The Lady Liberty Blues

OK, this is old news. But you’ve gotta see the pictures anyway!

On July 24 and 25, 2008, an ensemble cast performed The Lady Liberty Blues, written in the main by Wes Andrews and directed by Jess Smith, at Live Girls! Theater in Ballard, a Seattle neighborhood.

I was in charge of all the shadow imagery. This was my first time creating puppets for a show, and my first time performing with them. These will give you an idea of what we accomplished:

The Little Boy Who Lived in a Jar

The Chair of Motivation

Little Cartoon Baby Bob Dylan

The Rat Cage

Secret Orcon

OHP!

If you want more information on the show, Wes created a blog, which lives nearby.

“The Tranquility of Shadows”

Amidst much recent chaos, a little solace found on YouTube is welcome:

The Valley of Ashes.

When I drove into Vancouver last weekend, the air was sweltering.

There was a buzz on the streets of Strathcona.

People were milling around the Ukrainian Hall.

The Valley of Ashes was about to begin.

Now that’s the best footage I can find, and it surely doesn’t do it justice. The amazing shadow work is barely represented. However, it’s a taste.

I was floored.

The Dusty Flower Pot Cabaret are amazing. Check them out here.

He Poos Clouds.

That’s the name of an album by Final Fantasy, nee Owen Pallett, violinist extraordinaire.

Pallett is best known in the States as the gorgeous string accompaniment for the Arcade Fire (think “No Cars Go”).

In Canada he is also prominent as a solo artist who creates lush musical textures by looping his violin tracks. This is impressive live, as you will see in the video below.

Why I bring his story to you today is because his live show is augmented by shadows. Stephanie Comilang uses and overhead projector to add even more layers to the performance.

Oooh la la, la la:

Dark Hand and Lamplight.

It’s been awhile folks. Sorry for that. Many, many things to blog in the coming days. Maker Faire photos coming soon!!!

For today, I will share one of the most thrilling discoveries of my recent life. There is an artist musician duo out of Toronto that uses shadow theater. Brilliant brilliant brilliant.

I sigh. ‘Tis a beautiful thing.

You can find them on the MySpace.

Paranoid about androids.

Enter the Shadow Walker. Star Wars eat your heart out.

Glaringly unfathomable technical mechanics aside…they’re trying to build a robot that can walk up and down stairs.

By they I mean London’s Shadow Robot Company.  Yeah, “Shadow Robot” is what I said.  I know. Their website is here.

I found them on this coolio site called Android World. Scope.

Michel Gagné is Insanely Twisted.

I really wish I had the skill to imbed the video for this. I don’t, yet, so here is a teaser image:

Artist Michel Gagné created this series of shorts for Nickelodeon’s Halloween Shriekin’ Weekend in 2005. You can watch this amazing piece of flash animation here.

They are also available in individual format at his website, here.

Thanks to the brilliant no fat clips!!! video blog for this. Check it out.

More from Dalaipalooza.

You asked for more? Oh…no?…OK…well…whatever.

I spent a lot of my time that day looking at the ground or just above it.

And then there were the pigeons. You have no idea how long it took me to get a shot of their shadows in flight. Savor this one:

85th and Greenwood.

There are a lot of killer shadows at 85th and Greenwood at 11:00.

I took these with my cellphone so the resolution is pathetic.

You get the idea, though.

Cartoon werewolf.

Every once in awhile an idea turns out better than you expected.

When I set out to plan my middle school class for the Spring, I made the crazy decision to attempt shadow masks. I’d never made them, and didn’t have any resources to explain the technical details to me. Tonight I took on the task, throwing caution into the shadows.

And like that I’m a frickin’ cartoon werewolf.