Melismatics and SES 1

I've learned from past experience that if I don't post these ASAP, they might go away.
Here's the video from this year's SES Session I. I had absolutely no involvement in the production this year, but the work was largely done by the session students, and I had the lot of them in my class, so I take a measure of pride in their accomplishments anyway.




The TRON theme is consistent with the 80s feel of the tune (at least to me), and works fairly well. Melismatics are a fun local band, not really my speed, but I'd see them if the opportunity arose again.
AS for SES, I have mixed feelings this year. While it always rejuvenates me, this year was also exhausting, more so than some past years. There are some internal changes in the program that cause me concern. I won't elaborate out of professionalism. But I do need to think about what these changes mean, and I picked up a nasty bug right after the animation show of SES II, that kind of soured me on the overall experience.
However, I did get to do some innovative teaching, including giving an assignment I'd never given before that yielded some great results.
Very satisfied with that.
And the enthusiasm of the students, much like the Shawn concert, reminds me of possibility when I need such reminders most.
I'm going to mull this all over a while. I have until March to decide if I'm doing it again in 2011. If I do, it will be my 12th year working SES, and with multiple sessions starting 6 years ago, my 18th and 19th SES sessions.
At 30- 50 students per session, that's a LOT of kids!
And they wonder why I don't remember all their names....

Orriginal Art Sundays # 47: A Decade of Drawings

For today, three pieces scattered over a decade.
First, the one everyone's done, the self-portrait at the drawing table.

Everybody's done one of these. My favorite is by Charles Vess.
Next up, a museum sketch I rather liked.

Finally, a cat!
I did this as a Sumi-E technique peice for a Haiku class I took as part of my Master's program.

This was part of a book I did a Japanese stab binding of. In the book, the cat disappears, a line per page, each word of the Haiku is added on the new page.

Since the first session of SES has ended, I hope to have time to do a proper page for A Private Myth this week! Wish me luck!

Overture, curtain, lights!

Thanks to my friend, the video and film director Bill Rude for pointing this out.
Seems the Vibro Champs video shot during SES  a couple years ago, pulled from YouTube a few months later, is going to be on their new CD as bonus material. It's now available through Bill's site once again. As this was one of the best shoots I've ever been on and I have a brief cameo in it, I grabbed it for reposting while it was available!

More on SES

I promised more on SES, and here it is.
SES stands for Summer Expressions Seminar. It's Art School Camp for College credit. Takes place at Minneapolis College of Art & Design. Two sessions, two weeks each, one week in between. I've been teaching it for ten years now. The upcoming SES II, which starts this coming Sunday, will be my 16th session.
In session one, we teach graphic design, web, rock video, documentary, photo and sound.
In session two, we teach painting, animation, comics and game design.
I have pretty much free rein when teaching in this program. When the strictures are removed, the focus quickly shifts from "how do I satisfy my employer?" to "what are the needs of the students?"
It's a humbling experience to be in service to something bigger than yourself.
We only have them for two weeks, but during that time, they get a taste of art school- the real thing, not the romanticized version put forth by people who aren't artists. It's a baptism of fire, and I'm honored to be part of it.
My courses are more concerned with the how than the why. I teach courses in the nature of performance and in constructing and deconstructing text and image.
The above sketch was done by an SES II student last year while I was lecturing. I was so taken with it, I asked if I could keep it.
More than anything, those surprises are what make it worthwhile.

Pride and other holidays

Yesterday was swamped!
Final performance of the season with Trans Voices Chorus, followed by a nice brunch with that great bunch of folks, a delightful afternoon at Pride with my ex, Jennifer (who came in from Eau Claire with a bus load of folks. Finally, the wrap party for the video shot during the first session of SES.
More on SES later.
I'd like to offer an insight on Pride.
I didn't come up with this, one of the other members of the Choir did.
But I think it's perfect.
Pride is over commercialized, full of bright colors and joy, has become ritualized, and is full of people in your life that you only see once a year.
Just like Christmas.
That said, I was struck by the changes over the years. The addition of B and T to G and L (strangely absent from the actual content of the History Center exhibit!), the incredible freedom of the new generation, and a singing at a church service that preached tolerance, almost a Bizarro version of the world I grew up in, in a very good way!
The above photo is a quiet Pride moment at the Loring Park dandelion fountain, waiting for jenny and just hanging with a few folks.