC-based daily video news blog, and Amanda Congdon of Sometimesdaily.

A lot of the session seemed pretty common sense to me, but there were good tips to remember. They suggested that if you are interested in starting your own documentary style blog series, to first and foremost, always get a lawyer involved and make sure you are legally contracted, no matter what the project big or small. Find your personal niche to write about, create a mission statement and figure out who your audience is. Then get involved with larger projects that attract a similar audience so that you can attach your name to them and generate threads of new contacts back to your site.

A great site for copyright free stock video material to use in your blog if needed: archive.org. I’ve known about them for years, but haven’t yet put any of it to use in my own work. Personally I think they need a more organized website to be useful for my needs, but there is a tremendous amount of free material on there.

Video blogging in itself is something I’d like to try my hand at, but have never been good at turning the camera on myself or interviewing people at random. Those are two things I’d like to work on for future documenting practice. After this experience at Burning Man, I promised myself I would learn how to speak in front of the camera properly!

Next up I went to Visual FX for Indies: Big Impact Small Budget by Zane Rutledge of Zane TV. This was probably my favorite panel so far (next to seeing Gondry!). Zane is a writer, filmaker, editor, director, and FX junky who’s main love is post production. He provided a number of awesome slides that I photographed and uploaded here, in order to remember all of his great lists of tips & links.

This is pretty obvious, but the number one thing he stressed as being the key to great fx, is great audio. Never underestimate the power of sound effects and music added to visual effects to give the animations life.

He also went over something he calls “invisible fx”. Touchups and additions to film work that you don’t necessarily notice in the final piece. For example he showed us a clip where he actually tracked cold breath to character’s faces into a scene where you had to understand how frigid the temperatures were! That’s a lot of rotoscoping! I don’t have the type of patience.

He also spoke about “camera projection” which involves mapping still photography over a 3D landscape and matte painting to fake depth. This was really cool and possibly something to experiment with. A good example of this, is the first scene in one of his films called “Wake Up” which I’ve posted below. The entire city-fly-through is done with one still photograph! If you watch the whole thing you’ll see other scenes which use this effect as well, including the man jumping off the building at the end and the cityscape below as you see little cutout cars animating around the photograph. Very cool! Sometimes I forget that simplicity is the answer to achieve a certain effect, especially on a low budget production.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pretty soon it was time for me to catch the keynote for the day, featuring Evan Williams who created Twitter. I barely got a seat there were so many people who crammed themselves into this lecture. I’m not a Twitter fan, so I was reluctant to go, but I decided it was important to see what all the buzz was about.

Evan described Twitter as a constantly evolving information network to share and learn what you care about at the exact time that it happens. While I personally haven’t quite adapted that into my own life, I see how this form of communication could be necessary progression in our tech-obsessive, ADD culture. It is the quickest and easiest way to connect with the most people at any given time, at anywhere in the world. It was actually hugely useful at the SXSW event itself, because it led me to know exactly what panels, films & shows were going on at the minute that I checked my phone. Perhaps I’ll try and adapt to it a bit more since so many people these days are using it as a major form of communication.

Here is a clip from the keynote where Evan describes the future and evolving features of Twitter. I got bored and left, sorry Evan!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Later in the evening I trekked over to the Texas State Capital building to join the VFX Master Series presented by SIGGRAPH. I specifically enjoyed listening to the visual effects directors for the film, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” They said that the character design was adapted from 60′s children’s travel book designer M. Sasek & UPA Animation Studio films of the 30s & 40s. After many iterations of design for each character, they storyboard out the entire film and begin 3D tests for each character’s gesture, color palette, voice and body language.

After dinner, my last stop that evening was to check out the interactive after-party event called Plutopia. I only caught the end of the performances, missed DJ Spooky, but loved the 3 projection screen set up, visuals by Dr. Strangevibe, and live music mixed with electronica in the auditorium of the Mexican American Cultural Center. I was in time to catch the last band called White from Bejing. The energy of the crowd and the visuals got me excited for my own gig that I was preparing for on St Patrick’s Day as part of House by Southwest. I spent the rest of the night documenting with some video, and drawing to the music until the lights went on.

On Day 2 my number 1 priority was seeing Michel Gondry in person. He is one of my all time favorite visionary heros, who has inspired me endlessly in creative projects. I waited an hour to see the man and get 4th row at his seminar. Gondry echoed a similar practice to something Ze Frank had mentioned in Day 1′s panel. The emphasis to pay attention to every single off-the-wall idea that you have. Don’t dismiss it out of fear or logic. Pay attention and put energy into them. Give them breath before you kill the idea. Test it out and reinvent each step of the way to be as open as possible to all concepts.

It was pretty thrilling to hear and see him in person. I missed the premier of his new film “The Thorn in the Heart“, but I was just as excited to see him a few feet away from me. He’s quite timid, thoughtful and charming in his approach to how he answers questions. Something that resonated with me was that he said that sleeping is part of his creative process. “Listen to your dreams”, he said, “That is the time when memories are reactivated, and talking out your dreams lead to great ideas.” He also stressed that story boarding is absolutely key before executing ideas and sitting in front of the computer. If the idea makes sense on paper, it should make sense for the film or story that you’re trying to create. Another little exercise he does to begin a creative project is that he edits soley within the camera. Films for a few seconds or minutes, hits pause, and then continuing to the next shot. No further editing in the computer afterwards. I think it’s a fantastic and simple idea to try and see what you come up with in a single stream of thought.

Next I headed over to see a panel on Cinematic Title Design. We were shown a title design case study of the new film “Life 2.0” about Second Life, the virtual world, user-generated online community. They showed us each design iteration, with & without music and how the sequence was built up over time to it’s end result. The speakers stressed how important it is to tell your basic story up front without giving anything away, and hint at something that happens later so that the audience feels a sense of connected familiarity when they see it again. Story boarding is also equally important when considering the title sequence. Play around with the location of the intro, whether or not it makes sense to fall in the front, middle or end of the film. Personally I wasn’t crazy about their design for Life 2.0, however, when the presenters went to show us the final sequence with final music in an online clip off Vimeo, they accidentally found that Tronic Studio had remixed their title sequence, and I find this so much better! Tronic studio has long been one of my favorite animation & design firms in NYC.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I then sat in on Remix Goes Mainstream, a session involving the art of remixes, video mashups and copyright law. They briefly discussed two main sets of guidelines that we should be aware of as editors & filmakers: Creative Commons and Fair Use. I’m never quite sure of my rights to use clips of other’s work in my projects, so I bought the book from one of the speakers, Clearance & Copyright by Michael C. Donaldson. They showed us a few examples where it was completely legal to use other filmmakers work when it was presented in a new context. One I really enjoyed, was created by another one of the panelists, Johnny McIntosh of rebelliouspixels called Buffy vs. Edward. He used footage from two different sources, and cut them together as if they were telling one new story. Hilarious!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Other examples showed documentaries that couldn’t have told their stories without using clips from other works. Under a certain time limitation, it is completely legal to use, and was even released to HBO. Another great resource for artists, specifically for photos & stock images, is Flickr’s Creative Commons page.

Later I sat in on Improving Social Media with Live Streaming Video led by Brad Hunstable, the creator of Ustream. Ustream has allowed us as users the ability to broadcast video live from anywhere in the world, from our cameras and even from our phones. While still in the panel listening to the creator of Ustream I downloaded the iphone application within minutes and gave it a shot when I was at a concert later that afternoon. Ustream gave me a URL telling me where the signal would broadcast to, and then asked me if I wanted to post the link to any of my social networks. After that, all I had to do was hit the “Go Live” button, and I was on, streaming from SXSW! Streaming live makes anything we do an “event”, which makes it a more special occurence than something that can be viewed on-demand at any time later. Huntsable emphasized that the impact of broadcasting one time live, will attract a larger audience than shooting something and posting it later. It gives people a reason to go to your page, in real time, and allows people to engage in a more meaningful way. It is also trackable to discover where your audience is coming from, and records how long they stayed on the stream.

Due to over-scheduling myself, I missed Valerie Casey‘s keynote, but happily found a clip documented here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Valerie Casey consults with start-ups, governments, and companies all over the world on challenges ranging from creating new products and services, to transforming organizational processes and behaviors. She was named a “Guru” of the year by Fortune magazine, a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine, and a “Master of Design”by Fast Company. She was also selected as one of the “World’s Most Influential Designers” by BusinessWeek. Valerie is the founder of the Designers Accord, the global coalition of designers, educators, and business leaders working together to create positive and sustainable impact.

I ended the night meeting some of my friends from HUGE over at Ruby’s BBQ for a Lonestar and some Texan barbeque. Little did I know, it had been written up by one of my favorite traveling chef’s, Anthony Bourdain.  Thanks for taking me out for a great night guys!!

I finally have a quiet moment to myself to digest, decompress and formulate information. I have an overwhelming amount of data swarming through my head and need to transcribe it all along with the words scribbled throughout my trusty notebook.

Day 1 began when I left the windy rainstorm that took over NY, as I departed Laguardia at 6AM. I was on 2 hours of sleep and on the cusp of delirium. Somehow in that state of mind I thought it’d be a good idea to upgrade my flight to first class since the self-check in machine asked me if I wanted to. The big shiny button was too enticing not to push. Plus it was 5AM and I was feeling claustrophobic and sleep deprived. Though for the most part I just really wanted some decent space to set up my laptop and do some editing. Yes – Editing at 6AM! I was in the mood for some god awful reason. Most likely motivated by the fact that later that day I was aiming to hit a Final Cut “Supermeetup” that would allow me to share my work with a group of editors. I had to cut down a reel into 10 minutes, so I spent that morning cutting deliriously before the sun rose.

This is my 4th trip to Austin, and yet only my first experience at SXSW. I organized my schedule to reflect over 95 panels during the course of my 5 day stay. Saturday I arrived, just narrowly escaping the hurricane behind me, and got in just in time to catch a conversation late in the day with Ze Frank.

Ze is someone I learned about in college for his witty, weird, spontaneous humor through videos and design concepts. Probably most well known for his “How to Dance Properly” videos. Due to the nature of his off-the-wall ideas, he says he’s always had anxiety over whether or not they’re going to be successful, but that he’d make them regardless of whether or not anyone ever watched them. This only fuels his desire to want to push the envelope, and get his concepts out in public rapidly and faithfully to his viewers. Not only that but he says he strives to do things that have not been done before. He’ll do massive amounts of research and data collecting before starting a project to see if he can be the first one to do it. He deems it a success if you can google an idea and it doesn’t exist yet.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I realize from his talk that I need to pick up my game & brainstorm more.  His ideas are so zany, and so unexpected, that it is a breath of fresh air to hear about, and it leaves me curious to see what else he’ll come up with next. It also reminds me how I can harness that kind of energy to put my own ideas into action, despite any anxiety I might have towards them potentially being too weird, or not good enough. It takes you out of your routine ways of thinking and allow you to start opening up to the unexpected.  For example, when someone asked a boring question about jumping into the freelance world, Ze’s answer was, “I’m a Unicorn!” There is so much to be said for just putting out your craziness into an audience and see what happens.

Later that evening I headed over, DVD in hand, to the Final Cut meet up over at Maggie Mae’s on 6th Street. I immediately met up with one of organizers who was able to show my work on the projection screen and TVs filtered throughout the venue. While it was fun to show work at SXSW to a room full of editors and videographers, it would have been more exciting for me, if it was more of a forum and less of a party. The work on the screens became background videos and we didn’t get enough interaction following up with each artist who showed. For example – there was a guy who showed work before me that almost entirely resembled a brazilian collage animation that I love, yet when I went to ask who’s work it was, the guy presenting the work had no idea. So that was kind of a bust. What made up for it was the $10 raffle ticket I bought, that won me a copy of Adobe’s CS4 Creative Production Premium Suite, worth $1700. I couldn’t have asked for a better first night!

Photo by Mary Woods

Photo by me

Thanks to all who came out to the “Chocolate & I” gallery show last Monday in NY!!  I had so much fun meeting everyone, tasting truffles, and sipping their chocolate margaritas. Mmm. Music, visuals & chocolate are some of my favorite indulgences.

This was the first show of mine where I was able to incorporate both of my projectors at once, split the VGA signals and mirror the images across the beautiful gallery wall. I usually don’t have the luxury of having so much space and freedom, but this felt absolutely wonderful to break free of the singular image and experiment with some new ideas.

To think, just over a year ago I didn’t even own any of the equipment to be able to perform like I can now. I had always wanted to, but it seemed overwhelming. It’s quite an investment:  laptops, mixers, projectors, cables, stands & adapters. Now after a year of experimentation, and slowly accumulating a studios worth of equipment, I can’t imagine my life without performing. I’m inspired in new directions from each and every show.

If anyone reading this photographed the night I would love to see your collection!!  Feel free to send me an email, or post them here.

Video soon to come!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If any of you are in the CT area on this snowy friday evening, I will be projecting some videos over at the City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport from 6-11pm tonight. Thanks to Liz of Paradox Ink for inviting me!

I picked out 10 of my favorite experimental pieces that I worked on in 2009 and this will be the first time they are landing on gallery walls. I’m sure at some point in the evening I’ll end up free-form VJing a bit too.

City Lights gallery is debuting their first Nu Media show, involving a mixed collection of video art, short films, and  animation. Hope to see you!

City Lights Gallery is located at 37 Markle Court Bridgeport, CT 06604  : $5 Entry fee

This is the latest bit of my experimental vj works. The concept based on my mantra, energy for energy. The impact of two elements coming together and creating passion. Creation, exchange & fire. Highly compressed but wanted to share anyway! The song is called “Surfin” by William Orbit. Footage both found & mixed with my own, plus some final cut manipulation.

TYCHO – Dictaphone’s Lament
Dictaphone’s Lament

It was a truly beautiful experience of dreamy audio and visuals Sunday evening during the Tycho set at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. His set is a stream of ambiance mixed with heart pounding beats, and all consuming visuals that melt into a subtle colorful bliss.

I somehow managed to hold out to see it, despite the set going on last and driving back to CT at 2:30AM, but it was worth the wait as it usually is.  Of course, this coming from someone who flew to San Francisco earlier this year to see his set at the Mezzanine.

Throughout the years, Tycho has been one of my strongest inspirations as a designer and as a VJ.  I’m always excited to see how he takes his design concepts and brings them to an altered state and performance level. Something I’m constantly striving to do as well. I’d be quite honored one day for the possibility of performing alongside such an amazing talent. Maybe our shows will cross paths in the near future.

Listen to sample tracks of Tycho on tychomusic.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

My little hut at La Zebra the last few days in Tulum

2009 has really been one of my favorite years to date. I’ve always said that if I were to get into video art, that my main goal would be to find the means to travel while doing what I love to do. My goals being to incorporate my love of art, music, culture & adventure with the world of design, performance and exploration.  Keeping those ideas in mind, a lot has shifted this year. I am slowly feeling this awakening of a newly positive outlook for 2010 and what is to come.

I just returned home from a long weekend in Tulum, Mexico. A birthday gift to myself for entering a new decade and welcoming my 30th year. What a magical little slice of the earth that place is. This particular adventure bought an overwhelming sense of peace, serenity and unbridled creativity. It was a slower pace than I’m used to, but wonderfully so, and a much needed breath of fresh air into a part of the world that I had never been.

I stayed in a variety of little palapa huts on the beach all along Boca Paila, a long beach road in Tulum. Very charming atmosphere with endless waves crashing on the turquoise shore, hammocks, hand painted signs and solar/wind generated cabañas. I planned my trip with two events in mind:  A weekly festive event at the Mezzanine, including puppets, stiltwalkers, breakdancers, djs and fire spinners and a salsa night & fire pit roast at La Zebra.  I’m hoping in the future I may be able to meet some folks over there who would like to incorporate video into their events, and possibly go back out there to perform. That would be quite a dream!

After a few days/nights of swimming in the Carribean, drinking fresh mojitos, feeling the powdery sand beneath my feet, snorkling in ceynotes, and bicycling above the tree-line, I’m ready for my next round of creative projects that are coming this way through the end of the year.

Saturday, January 2nd, will be the next big Monkey Town event for Kodomo and I, and we will be playing with my good friends, the Cutlery with visuals by Waking Dream.  We’re on at 9PM, so I will make sure to send out reminders for reservations when the date gets closer.  In the meanwhile I’m catching up with some outstanding projects at the moment and will be up for new endeavors as the new year begins. If 2010 is anything like 2009, I will have a big smile on my face all year round.

A drawing sample from students in class

Friday night I trekked out to Washington, DC to join the Motion Graphics Festival. The workshops all sounded wonderful, but it especially piqued my interest when I read that VJ Shantell Martin was teaching a workshop in live-painting. On the practical side of what I do, my instinct was to take the After Effects class, but the VJ side of me couldn’t let go of the opportunity to hang with other visualists from around the world, so I signed up.

The class introduced the idea of using a wacom tablet mixed with painting software to drawing live and intuitively to music, while recording your session and being able to cut it up and re-use it as animation in performance or later for editing. I found this particularly useful because I never record what I’m doing directly from the screen. There is a program called I Show You which does this perfectly, creating a high res quicktime file.

While much of my personal VJ style has been to mix motion graphics & after effects work, with video files, I’m interested in seeing what direction the concepts I learned in class could take on for me. Definitely a lot of fun, and definitely a new tool to play with and explore.

Thanks to all of you who I met this weekend. I hope our paths cross again soon!

Hello all!  I’ve been back for a little over a week and it has taken me this long just to catch up with life, time zones, and the digital realm of documentation. Our first european show was so incredibly fun and soulful. Many thanks to Camilo Tribin of Makinola who organized, promoted and put the whole thing together. Gustavo Osorio and his amazing photographic talents. Margarita Rojas of the Crayon Incident for her creative inspiration and beautiful performance with us at Miscelanea. Emily and Bryan Dunn for letting me run around with them all day and crash their honey moon. And of course Kodomo, whose music continually inspires me to do what I’m doing. Many thanks to all the lovely people that I met along the way.

Day 1

My adventure began when my plane arrived early at the Barcelona airport around 7AM. The place was dark and desolate, and our flight was the only one that had landed. I had been in the air since 5:30pm the night before, wired and exhausted. The hotel I had booked wouldn’t have an open room until 2pm that day, so I made arrangements with two of my favorite Brooklynites to meet at their place at 10AM. I had just done projections during the ceremony for their wedding a couple weeks before, and as synchronicity would have it, they happened to have one day left in Barcelona, the day I arrived.

Having 3 hours to spare before meeting them, I connected with another lone american traveler, who guides bicycle tours in Utah & Oregon. She was waiting for friends, and I was waiting for a reasonable hour to head out into the universe, so we chatted and had a great morning meeting each other and exchanging travel stories.

As I said good bye around 9AM, I walked out into the grey rainy weather welcoming my arrival, to a little black and yellow taxi cab. I said something like, “¿Me puede tomar usted a mi hotel?” and showed him an address on calle Mallorca, and off we went. About a half hour later I arrived at a cool little boutique hotel, nestled in the middle of a vibrant NY-like city. Memorable amounts of colorful graffiti were splashed across doorways, cabs were plentiful, and there were dozens of bicyclists and pedestrians all across town.

I arrive at the hotel, and am pointed upstairs to my friend’s room. I lugged my equipment and bags up to the fourth floor and was greeted with huge hugs from the newly married couple. It was such a surreal meeting of worlds to have been in Brooklyn with them a couple weeks earlier, and in another country then and there. So I dropped off my bags, grabbed my umbrella and we headed out. We maneuvered in and out of amazing narrow, beautiful streets, until we made it to Barri Gotic, the Gothic quarter of the city. Absolutely stunning. Cobblestone streets, archways, exquisite cafes, cathedrals that look like dripping wax and even the occasional street performer playing instruments or wearing costumes.

We arrived at a little cafe to order a coffee and chocolate y churros! My new favorite indulgence. After catching up on the news and sharing some delicious pastries, we headed to the famous La Ramblas to veer off into La Mercat de la Boqueria. By far the best market that I have ever experienced. My eyes were overloaded by the color, texture, variety and freshness in every direction. Such a wide creative mecca for people who love and appreciate good food.

From there we wandered in and out of cathedrals, dodged raindrops, walked along the dock near Port Vell, and mused about the inspiration of the city. Eventually we made our way out of the rain, and into a cozy vegetarian cafe, which was serving a buffet of salads, quinoa, soups and other such delicious options. Everything we had was incredibly fresh and colorful. I can easily see why there are so many great artists in Barcelona, and I can’t wait to plan another trip there (possibly) next year to re-indulge myself in such inspirational surroundings.

As we finished our meals and made our way to the door we were stopped for a few minutes by the ensuing of quite a monsoonish downpour. Emily made the comment that even the rain is passionate in Spain!

We soon left into the rain, where we caught a cab and we headed back to our hotel so I could pass out for a few hours before dinner, and before the show schedule for 11pm that night! Yes, not only did I arrive in a whirlwind after not sleeping much, and a day of wandering, but I had to be awake enough to perform our first show! Mind you, starting at 11pm in Spain, is 5AM in New York. I was looped out of my mind, but so thrilled and excited, a few hours of sleep at the hotel would do just fine.

After the rain passed, and a double rainbow appeared just in time for our evening out on the town, I had a drink at the hotel bar and we made our way to a very unique restaurant in the area known as El Raval. Interesting seafood dishes, ox tail soup, and a variety of vino later, we all made our way to meet Kodomo, and crew who were setting us up over at our first gig at Bar Lempika. Drinks were passed around, shots that tasted like mini mojitos were shared, and this little Brooklyn-like Barcelona bar slowly became more and more crowded to come hang out with us. I projected some fun italian cartoons that I had just pilfered from the library last week for fun, and let it run while we set up to play. We began playing at midnight and had a great response from everyone there that night. Even the local guy who walks in and out of bar trying to sell roses decided to stay and watch the action. It really turned out to be such a fun evening, and it was great preparation for the next night for our gig at Miscelanea.

Day 2

Sunny skies poured through my window at the 987 that morning. I gathered all my equipment and bags and made my way over to Pension 2000 to meet up with friends. The morning began with a short walk to La Rambla, and into a beautiful pastry shop of sorts. Cafe con leche, a potato tortilla y tarta de manzana. Delicious food everywhere we ventured. Then a short trip over to the market once again for more photos, fresh juice and food samplings. The day consisted of an amazing stroll up and down the Mediterranean coast line, past the sandcastles, and dipping our feet into the smooth sands and warm water at Port Vell. Quite a magical place if you ask me.

It’s hard to recount exactly where the wandering lead after that, because Barcelona is possibly the most amazing place to wander by foot that I have ever been, but I do remember an incredible italian restaurant where the chef had made his own pasta, and the prawns were freshly caught that morning.

The night came quickly and it was time to prep for the show at Miscelanea. Very cool art space! Upstairs bar, white gallery walls, and funky art on t-shirts and in book cases. There was even a little wink from the universe, when I saw posters by my favorite designer, Scott Hansen, hung up on a little clothes line of art strung between a nice little collection. There we set up limited edition CDs & vinyl for sale and continued to set up for the show. Unfortunately with my new mac pro I’ve run into all sorts of issues with being compatible with certain projectors and S-video cables, but 50 feet of VGA cable later, solved the problem.

Set up had been achieved and it was nearing showtime. Kodomo and I did a quick interview with a lovely journalist, and it was soon time to start. The Crayon Incident & GLUP! began their amazing set of very innovative electronica, and gorgeous hand created live visuals. I’m completely enchanted by their performance, and hope to see them perform again.

Around 9PM it was time for us. The room had packed itself with a wonderful crowd, and it was vibrant with incredible energy. I couldn’t have asked for a more fun performance and such an organized event. I’m still editing down video clips from the show and will be posting here shortly. We received warm smiles and a wonderful audience response all night long. Continued the show later at an after party, where I shot video and danced until we had reached the end.

Day 3

Sadly, this was already my last day. It was the quickest whirlwind weekend possible. I spent the time taking photographs and getting lost in the city. Tempting to do some touristy ventures, but I instead chose to let the day take me where my intuition guided. That will remain with me forever, and really have no words to capture it’s meditative beauty.

Day 4

Air Italia and Rome. Craziness. That is all I have to say about that!

~

I loved every second of my time in Barcelona and will definitely be going back, as soon as it is meant to be in future dates to come.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Videos to come!

Thanks to Jimmy Deane & Ryan McCann (aka Media Victim), I got to meet some really wonderful VJs from around the world at Burning Man this year, during their organized VJ meetup at Center Camp. Ryan was sweet enough to give me this wonderfully edited clip to capture a few words during my playa adventure at Burning Man as a VJ.

Thanks again guys! From this point on, I’ll learn how to speak in front of the camera lens!! Usually I make a point to stay on the other side. Nor do I usually wear kitty ears. Well, sometimes.

Below is a link to the full segment of all the VJs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo by one of my lovely campmates, Rebeka Bieber

Grateful. I’ve just re-entered the digital abyss after two weeks of a disparate connection.  Hot generous sun, moon and mountains behind me.  The laundry piles from my desert journey have each a layer and a story. Not one item of clothing was spared. Just one step forward into this ethereal Black Rock City, into the Black Rock desert of Nevada. The inevitability of overwhelming dust takes over you and all that you have. You have no choice but to embrace what comes.

It’s a desert dream. A whirlwind sand storm. Blink your eyes and it’s over. A powerful oasis of magic and art if you choose to see it that way. Liberated matter of the formal routine. A re-awakened world that doesn’t compromise our personal art and expression for practicality purposes. Art for the sake of doing, being, sharing. Life for the sake of living simply, yet extremely. No money exchanged, only energy and ideas.

My own centered routines turn into dust immediately as I pack my last bag and board my first plane. This feeling of no turning back hummed a mix of wired & tired, for the four hours of sleep I had shaken minutes before.

Everything after that is a blur of watercolor and ink. Lights and stars. Sound vibrations. Fuzzy laughter. Scientists and pocket watches of burning time. Hugs of old familial energy. Self-contemplation. Fish bug fire. Night visuals upon a Phage car. Meet & greet of international VJ’s. Prima Tivo wine tasting. Jazz clubs. Fly me to the moon. Abstract angles & electrolytes. Barrels of flying fire. Warmth and sun. Bicycle wheels spinning, and a penny slot in Reno which won me $75 bucks and a philosophical conversation.

Spare change?

I will try and set free the disappointing lack of time that I spent at the Temple. The solitude that I craved there and had not taken. The personal compromises I made to find balance. The expectations of health & motivations within myself. And other such thoughts that would tap me on the shoulder and walk me through the desert hand in hand.

I’ve seen the universe wink in many colors, shapes and languages on this trip. After four years of making this journey to BRC and back, I hadn’t expected to feel as different coming home this time, but I do. Something is calling. Shapes have shifted and I am listening.

Visual inspiration = infinity

Click here for our info on Monkeytown’s website. The calendar for August was just launched.

We’re getting excited for our upcoming show!! Mark your calendars and send an RSVP here. August 6th, Thursday at 8:30 PM. We are currently looking for a second act to play with us, open to suggestions!

Soon I will be posting the massive amount of photos & video that were taken this weekend in the Chrysalis Dome from the festival we performed at in upstate NY this past weekend. The rain gods did not hold off on any rain that they had planned for us despite my plea, but as a result the adventure became that much more spontaneous and unpredictable.

Unfortunately we were only able to get Chrysalis up for two nights before the rain turned everything into swamp lands. We then took our cables, projectors, tarps and equipment over to a smaller inflatable dome to keep the party going to finish out the weekend. Either way, the project continues to become more interesting with each launch.

Thanks to everyone who made it all the way up there and stuck it out through the rainy conditions. I had so much fun working with everyone and experimenting with this amazing project.

Monkeytown with the Cutlery

Thanks to all who managed their way to the couches of Monkeytown last night!  The haunting jingle jangles, clarinet, record player, typewriter and banjo strings of the Cutlery ominously echoed the walls and brought a sultry, nostalgic mood to the shadows.

The room had a nice mellow feeling of serenity throughout our set, and was a lot of fun to edit live in my spontaneous ways of vision. I planned to have the visuals take you on a journey through time. We spent most of the evening floating between the 1920s and 1930s. Flappers, poetic meanderings, dramatic romances, cryptic cartoons and a side of Charlie Chaplan. In addition, lately I’ve been missing one of my very best friends, Zora, who passed away a few years ago. Her and I had just begun to collaborate on beautiful things together in the year before she passed.  I know she would have loved the type of work that I’m doing these days. I always wonder what we would be creating today if she were still around. In our short time together we collaborated on one stopmotion film, Fascade Filosophia (also posted below), a few bare experimental tests of painted waves (will be posting soon) and animated sand.

Fascade, full of dark puppetry and mysterious castles, was a big hit last night from what I heard after the show. It felt amazing to have her with me last night, breathing through the walls. I’ve been missing her something fierce and showing that film reminded me that she’s still here inspiring me everyday. For me, last night’s set was dedicated to her.

That venue is so intimate and personal, I wish I could project visuals there more often. It’s absolutely my ideal space, and motivates me to make better and better work.

Click here to view the embedded video.

 

Dvein, Prologue, Psyop, Black Heart Gang, 1st Ave Machine, Imaginary Forces, Rachel Maddow, Moment Factory, Jonah Lehrer.Â

Since having worked in the corporate world of video production for the last few years, I haven’t had much opportunity to immerse myself in the art world (or even the commercial world) of motion graphics the way I wish I could. Thankfully, conferences like F5, after effects meetups and the VJ world have brought this back into my life in many ways. Most nights after I come home from day to day editing, I begin to collage my own new work and find myself experimenting into the early hours, to create a bigger, more original and more ecclectic library for future live video performances.

The F5 conference reminded me just how powerful motion graphics are, and how much I love that world & the people who make that sort of magic happen. Not only did the conference showcase some of the best work I’ve seen in years, but there was a really interesting discussion about the state of creativity, and how it works from a scientific angle. We talked about how to better access innovations from the left side of the brain, and how we should be open to all new endeavors that allow us to create connections, and draw inspiration from experience. Insights seemingly flourish best when not forcing creativity. Some highlights for me were seeing & hearing all of the bizarre places that people reach to for inspiration.  Found everywhere from rubberbands that were made into stop-motion spaghetti  to one person dipping their hands & feet in cement just to see what it would feel like to wear on their limbs for a week!  Ideas are formed in some of the most oddly beautiful ways and it has always been a passion of mine to explore how other people’s brain’s work.

Later this week I’d like to transcribe my notebook that I had with me for the two days and capture the raw thoughts I had while listening to these fabulous heros of mine.  As a result of the festival I’ve already taken some of the advice and put it towards a new identity scope for my danger visuals.

A few frame grabs from new Danger intro visuals

Lastly  I want to mention how VERY excited I am to say that a new collaboration is underway with electronic musician Kodomo. It looks like May 6th will be our first performance at the Delancey for the next Warper Party. Details soon to come!!

Over the last few days I’ve been diving headfirst into a huge number of experimental films and collections. The last film in particular that caught my eye and is holding a fascination for me right now is called Color + Modulation by Rob Tyler. With a variety of oil & ink mediums he hand-painted glass frame by frame and caught them on 16mm film. It was then digitally manipulated and edited to music to produce 8 films within this collection. I find them each to be an absolutely alluring piece of work that keeps my eyes entertained and my brain stimulated throughout the entire transition from one color to the next.

Rob’s music videos are also pretty incredible. The one posted above is just one example of many beautiful pieces. He captures something that I’ve been digging deep to find within my own work. A sort of innocence  and simplicity that exudes an energy that holds you in the moment until it’s ready to release you back to earth.

Inspired by the hauntingly beautiful music of the Cutlery ladies and the poetic words of Nick Cave. I created this piece with an old wooden frame & collaged imagery found from fashion photos from around the world. It almost came together in a seemingly unconscious way, and became an animated photo album that expanded from the corners of my imagination. The photography was altered, animated, arranged and woven into these treasured memories. This piece was created to be projected during the Cutlery’s live performance of this song, and was debuted on the four walls of Monkeytown last Friday night. Looks like we’ll have another gig there in June!!

Lately I’ve been feeling nothing less than colorful & vibrant. The world is opening it’s doors down all the paths that I’m curious to explore, and I’m happily skipping down each one with wide eyes. I had some time today between edits to remind myself how much I love layering in photoshop, and how much I love doing work that is purely for the art of enjoyment. For the last many years I’ve been working insanely long hours, and insanely hard for other people. Finally I have time to make art again, for myself.

This piece is inspired by one of my all time favorite design heros, Scott Hansen. It reminds me that as a designer, sometimes we don’t have to over-think our work down to every last detail.  Sometimes if we just start having fun and doing what attracts us, you get the best results and are happier for it.

This week I’m cutting & collecting clips for my second collaboration with the ladies of Cutlery!  We’ll be playing a short opening set at Monkeytown at 7:30PM sharp, finishing at 8PM. I received a few new spacey netflix DVDs that I’m dissecting right now, and hope to come up with some new approaches to the performance with all this lovely new machinery that I’ll be toting along.

Speaking of Monkeytown, if you plan on attending our show, please note that it’s highly recommended to reserve yourself a spot before showing up at the door!  You can reserve a spot by clicking here and signing up!

Thanks!!

Last year I was really inspired by Pipilotti Rist, who created a huge video installation at the MOMA. A lot of her work was seen from a sort of bug’s eye view, and I took that inspiration to do a bit of that style filming on my own at all the beautiful parks in SF. Looking forward to cutting some of that up this week and integrating it into my footage library.

I’d also really like to create a new reel for the hollydanger.com front page, as it is supremely choppy and outdated at this point. The page itself is also unfinished and in limbo, waiting for me to add my entire portfolio to it, and link over here to this blog! Cliche to say, but there really aren’t enough hours in the day. Last night I just finished my 3rd round of package designs for a canadian musician that I’m working for. Things are looking really great, but I’m afraid of how many hours I sit slaved to these machines working on projects! I have a full time 9-5 job during the week editing videos, then I come home to freelance work & VJ stuff on the side. There are barely any hours left to sleep & eat.

Thank god I love to do this stuff, I just wish that I had ways of doing it all faster so I could do more of it.

This week I’ll be receiving my new video controller in the mail!!  I splurged last week and bought the OHM. I should be receiving it in the next two days. Perhaps just in time to learn how to use it, and give it a try at the Monkeytown gig on Apr 3rd. I think I’m also going to drop the dime on a new laptop to make sure everything runs smoothly. It’s about time for a full round of upgrades!

Sunny, brisk, energetic, bellowing light, ocean, colored, gritty city hills, homeless, bold coffee, honey-fruit plates & tea lounges, wine & dinner talking to bartenders and travelers, solo wandering, cameras, old friends, dukatis in the street after ethiopian food, scooters in soma, fantastic fashion & tattoos, geekgasms at multimedia mezzanine show, amoeba, celebrity sightings, architecture, trolleys, parks, love, haight and art gallery hostels with barefoot patrons..

My trip recently fueled a new little video piece, and I wanted to share it here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

 The Haight was breathing with gritty, hot, fantasies that day. It’s a nostalgic place full of history, fashion, and subtle unmentionables. Along the outskirts of dirty memories and coastlines that linger, someone is always willing to tell you stories over scotch in the evening, and put a flower in your hair as you undress the sunlight.

Mostly found footage collected from very many obscure locations, mixed with my textures & experiments.

The song is called Lust, by the Raveonettes.

 

There have been two things I’ve had my eyes on since I began VJing. One was a new mac book pro, and one was Livid’s wooden OHM controller. Both wildly expensive, and beautifully crafted.

I told myself this year that if VJing came as naturally to me as I hoped it would, that I would allow myself to invest more deeply into pursuing this path. Not only has it become a natural progression and flow from my video & design work, but it has become the most exciting exhilaration that I’ve had towards art & work that I’ve felt in years.

I’m a little overwhelmed with the amount of requests that I’m receiving to nurture this newfound talent and perform with bands at shows, but I’m loving every sleepless second of it.

I’m currently working feverishly at my studio to prepare new material for electronic musician Kodomo and start playing live with him. It’s a project that I believe is incredibly strong, and I hope to open up doors to playing for venues such as the Natural History Museum for One Step Beyond, Monkeytown, and any venue that knows how to house a quality multimedia show. Personally I love museums and would love, love, love to find myself in gallery shows in the future.

I’m also starting a new venture to work with cute & chic girl band, The Cutlery. Their sound is hauntingly beautiful and echoes from the soul. Harmonies are accompanied by banjos, violins, oboe, electronics, jingly janglys. I see lots of silent era sepia toned opera films, starry nights, and longing sunsets for their visual scene. We have our first gig together this Saturday night at the House of Love, and April 3rd at Monkeytown. It’s a short set, 7:30-8PM, so get there early enough to grab a seat. Monkeytown has great beer and food, plus it is such a cool, cozy, brooklyn spot. Definitely one of my favorite venues.

Looking forward to it all, wide eyed and excited!

Photo found on Flickr.com / Tycho Show / March 6th San Francisco @ the Mezzanine

Traveling is one of my favorite things in life.

To begin March 2009, I decided to take a spontaneous journey off the east coast and absorb some California sunshine. The winter has been a long, bleak period for me and while I’ve been keeping busy as well as hibernating, I’ve been deeply desiring spring. I’m feeling all sorts of new flows of creative energy that are bustling and ready to erupt into a thousand colors, but I’ve felt held back by the mundane daily routines, and the weather that keeps me from exploring outside with my camera. I have not enjoyed the cold this year, even having been a snowboarder for much my life. 

To remedy this, I put my cards on the table and booked a flight. I heard that a very special show was happening in San Francisco on March 6th that piqued my interest. My design hero, ISO50, who also makes his own beautiful, ambient music and visuals to go with them, was part of a 10 year Ghostly International anniversary show at the Mezzanine.

 

 

I took a photoshop workshop of his at the OFFF festival in NYC in 2007, and have been following his work for many years. I actually see a lot of similar techniques between how he puts things together and how my creative-brain works.  His ideas always breathe a freshness of vitality into everything he does, and he inspires me endlessly. His show on Friday night did nothing less but overwhelm & excite my senses.

I was elated to the point of geekgasm when he set stage at 12:45AM on Friday night in San Francisco. Not only did he have an amazing stage presence and the crowd worshipped him, but every single person who performed that night was mind-blowing. Ghostly has given me a new sense of inspiration, in a new direction of musically integrated visual styles. I was amongst the best of the best, and am grateful that I had the opportunity to fly across the country to be there.

More words, pictures, video & inspiration to speak of once I am fully re-adjusted to east coast time zones again.

In the meanwhile, here are a few tracks by Tycho.

Tycho – Sunrise Projector

tycho-sunpro.mp3

Tycho – Day Dream

tycho-daydream.mp3

 

I started getting email from Warper after signing up on their mailing list at Burning Man’s NY Decompression party last year. They were announcing their monthly shows and looking for volunteers to help out, project, play music, give workshops, etc. I signed up to project visuals and got a time slot within a couple days. It all turned out to be such a great night, at a perfectly lounge-worthy venue. I had a super fun entourage of friends who came out to support, drink and help in case of disasters, and I met a whole crew of great folks, musicians that were interested in what I was doing, future collaborations and just a general good vibe overall which made the night so wonderful.

I was so inspired by the night that I strung together a bunch of my latest designs and put it to a piece of music. I’ll probably end up doing this regularly after my projection nights. Each are different, and I add new work each time I play. I’m already looking forward to projecting again because of how excellent my experience was last week. I never knew what a rush it could be for me. The next show is this Friday night at Seaside Tavern (formerly Jimmy Seaside) in Stamford. It will be my first time collaborating with my brother, who is the drummer of the band, Manyhose, who I’ll be visualizing for. Please come out if you’re a Stamford local! Should be a fun night. We go on late, 11:30pm. Hope to see you!

Click here to view the embedded video.

 

I love, love, love this graphic!!  Having grown up with the idea of originality and uniqueness as a strong core value, I had a lot of trouble borrowing images to use in visual work, even though I’m a collage artist. I knew for VJing, the only way to get my start, was to develop a visual library. This is where I began collecting old movies and video clips that had elements of interest to me, whether it be in color, texture, or action. I’m slowly starting to realize what is stated in the graphic above makes a lot of sense to me, and that it does not negate the originality of the intended idea or the uniqueness of the person creating the work. While I do enjoy taking my own footage & photography, I also really love collecting elements from other sources and remixing them to new heights, almost as much..

 

Tonight I’m performing some live visual action at the Delancey in NY, Upstairs, 9-10PM for the 3rd Year Anniversary of the Warper Party! This will be my first experience with Warper, and I’m excited to say that I’m slowly starting to move from using just collected imagery, into using more of my own pieces.

My goal is to strike a more cinematic experience, with a designerly approach. I’m sick of all the techno typographic explosions, epileptic color choices and digital noise that hurts your eyes. The work has been flowing nonstop, and I’m really feeling more and more how this will become a permanent part of my future.

 

Alan is a huge inspiration from his whimsically fantastical illustrations, and his many graphical projects that were well known in the 60s and 70s. Possibly most well known for his visual interpretation of the Beatles Illustrated Lyric book. The exhibit looked like an alice and wonderland trip mixed with a musically visual aesthetic that would leave me wandering for hours in awe.

Today he is my source of inspiration and I hope I get to cross paths with some of his work in person.

Great tshirt design finds of the day! 

designbyhumans.com/

I’ve been hunting around for some inspirational design shirts lately. Much like those found on Veer’s site, or perhaps something like Threadless, but edgier, and more intriguing. Design by humans is definitely an inspiration in this direction. Though as a result of not finding exactly what I wanted, I think I may actually start designing some shirts of my own. I’m going to get the sketch pads out and start scheming and plotting! Can’t find it – make it, right?

To be continued…

 

I’m quite proud to say that my younger brother, Chris, has followed his dream in pursuit of a music career and is succeeding in ways that could never have been predicted.  Not only has he developed an entire recording studio in my parent’s basement and learned to speak fluent spanish, but he has a number of clients that he records daily for his independent business, Potent Productions.  This coming Sunday night he is having a CD release party for his debut album, La Herencia de la Familia Real.  

This album was produced as a collaboration of various musicians, and has created quite an impressive first piece. I was recruited to design the album, a complicated 6-panel fold out, which I had no idea how to approach when I first began.  The style of music is new to me as a designer – a mix of reggaeton, spanish lyrics & techno beats.  As a result I hooked him up with a David Apuzzo Photography to take a professional mix of high contrast photos and textured backgrounds that I could use to put the design together. 

Recently, with the help of Jeff Schram of SchramDesign, I was able to put up a splash page for my brother to sell the album.

This Sunday, December 28th I’ll be performing live visual projections for his release party at the Thirsty Turtle in Stamford, CT.  That means that this week I’m collecting ideas and brainstorming, what on earth it means to project for “high energy, spanish, club music“. That was the direction I got from Chris. I have no idea what I’m doing yet, but I’m excited to explore it and see what happens when I do.

Simultaneous shot taken by Holly & Jeff

I’ve just recently returned from an excursion down south, where I spent a week in Austin, Texas. This was my second visit there this year, and it is quickly becoming a favorite little oasis-getaway of creativity, music, healthy fresh foods, mental clarity, clean air and cheap booze!

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Here is my collection of favorite spots & eateries in Austin:

Bodicelli’s – Best italian food I’ve had in years, mixed with live outdoor music & beer garden.
Bouldin Creek Cafe – Muraled space with fresh healthy vegetarian dishes & board games
Vivo – Tex-mex all the way! 
The Continental Club – Good music all night, every night.
Saxon Pub – Great divey bar with fantastic rock shows.
Zilker Park – Gorgeous place for hikes, kayaks, lush trees..
Jo’s Cafe – My favorite coffee spot hangout on congress.
San Jose Hotel – Hands down favorite hotel. Classy, cool and very well designed.
Uncommon Objects – Super funky collection of antiques & thrifty goodness.

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This time while I was there, I schemed some ideas for future work-living potential in the area. Austin is absolutely beautiful in the winter. 75 degrees and eternally summer. I’m not used to being able to walk outside without getting in my car, and have access to tons of great shops, cafes, music and life right out the door. The idea of living seasonally struck me during both visits there this year and I’d like to try and put this into action come 2010. Ideally I would love to spend a year (or more, depending how it goes) living a few months at a time in different locations. My aim is to work on a variety of projects throughout the US and if possible, even a few outside the US.

These are a few of the places I’m considering living seasonally:

Austin TX
Portland OR
Boulder CO
Northern California
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Brussels, Belgium
Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver, Canada

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2008 has really put me in a place of stability. I’ve worked really hard over the last 2 years to pay off my college & car loan debt, and to invest in a collection of video equipment to get myself off the ground as someone who can work independently.

2009 holds a lot of that same potential and I’m really excited. As I am approaching the new year, I am beyond thrilled to say that I am one pay check away from owning my car and being completely debt-free. My living expenses have gotten more affordable with the help of a really sweet house-mate, and my work situation is quite liveable for the time being. Going into 2009, and my third year of corporate video editing as my day job, I’ve earned 5 weeks of paid vacation. I’m going to use this time wisely to save money for traveling and the future of wherever I’m headed. I want to spend a few weeks of that vacation traveling around Europe and more importantly, putting energy into a documentary project that I’ve always wanted to complete.

I never thought these ideas would come into fruition, but the possibilities are proving to be possible afterall, and I can’t wait to see where I can go…