Category: projects

The Reel Deal

Indy Film Fest ReelMy love affair with movies started young. My mom loved watching old westerns, and I remember scraps of them as a sort of backdrop to my childhood. When I saw The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with Indy Film Fest a couple of years ago, I thought it was for the first time. After a few scenes, it all came rushing back, the movie I’d seen some thirty years before.

When we were very small, my sister Kelli and I thought we were sneaky, trying to cheat bedtime to watch movies. We even had a secret code for it – M-R-O, our hilarious attempt at adult strategy. We knew grown-ups spelled things out when they didn’t want kids to understand what they were saying and we thought we could do the same in reverse. MRO, to this day, still means “stay up late and watch movies” in my family.

My dad took Kelli and I to our first films in the theater – The Dark Crystal and the re-release of Disney’s Snow White around 1983. Soon after, we saw Jaws in 3D. We soaked up the good and the bad of 80s flicks, wearing out our VHS copy of Once Bitten with Lauren Hutton and a very young Jim Carrey. Until I was old enough to go out with friends on the weekend, every Saturday night was reserved for one of the cheesy horror flicks that my dad loved so much, followed by SNL.

In high school, I discovered Woody Allen and caught a rare foreign film screening of Like Water For Chocolate on what must have been the one weekend it screened in my hometown of Evansville, Indiana. I credit these, along with Kurosawa’s Dreams, The Graduate, Harold and Maude and a few others for showing me what film can be.

Even with all of that, I’d never have guessed how much of my spare time would be invested in movies. I volunteered for the screening committee for Indy Film Fest a few years ago and it’s been my cause of choice ever since. This year is kind of a big deal – it marks the tenth festival. As an all-volunteer organization, our board is feverishly planning events, rounding up volunteers and seeing to all kinds of details to to make this year bigger and better than ever. After a few years of focusing on marketing, I’m shifting toward fundraising for the organization.

I’m still determining my exact goals, working with the board president and the rest of the team to understand what we need for this year and beyond. Our three to five year plans call for major growth. I admit, I’m dreaming big, like HOLY CRAP, this could mark my biggest professional failure EVER sort of big.

But I also know our attendance and response to film experiences like Roving Cinema and movies at Sun King Brewery have grown tremendously. There’s a passionate tribe of movie lovers that keep showing up, talking movies with us, answering the call when we seek support.

Putting this blog post out into the world is my first step toward what will be a banner year of fundraising for Indy Film Fest. Wish me luck!

Better yet, if you want to help build something amazing for film lovers in Indy, let me know (you can email me here). I’d love to share our vision with you. If you want a few details about corporate support, here’s an overview of some of our opportunities. We’re also trying to raise a little cash to kick start our 2013 programming. Individual donations can be made here.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: What’s one step you can take to support a goal you have for 2013?

 

 

Random Nicing

All morning I plotted ways to nice people, thinking I could easily weave random acts of kindness into my whole day. It isn’t as easy as it sounds. Being nice can take a little work.

I got started with the nicing early by tucking a note and Reese’s Tree into my husbands lunch bag. My mom used to randomly surprise me with a note when I was very young. Those were always good days.

I treated someone to breakfast. But she was doing me a favor, so that doesn’t really count.

And then I went to work and got busy. I was actually working on gift bags for clients, one big ol’ nicing. But I meant to nice my co-workers. Fail.

After work, I decided to try the drive-through surprise at Starbucks. Idling in the road, I kept checking in my rearview mirror, watching for someone to come for me to cover their tab. No one came. At seven o’clock in the biggest shopping week of the year, this Starbucks of my choosing was woefully dead. I finally stopped waiting. Another big fail.

It was time to take matters into my own hands. I needed to level up on my nicing plans.

In that brief moment of defeat at Starbucks, I remembered the leftover iris bulbs. I’d bought a big batch, planted most of them, but had run out of ground for a good handful or two. To take it up a notch, I made a Target run for some supplies.

My shopping list:
Cellophane Bags,
My Little Pony Figurines,
Gift Tags.

Behold: Sparkle Pony Iris Nicing

random nicing

In each cellophane packet, I placed a few bulbs, a couple of tiny My Little Ponies and a note: “You’ve been NICED!” With the bags peeking out of my pockets, I left the house on a mission to nice my neighborhood. You’d think there was gold in my pockets. Or that I was carrying out a secret but very important mission that just might lead to world peace if I could get it right.

I may never know if anyone found them, or if the bulbs got planted, but no matter. The simple act of doing this felt amazing. I’m already wondering what little surprises I can distribute next.

For now, look out, South Broad Ripple. You might stumble upon a Sparkle Pony Iris Nicing on a corner near you.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Nice someone. Write about what you did. (What is nicing?)

Fire in the Sky

Indiana knows how to crown clouds with the setting sun. An exact replica I could never capture. Instead, I took the idea of fire in the sky quite literally and lit a fluffy cloud aflame.

Fire in the Sky, painting by Sara McGuyer

I am an inpatient dabbler in art. The ideas come and I want to get them down on paper or canvas quickly, then move on. In an art class during my freshman year of college, the teacher observed incorrectly: “You draw with the confidence of a senior.” Less than confidence, it’s an urgency to finish, one that I find tough to shake. My haste makes for art that garbles the original idea, often leads to abandoned work, or even discourages trying in the first place.

Sometimes I can will myself to slow down. Other times, I try to fill the need to create with a quick win.

I made this ode to Indiana this morning because in reflecting on 2012 creative projects, I was feeling low that I had created so little. From ideation, to pencil sketch on canvas, to color mixing to finished work, this 4 x 4 inch painting was the work of a half hour or so. While not a work of which I’m very proud, at a time when I needed it, this little Fire in the Sky filled that need to create.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “What did you make this year? Whether work-related or something more personal (like a song, craft project, or work of art), share your process and the end result.”

The Nooner!

The NoonerI’m stepping outside of my normal marketing and board member role at Indy Film Fest to curate some short films for a new monthly series. I’m pleased to introduce The Nooner. It’s lunch. It’s short films. It’s afternoon delight.

This has been a little pet project of mine for a while, as I’ve fretted over how little access there is to short film programming round the year in Indianapolis. I’m hoping this will change all that!

This new shorts program will take place on the final Friday of each month in the café at Earth House. The first edition is tomorrow at noon, and I can’t wait to kick it off. We’re showing past Oscar winning shorts for this inaugural outing. You can rsvp on facebook, or just show up! The screening is free.

Have ideas for a film to feature? Or maybe you’re a filmmaker and want to submit your film? Contact me here.

Burt, a Yarnbomb

Completed in the summer of 2010, the multi-colored yarn moustache was conceived as a going away present for my friend April. In addition to being one of my best friends for more than a decade, she taught me to knit. A tribute yarn bomb seemed like the perfect gift to send her off to Philadelphia. I enlisted my weekly knitting group to help adorn James Tyler’s Brickhead 3. The giant head sculpture is in Davlan Park on the 400 block of Mass Avenue. The yarn bomb lasted a few weeks, then mysteriously disappeared.

 

See more images.

Bigger Picture Show

A project of the Indy Film Fest, the Bigger Picture Show features re-invented movie posters for an art show/fundraiser. I took a stab at one of my favorites, Waiting for Guffman. Though it’s one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, the tragedy within the comedy offers some of the most interesting moments in the film. These are the moments which inspired the poster.

When Corky erupts on the city council because he’s been denied budget for his production and threatens to go home and bite his pillow, the panic the acting troupe feels when they see that the folding metal chair they’ve reserved for the critic is empty,  the moment Corky St. Clair realizes Guffman isn’t Guffman at all, just some random bloke. The spinning propeller of his beanie cap and over done eyeliner seem to mock the tragic deflation in his expression.

The Making of Things

December 6 Make.
What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Prompt author: Gretchen Rubin)

My work involves making things every day. Email designs. Web banners. Marketing calendars. In my spare time, I try to keep a personal creative project in the works. My latest:

A pair of fingerless mitts with picot edging, knit from an organic cotton/wool blend yarn. Sadly, I’ve already misplaced them after only a couple of wears. I’m hoping they’ll turn up soon.

There are always projects I want to work on, things to make. I spent less time in 2010 on painting than I’d hoped. I started a series of bird paintings two years ago and planned to finally add a peacock, owl and penguin to the collection in 2010. Maybe in 2011?

Since then new ideas for projects have taken root in my mind, so I may never paint another bird. What’s more important to me is to always have a creative endeavor in process, whether it’s writing, music-related or making art.

Balancing projects like knitting, where I create by following a pattern, with projects entirely of my own design seem to flex different areas of the brain. I do firmly believe that these personal creative pursuits both keep me sharp and inspire my work in my day job.

What do you think? Do independent projects inspire you in your day job? Or do you get more benefit from considering them a separate creative outlet?

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This post is a part of #reverb10 by Gwen Bell. Gwen and her team enlisted a group of authors to write prompts for each day in December. Participants can blog, tweet or post photos in reaction to the prompts to reflect on the past year.

LVA+ Emails

Lewis Van Arnam established LVA Represents in Brooklyn in 1977, and since then has been representing high caliber fashion, beauty and lifestyle photographers. The emails for LVA Represents and LVA+ are sent to creative directors and art buyers around the globe. I create and analyze the results of each email for Wise Elephant.

lva

Check LVA out on the web: LVArepresents and LVA+