Years ago, I proposed an elaborate film project for a grant-that-shall-not-be-named involving projecting images of quilts onto dancers below and capturing it all on film by dangling from the ceiling with a camera. Ok, so I'm nutshelling, and yes my proposal was much more articulate and thought out than it sounds (there were copious diagrams involved), but needless to say the seemingly overly-complicated proposal was swiftly rejected and soon my notes settled into past pages of an old notebook.
But it's funny how the mind never quite forgets. Your ideas are always lying in wait, branching out, dropping new fruitful thoughts that leave seeds of their own, and one day several years later, you realize your proposal is actually en route to completion! Just...through a newly manifested work.
It turns out my project first saw the light of day through my 2013 collaboration with the New England Quilt Museum. Leaving the ceiling alone and relying on the good ol' ground instead, I projected a series of quilts onto my dancers, creating six short films, later dubbed the Threading Motion Project: Quilt Vignettes. These graceful and lively works have been showcased in exhibitions as far as San Jose, CA, and most recently were selected for the 2015 Glovebox Film Festival. (View my thoughts on this project here.)
The seeds of my proposal then settled once again as I focused my energies on an entirely new project. Last year's Night at the Tower in Arlington brought new artistic successes, receiving the Massachusetts Cultural Council's prestigious Gold Star Award, yet it also affirmed the beauty of integrating art from the community into a new public performance. (View photos, videos, and testimonials on Luminarium's snazzy blog here!)
So now it's 2015, and I'm finally making the connection that my original proposal—which saw its first public setting in 2013—has somehow mingled with last year's project to create a new breed of apple on the tree. That's right, pull out your ladders and harnesses...I'm heading up to the ceiling!
Simplified, my project is this: Step 1) Collaborate with the Eric Carle Museum (the country's very first storybook museum and home to many of my own favorite books as a child) to collect drawings and paintings from children ages 0–middle school. Step 2) Project these images onto my dancers from above to create a series of 12 photographs:
Step 3) Create a picture book. Yet with step three, I wondered: Do I create a narrative? Or does each image offer its own story? In an effort to include more voices from the Amherst community, I've chosen to embrace the latter, and plan to reach out to local writers from high schoolers through adults to create short stories or poems based on the final 12 photographs we've created.
And finally, Step 4) Return to the Eric Carle Museum triumphantly in the fall, with book in hand. My co-director Kim will use her kid savvy to create a short live performance using our company and the raw images received over the year as a special treat for visiting families (currently slated for either Oct 11 or Nov 1), and a film version of the book will play in the museum's video rotation throughout November in honor of National Storybook Month.
But it's funny how the mind never quite forgets. Your ideas are always lying in wait, branching out, dropping new fruitful thoughts that leave seeds of their own, and one day several years later, you realize your proposal is actually en route to completion! Just...through a newly manifested work.
It turns out my project first saw the light of day through my 2013 collaboration with the New England Quilt Museum. Leaving the ceiling alone and relying on the good ol' ground instead, I projected a series of quilts onto my dancers, creating six short films, later dubbed the Threading Motion Project: Quilt Vignettes. These graceful and lively works have been showcased in exhibitions as far as San Jose, CA, and most recently were selected for the 2015 Glovebox Film Festival. (View my thoughts on this project here.)
The seeds of my proposal then settled once again as I focused my energies on an entirely new project. Last year's Night at the Tower in Arlington brought new artistic successes, receiving the Massachusetts Cultural Council's prestigious Gold Star Award, yet it also affirmed the beauty of integrating art from the community into a new public performance. (View photos, videos, and testimonials on Luminarium's snazzy blog here!)
So now it's 2015, and I'm finally making the connection that my original proposal—which saw its first public setting in 2013—has somehow mingled with last year's project to create a new breed of apple on the tree. That's right, pull out your ladders and harnesses...I'm heading up to the ceiling!
Simplified, my project is this: Step 1) Collaborate with the Eric Carle Museum (the country's very first storybook museum and home to many of my own favorite books as a child) to collect drawings and paintings from children ages 0–middle school. Step 2) Project these images onto my dancers from above to create a series of 12 photographs:
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| A "digital sketch" of what my dancers might look like from above. |
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| A "digital sketch" involving the full company filling the canvas. |
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| Note in this "digital sketch" that because the dancers are on the floor, I can arrange them upside down and all around. Fun for kids...and me! |
Step 3) Create a picture book. Yet with step three, I wondered: Do I create a narrative? Or does each image offer its own story? In an effort to include more voices from the Amherst community, I've chosen to embrace the latter, and plan to reach out to local writers from high schoolers through adults to create short stories or poems based on the final 12 photographs we've created.
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| As this "digital sketch" shows, I plan to couple one final photographic image with one poem or short story. Each spread therefore represents the artistic talents of two members of the community of varying ages. Each spread might also include something for the book's younger readers, treating each image as an I Spy book, such as asking "How many dancers can you find?" |
And finally, Step 4) Return to the Eric Carle Museum triumphantly in the fall, with book in hand. My co-director Kim will use her kid savvy to create a short live performance using our company and the raw images received over the year as a special treat for visiting families (currently slated for either Oct 11 or Nov 1), and a film version of the book will play in the museum's video rotation throughout November in honor of National Storybook Month.
So there it is! My new apple—or should I say project—is ripe for the picking. Now I just need to find a catwalk and a camera...
(This project concept and all resulting materials are copywritten by Luminarium Dance Company, 2015.)
(This project concept and all resulting materials are copywritten by Luminarium Dance Company, 2015.)
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