• Messages in Motion arrives in Buffalo May 17, 2012

  The MIM Van arrived in Buffalo on Sunday night. I will be staying until June 15th, as an artist in residence at Squeaky Wheel.

  Under the general theme of “Present spaces, future spaces,” I’ll be exploring creative uses of underutilized  public and vacant spaces. These photos are actually not at all representative of the landscape here in Buffalo… There is quite a diversity of architecture, green spaces, vacant spaces, commercial areas, waterfront, etc…  Last night, for example, I attended a presentation on Pop Up parks. One will be happening on June 9th and I look forward to documenting this creative use of recycled materials and vacant parcels.  Lots of great energy and activity in the city, and I look forward to getting to know the people and their places!

  

• Final Videos from Casa Monarca May 1, 2012

  This is a series of 5 videos that was produced by adults at Casa Monarca. This group worked together over 5 weeks to  write a script, storyboard, film and edit their videos.

  This series of workshops culminated in a community screening on April 28th. We had a nice audience, and even filmmed a few more video messages on the spot!

  They are currently all in Spanish…

• MIM Visits Emerging Artists Creativity Hub April 29, 2012

  Stop Racism:
  

  Yesterday was a very full and productive day with 8  students at the Emerging Artists Creativity Hub, a project of Young Audiences at the College of New Jersey.

  EACH says:  “Our goal is to provide young artists, ages 13-17, with study and work experience in the arts far beyond the typical high school curriculum. So far, students have had the opportunity to use a wide range of arts media and have worked with a number of professional artists. These bright and dedicated young artists, from locations throughout New Jersey, including Trenton, Princeton and Elizabeth, come each week with a desire to explore other art forms, to go beyond their comfort zone, to create and to collaborate with their peers.”

  We decided the theme for this workshop would be ‘Personal PSA’s” Each student came up with an idea or message that was important to them and created a storyboard and worked in pairs to shoot their videos. I sat with each student for 15 mins to assemble and put the final touches on their videos, and then we watched them all by the end of the day! Themes included: Peer pressure, racism, animal rights, health and identity.

  Here are the videos that we produced:

  Lying
  
   
  Take Care:
  
   
  Family:
  
   
  Peer Pressure:
  
   
  Respect Our Animals
  
   
  Be Your Own Person:
  

• MIM installation on display at the Painted Bride April 7, 2012

    Last night  the Reciprocity show opened at the Painted Bride. This show was curated by Pepon Osorio and features work by  7 artists whose projects explore   themes of give and take. I was excited to participate in this show, and it gave me an opportunity to recurate some of the existing MIM documentation and work, as well as create new videos, and finally present the ‘analog’ postcards that I created a few months back.  I selected 6 videos that I felt had particularly strong messages and I transcribed them onto the back of the postcard (where you would typically write your message). The front of the card has screen grabs from the video.  In addition to these cards, I created some blank ones which people can design and send or leave on the rack.

  I selected a few videos to loop based on the theme… It was a fun process to curate such diverse material, but I think it’s actually a great representation of the MIM archive. I also had the opportunity to work with 2 students from Tyler School of Art, who are taking a community art class, to create 2 new videos based on this theme… I think they both took distinct approaches and brought some new visual ideas and reflections to the theme.

  There will be a second ‘opening’ on May 4th and the show closed in early June.

  Hope you can make it out, and send someone a postcard to let them know you are thinking about them! Read the full show details here.

   

  InterROWaction by Stephanie:
  

  Homebound Exchange by Jay:
  

• Workshops begin at Casa Monarca March 26, 2012

  Tonight there was a great turnout for the first of 4 workshops at Casa Monarca. I will be working with this group of 12 adults to produce short videos that will premiere April 30th as part of the De Pueblo a Pueblo festival.

  I started out by sharing a few videos to give a sense of different approaches and visual strategies. We watched a few clips from the Habla Ya series, which I highly recommend (although most are in Spanish)
  
  (this one talks about the confusion around the ‘double’ last name. In Mexico, you take 2 last names, one from your mother and one from your father. This causes a lot of confusion when trying to translate that practice into our custom of ‘middle name’ and ‘last name.’

  
  This video talks about the difficulty/contradictions of pronouncing English words and  Spanish words with an English accent.

  We discussed the simplicity of these shots, the directness of the stories, the way humor was used to draw people in and allow them to identify with the situation.

  Next, I was excited to show ‘Tocate’ the PSA I helped produce with a group of women in Camden last year.
  

  They enjoyed the ‘doble sentido’ double meaning of this video, and we used it to start to talk about shot types and composition. From there we divided into 3 groups and each one produced a short in camera sequence. We watched and reviewed the videos and reflected on the session, which everyone really seemed to enjoy.

  Next week,  we will start developing our ideas and making it happen!

• Exciting Spring Workshops Planned! March 14, 2012

   This Saturday MIM will be at the LEAD workshop at the Science Leadership Academy. Coordinated by the Mazzoni Center Mazzoni Center, dozens of high school students, teachers, and allies from around the city and region will gather from 10 AM to 4 PM, for the annual LEAD event!  LEAD is aimed at high school students who are active or wish to become involved in the citywide GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) Network. MIM will be on site working with student leaders to document the day, record testimonials and edit a short video to share with allies.

  Starting Monday March 26, MIM will lead a series of workshop at Casa Monarca with a group of adults who recently completed a computer training course. After learning the basics of web searches and applications, photo and social networking sites, they are ready to start making videos!  With 8 participants signed up, this will be the first Spanish Language MIM workshop, which I’m very excited about. The videos will premiere during the ‘De Pueblo a Pueblo Festival‘ in May.

To see all blog entries, visit the archives section ( bottom right of the site ).