Presenter Profile: Joanna Duncan

We are excited to announce that Joanna Duncan has joined the line up for Sunday nights event! Presenting on: "Innovation"- brainstorming high end performance genres into Movement as Metaphor

Several students from the North Grafton dance studio "Dance It Up" are performing with the Hybrid Movement Company in the Dec 4th production of "Clara's Dream" at the Hanover Theatre. Join us on Sept 26th to learn what goes on behind the scenes of this new aerial dance art form.

Joanna Duncan A.R.A.D. Solo Seal
Director Dance Artist Management
Royal Academy of Dance Teacher
Artistic Director Dance It Up!

"Art changes people......
people change the world"

Presenter Profile: Tom Grady

Presenter Tom Grady:
Over the summer Tom curated the "Drawn to Life" exhibit at ARTSWorcester about which he wrote:
"The common thread among all the work is an affirmation of existence, a new humanism, which includes both the beautiful and the ugly.  Visible and invisible reality holds equal importance and the artist is free to make work that speaks to both."

The idea of humanism is also reflected in Tom's personal body of work. Learn more about this and his other influences at PechaKucha Night Vol 6 at The Hanover Theatre.

Tom's Bio:

Tom studied at The Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, Illustration) and the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University (MFA, Visual Art).  He is currently visiting assistant professor of studio art at Assumption College in Worcester Massachusetts teaching drawing and painting.  He also teaches youth and adult classes at the Worcester Art Museum.

Tom’s oil paintings focus on the revisioning of the figure through a quiet restrained contemplation, which collides with a sensuous painterly approach.  The tension between the mundane and the provocative the unconscious and the conscious is the setting for the psychological narrative confronting the viewer. His work will be featured in a solo exhibition at the Copley Society of Art in Boston starting October 14 through November 12.

TOMGRADYSTUDIO.COM 

Presenter Profile: Don Hartmann

photo © Louie Despres

Don Hartmann's work is known as edgy and contemporary which lead him to being named a 2010 Worcester Arts Counsel Fellow. The works resulting from that fellowship are on exhibit through ARTSWorcester at the Aurora Gallery. This exhibit entitled "Love Hope Sex Dreams" was reviewed by J Fatima Martins of Worcester Magazine:

"His portraits are beautifully ugly emotive works that exemplify the German neo-expressionism mode—raw and salacious, influenced in concept and form by artists such as Anselm Kiefer and Eric Fischl...

The compositions are fabricated arrangements informed by a variety of pop-culture sources, avant-garde art movements and everyday situations. It’s a process Hartmann jokingly refers to as “dumpster diving.” The themes are communicated through ridiculously smart, sometimes creepy narratives that blend parody, metaphor, fantasy and reality into autobiographical stories that convey the artist’s intimate perspectives." J Fatima Martins

Hear him speak at PKN Sept 26th and see his work at ARTSWorcester where it is available for purchase through Sept 24th, 2010.



video by Stephen DiRado.

Presenter Profile: Thomas Caywood

PechaKucha Topic:
"Investigative Journalism: How to make powerful enemies and get lots of hate mail"


Bio:

Thomas Caywood is a newspaper reporter. He cringes when people call him “The Media.” The Media get paid way more than him, wear suits, read from Teleprompters and often berate other members of The Media on cable television. As an investigative reporter for the Telegram and Gazette, Caywood has taken on projects ranging from exposing local impostors and conmen to probing troubling ties between mobsters and the region’s wealthiest man to penetrating the Byzantine tangle of mortgage-backed securities obscuring who is responsible for foreclosed properties blighting the city.



His story about how a prisoner with ties to a wealthy bank president, who in turn has ties to the county sheriff, got seemingly special treatment in jail won first place in the 2010 New England Associated Press awards in the investigative reporting category. Caywood also won first place in the “Right to Know” category this year for his work prying loose police internal affairs files on an officer accused of numerous cases of brutality and other misconduct.



An avid fan of Worcester music and arts, Caywood has been a journalist for 14 years and previously worked as a general assignment reporter for the Boston Herald and MetroWest Daily News of Framingham as well as other newspapers in Massachusetts and Louisiana. He grew up in the Washington, D.C., and San Diego areas and is a veteran of the U.S. Army. He served in the 1991 Gulf War with the 197th Infantry Brigade of Fort Benning, Ga. A graduate of Auburn University, Caywood now lives in downtown Worcester, where he stubbornly refuses to give up on becoming a decent guitar player.

Presenter Profile: Jeremy Bell

Presenting:

"How Absinthe made the art grow stronger"

Rudolphe Salis is the proprietor of the Black Cat Café 'Chat Noir' in Paris.  He comes to us from the 1880's to explain how Absinthe changed the art world forever! 

The Knight of Toasting
"Toastmaster International and Scottish comedian Sir Jeremy Bell has toasted the likes of Clint Eastwood, Rudi Giuliani and Regis Philbin; has given seminars for Wolfgang Puck and Emeril Lagasse; interviewed for the Food Channel and Good Morning America; and bagpiped for Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts!"
from Maninaskirt.com

Join us at PechaKucha Vol 6 has he raises his glass to the wonder and the art of absinthe. RSVP today for this FREE event.

Presenter Profile: Marc Morin

Presenter Marc Morin will be exhibiting his works at the Hanover. ARTSWorcester will host an artist reception which is immediately preceeding Pecha Kucha Night. So stop by the opening and then head into PK!
Artist’s Reception: Sunday, September 26, 2010 from 5:30 – 7:00 pm at the Franklin Square Society Salon Gallery.

Marc Morin, 25, graduated from the Art Institute of Boston (AIB) with the honor of Best Show in Fine Arts in 2007. Since then he as shown in Boston, Springfield and Central Massachusetts in both group and solo shows. In 2006, while a student at AIB, Marc studied painting for a semester abroad in Florence, Italy. Marc’s experience in Italy had monumental influence on his work. Although the paintings echo and reflect his life experiences and even his mood, the paintings are a world onto themselves.

The progression of the work in this show is held together by the genre of landscape. The landscapes reflect the fusion of the emotion and the external reality of a moment in life. As such, they are a landscape of the mind; a clearing of the path that leads the body home. A memory in the mind has both the specificity and vagueness of a moment in time. The landscape exists because of what does not exist and is a nostalgic allegory of the origin. We disclose and we conceal what is hidden and unhidden of our origin. An origin that does not exist is forever lost in the visible.

www.marcmorinpainter.com

Presenter Profile: Toni Henneman

Zentangle - The Fine Art of “doodling”

“Well, I guess you would call me... genus, humanus...” Alice a.k.a. Toni Henneman Artist in Wonderland.  I’m a great talker, I LOVE to talk… just not about myself.  SO, here are just the facts:

The Relevant Stuff –

My name is Toni Henneman. I am a Certified Zentangle Teacher trained by Rick Roberts and Marie Thomas, founders of the Zentangle art form.  And I have been teaching it for almost a year. 

The Technical Stuff –

I am the Marketing Manager for Davis Publications. I passionately believe that everyone is an artist and that creativity is everyone’s birthright.

The Fun Stuff –

I have a wonderful husband and two amazing teenage boys. I am a watercolor artist with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. I’m a perfectionist, purple is my favorite color, I collect shoes, dishes and patterns.

        

The Presentation Stuff -

In terms of Zentangle, “Doodle” is a four letter word. Defined as, "the act of drawing something aimlessly or absent mindedly" doodling could not be further from Zentangle. If you look at any completed Zentangle you will see nothing but "deliberate strokes" purposefully executed to create a beautiful end product. It is also happens to be the perfect door for people that do not believe they have any artistic ability. As an artist and strong supporter of art education, I believe it is my responsibility to open that door to as many people as will listen and want to experience the benefits of creating. Educated, trained and working in the field, I am lucky enough to understand the benefits of having art in my life. Zentangle allows everyone - especially those untrained - to understand the benefits of having art in their lives as well. I'm just sharing the wealth!

Presenter Profile: Keenan Cassidy

Keenan Cassidy, the youngest speaker we've presented at Pecha Kucha Worcester, is a little more grown up than we are showing you here... but isn't he cute?

Although he is just starting his junior year in high school; Keenan Cassidy has already built a reputation as a very talented artist. He regularly shows his work in Worcester and in Boston and he's recently designed an album cover for Worcester band Hat On Drinking Wine.  Join us on Sept 26th to hear about his adventures as a young artist.

keenancassidy.blogspot.com

Presenter Profile: Heather Adels

 

Heather Adels grew up in the small farming town of Princeton, Massachusetts.  There, she wandered the acres, picked berries and raised chicks into hens.  Much of the artist’s imagery sprung from this early connection to the life cycle continuum.  The artist now resides in  Providence, Rhode Island where she continues to make art and also to pick berries whenever and wherever they are available.  

Heather’s creative works have been displayed at various galleries and juried shows throughout New England.  The artist’s recent publication in ArtScope as well as jurors selection for second in show display promise in the artist’s budding career.

The artist graduated with a BFA from Monsterrat College of Art in 1997.

http://www.adelsart.com/

Presenter Profile: Donna Dufault

Donna Dufault has over 20 years of experience working in the photography industry. She has worked at some of the best photographic printing labs in the country and worked with some of the top art photographers in the world. This experience coupled with years of gallery experience, running art marketing groups and co-coordinating photo workshops has given her a unique perspective into the fine art photography world. The last 4 years she has been working side by side with her husband in his commercial advertising photography business, Erb Photography. And is a founding member of the Worcester Photography Center.

For PechaKucha Night Donna will be presenting a personal project: Photography as a Healing Art

Announcing PK VOL 6

September 26, 2010
at the Hanover Theatre
rsvp today at:
http://pkworcester.eventsbot.com/





Sponsored in part by ARTSWorcester and the Hanover Theatre
Created and shared by Klein Dytham Architecture

PechaKucha Night FAQ # 9 of 20

09. What makes a good PechaKucha?
Good PechaKucha presentation are the ones that uncover the unexpected, unexpected talent, unexpected ideas. Some PechaKuchas tell great stories about a project or a trip. Some are incredibly personal, some are incredibly funny, but all are very different making each PechaKucha Night like 'a box of chocolates'.

Vol 5 Presenters: Hector Cedillo, Louie Despres

Hector Cedillo: Painting with Needles



Louie Despres: beyond Five Months

Presenter: Alexander Dunn

Alexander Dunn is an arts outreach coordinator,member of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, a natural history guide and faculty member of Worcester Art Museum.

Alex's subject for PechaKucha Night:
Boarders, backyards, and maps: putting the Place in art

Presenter Profile: Patrick Sullivan

Patrick Sullivan

presentation title= Fireworks like you've never seen them before


"My name is Patrick Sullivan I own a computer corporation that has done
extremely well which affords me a tremendous deal of free time so years ago
I started learning photography and am now a professional fireworks
photographer yes it’s a real job and it has allowed me to travel all over
the world and do some of the most amazing things and go places I would never
of gone to otherwise I teach classes on fireworks safety training as well as fireworks photography which I believe is one of the hardest forms of photography there is to really get right I love to talk and will discuss most anything with almost anyone so feel free to ask me anything you would like after the presentation."

Presenter Profile: Liz Sheehan

Liz K. Sheehan is an independent curator and educator currently living in Worcester. A native of the Philadelphia area, she holds degrees in art history and museum studies from Bowdoin College and Tufts University, and has over 10 years experience working in New England arts institutions, including the Bates College Museum of Art, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, and the Portland Museum of Art. Liz is an adjunct faculty member at St. Joseph's College of Maine, where she teaches an online survey course in modern art history, and an instructor for the "Frontiers" program at WPI, where she encourages budding scientists to experiment with art. When not planning exhibitions, she can be found dragging her toddler through museums across the Eastern seaboard and blogging about it at www.lizksheehan.com .
 

PechaKucha Worcester Presentation
"Public Space, Private Interactions"
My work as a curator is greatly informed by audience response and reception. Through a combination of presentation and programming, I try to make exhibitions relevant to as diverse a public as possible.
I am passionate about bringing art into the community, giving the public a forum for discussing and experiencing art, and creating opportunities for contemporary artists to explore the relationship between audience, artwork, and public/private space.

Presenter Profile: Ron Rosenstock

Ron Rosenstock has traveled the world, has been exhibited and collected in museums and is renowned for his photography. Please join us at Razzo Hall on April 25th to hear Ron's passion for his work through our 20x20 pechakucha format.

















image copyright all rights reserved Ron Rosenstock, image source Ronrosenstock.com
To view more of Ron's beautiful imagery visit Ronrosenstock.com


Ron Rosenstock's Resume (in brief)

Born: 1943, Monticello, NY

Education: Goddard College 1976-77 M.A. Degree in Photography
Boston University, 1965-68 A.A. Degree in History
Private Study with Paul Caponigro 1969-71
Private Study with Minor White 1967-68

Work in the permanent art collections of:
The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA
The International Center of Photography, NYC
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Polaroid Corporation, Cambridge, MA
Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
The Castlebar Urban District Council,
Co. Mayo, Ireland
Torre Guelfa Gallery, Florence, Italy
Villa Rosa Gallery, San Leolino, Italy
The Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
.
Selected Published works:
JOURNEYS, A book of fifty photographs by
Ron Rosenstock. Introduction by B.A. King.
Published by the Silver Strand Press, 2007

Hymn to the Earth, A book of forty-two photographs by
Ron Rosenstock. Introduction by Carl Chiarenza.
Published by the Silver Strand Press, 2003

The Light of Ireland, A book of twenty-six
photographs by Ron Rosenstock. Introduction by Paul
Caponigro. Published by the Silver Strand Press, 1999

Chiostro, Photographs of Italy, A book off forty-two
photographs by Ron Rosenstock. Published by the
Silver Strand press, 2001

Presenter Profile: Suzy Becker

Suzy Becker is an author, artist and entrepreneur, Suzy Becker began her career as an award-winning advertising copywriter, and then founded the Widget Factory, a greeting card company. She entered the world of books with what would become the internationally bestselling All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat, now in the Double-Platinum Collector's Edition All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat (And Then Some). Suzy has since written and illustrated The All Better Book, My Dog's the World's Best Dog, I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?, Manny's Cows, Books Are for Reading, and Kids Make It Better (May, 2010). Her books, greeting cards and work in print and TV advertising have earned her numerous design and writing awards.

Suzy Becker has also received the Anti-Defamation League's "A World of Difference" Award for her community service initiatives, including the Ride For AIDS Resources (www.ridefar.org), the country's first HIV/AIDS bike-a-thon which has raised over $1,000,000 for HIV/AIDS service organizations.

Becker was New England Women Business Owners' youngest-ever Woman of the Year. She is a former (Clinton) White House Fellow, a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe, and she is a perennial finalist in the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. For more about Suzy Becker, visit www.suzybecker.com

Suzy's PechaKucha Presentation:

I like to think of life as a medium. So far, I’ve made ads, cards, cartoons, a kid, books, a small business, a charter school, a marriage, and a million-dollar HIV/AIDS fundraiser with mine.

Vol 5 at Razzo Hall, April 25th 2010

The Worldwide Pecha Kucha phenomenon has been sweeping Worcester for the past year, attracting capacity crowds to watch and listen to some of Central Massachusetts' most creative and interesting presenters.


Drawing its name from the Japanese phrase for the sound of conversation ("chit chat"), the PechaKucha format is simple – 20 images x 20 seconds – and designed to keep presentations concise and moving at a rapid pace.

Sunday night is sure to be a fantastic time---look forward to seeing you there!

Come see what all the chit chat is about!

Sunday, April 25, 2010
7:20pm - 11:20pm
Razzo Hall/Clark University Worcester, MA
Seating limited to first 190 people. Razzo Hall is located at 92 Downing Street Worcester Ma

RSVP on Facebook: Pecha Kucha Worcester Vol 5

Coming soon...Vol 5 April 25

Featuring presentations by Ron Rosenstock, Suzy Becker, Liz Sheehan, Toni Henneman...
stay tuned for details

Follow up on Global Day for Haiti

Your help is making a differance! Thank you!

A Message from PK HQ:
So we have raised enough money for Architecture for Humanity to build a school in Haiti!

YES!

On the 20th February 2010, the 7th anniversary of PechaKucha Night, 117 cities came together on a single day and held events across the globe to support Architecture for Humanity's plans for rebuilding in Haiti. Other PechaKucha events for Haiti during February took this total to 174, and with cities still holding PKN events for Haiti in March this total will top 200.

Today - 20 days later - it gives us great pride in announcing that the PechaKucha global network of cities, organizers, presenters and fans has raised over $60,000 which allows Architecture For Humanity to build the first PechaKucha School in Haiti.

This just in from Cameron Sinclair:

Our team arrived in Haiti last week, and we will know more about specific costs in the next few weeks. Our preliminary estimates for school costs are:

Basic Costs
Main Teaching Blocks (3) $30,000
Toilet Block (1) $5,000
Cafeteria $15,000
Teachers Room $5,000
Landscaping/Reforestation $5,000

Total: $60,000

We will know more about volunteer needs also in the next few weeks but probably won't have volunteers there until the summer or later, so we will keep you posted on this.

Really looking forward to seeing all the 100's of presentations online in the next few weeks. Good luck with the uploading!

Thank you for organizing such an amazing event!

Cameron Sinclair
Architecture for Humanity


PechaKucha Night for Haiti - the world's biggest distributed conference.

With over 200 PechaKucha events taking place for the rebuilding of Haiti in February and March we have generated well over 1000 presentations which we will be putting online in the next few weeks. In doing this, we are being told that PechaKucha Night for Haiti has become the world's biggest single distributed conference to date - and no one flew anywhere, no cars were rented and no silly shampoo bottles were used!

The first 30 presentations are already online and we have some really amazing content.

The PechaKucha Presentations for Haiti will build here:

http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/channels/pechakucha-for-haiti

New presentations will be added daily, and you can donate to any of the presentations. You can optionally leave your name, so show your personal support for the presentations you like. Why not have a glass of water and watch a presentation and donate the cost of your coffee to building our 2nd school!

Some presentations are about Haiti pre and post earthquake, some about earthquake response, some about tsunami response, some are about rebuilding, some about why not to send tents to disaster areas. Some presentations do not relate to Haiti directly, but are about passions, obsessions, love and hates - but all the presentations were given to support the rebuilding in Haiti.

Please look at the presentations and give generously and please send the presentations you like to your friends and encourage them to donate too. Please use the '< >' tag to embed them into your blogs and web pages! If every presentation viewed generated a few dollars we would soon be looking at several new schools!

Just to help you get started viewing the PechaKucha for Haiti Distributed Conference Archive, here's 20 presentations to get you going!

Cameron Sinclair
Architecture For Humanity Rebuilding Haiti
PechaKucha SAN FRANCISCO
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/83

Amanda Roelle
Rebuilding after the 2004 tsunami
PechaKucha CHICAGO
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/59

Mark Taylor
Building in Haiti
PechaKucha CHAMPAIGN URBANA
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/55

Nadia Lemoine Andre
Haiti - The Pearl of the Antillies
PechaKucha CHICAGO
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/56

GEA-SAR
GEA-SAR arrived in Port Au Prince-Haiti, from Turkey 57 hours after the Haiti Eartquake.
PechaKucha ISTANBUL
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/82

Johan Karlsson
No tents please we are Swedish
PechaKucha STOCKHOLM
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/62

David Wimmer
Rebuilding after the Samoan tsunami
PechaKucha RAGLAN
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/65

Vaishali Katyarmal
Crumbles Hopes - after the Gujarat earthquake, Western India, 2001
PechaKucha CHICAGO
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/57

Scott Thomas
Designing Obama
PechaKucha CHAMPAIGN URBANA
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/67

Nicolas Uribe (in Spanish)
''better than Picasso''
PechaKucha BOGOTA
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/74

Noriyuki Shiina (in Japanese)
Japan Platform in Haiti
PechaKucha TOKYO
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/60

John Manoochehri
Unmake Me Whole - How do we unmake the world around us?
PechaKucha STOCKHOLM
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/73

Brian LeBarton & Francesco Valentino
Masses
PechaKucha TOKYO
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/52

Katherine Darnstadt
Design Like You Give a Damn
PechaKucha CHICAGO
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/54

Filipe Balestra
Acupuncture architecture & urban village
PechaKucha STOCKHOLM
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/70

Melissa Withers
A New Paradigm for Civic Engagement
PechaKucha CHAMPAIGN URBANA
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/81

Anders Wilhelmson
PeePoo - a single use toilet that weighs only 40 grams
PechaKucha STOCKHOLM
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/61

Peter Exley
Leeds, Leeds, Leeds, Cheap Trick, Leeds
PechaKucha CHICAGO
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/66

Anna Maria Orru
In praise of the Namibian fog basking beetle
PechaKucha STOCKHOLM
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/64

Astrid Klein & Mark Dytham
Global PechaKucha Night for Haiti - THANK YOU
PechaKucha TOKYO
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/71

All PechaKucha Haiti presentations can be found here
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/channels/pechakucha-for-haiti

All PechaKucha presentations
http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/

Please check back daily for new presentations and sign up for to twitter for up to the minute presentation postings!

Twitter
http://twitter.com/pechakucha

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PechaKucha/158363636498

Thank you all so much - Haiti loves you!

Astrid Klein, Mark Dytham & the PechaKucha Global Team in Tokyo

PK Headquarters hears from PK Concepcion

Glad to hear that PK organizer in Concepcion is keeping a positive outlook. You can read her note on the PK Daily blog.
http://pecha-kucha.org/daily/2010/03/05/following-up-in-concepcion/
If you would like to help relief efforts in Chile you can donate directly to the Concepcion and Santiago city pages.
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/night/concepcion/
http://pecha-kucha.org/night/santiago/

Vol. 4 Presenter Profile: Andrea Ajemian

Presentation Topic: The Amazing Talent in Hollywoo.

By making films in Worcester, I've found amazing visual artists, writers, actors, and musicians, who together get to showcase their talents on screen. Providing opportunities for local artists is my passion.


Andrea Ajemian - Film Producer/Actress

Andrea has produced four feature length films in the last eight years. Her first two features, Rutland, USA and Freedom Park, won multiple film-festival awards and ran in select theaters in New England. She produced the award winning teen drama Still Green, which was released nationally on DVD in October of 2009 through Osiris Entertainment. Andrea produced and edited her latest film, BoyBand, which was shot entirely in Massachusetts during the summer of 2008. A teen comedy about the first ever boyband set in 1982, the film stars: Robert Hoffman (Step Up II, She's the Man), Michael Copon (Scorpion King II, One Tree Hill), Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars, Party Down), Ming Na (The Joy Luck Club, ER), Kurt Fuller (Ray, The Pursuit of Happiness, Alias), and more. The film recently screened for distributors in Los Angeles. Andrea was profiled in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine during the summer of 2009, and in addition to producing a number of award-winning short films, she produces/hosts the YouTube honored online travel show about Central, Massachusetts called Worcester Love. Her production company Artigo/Ajemian Films is based in Worcester, Massachusetts. More about her work can be found at: http://www.aafilms.com/

http://www.aafilms.com/
http://www.boybandmovie.com/

Global Day for Haiti is Tomorrow!

Global PechaKucha Day for Haiti, Worcester Vol 4. is tomorrow!

Doors open tomorrow at 7pm for mingling and drinks.
Presentations Start at 8pm
$20 suggestion donation at the door.

Parking is available at 55 pearl in the lower lot, parking garage as well as on the street.
55 Pearl restaurant opens for dinner at 4 with a tavern menu also available in the lower bar.

We are very excited about tomorrows line up of presenters!

Nicole Valentine, Helen Beaumont, Daniel Burke, Benjamin Caras, Junior Belisea, Andrea Ajemian, Kaz Gamble, and J Stu Esty. Sharing their passion for their community, their art, the ongoing work that needs to be done in Haiti and first hand stories from the ground. This is certainly the broadest scope of topics we've ever offered at PechaKucha Night Worcester.

We are also excited about going LIVE to the World in the global wave on ustream!
watch the 24 hour wave here:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/pechakucha

All this is in the name of GIVING

We understand that many of you may have given already to relief efforts in Haiti but the need is ongoing and becomes more crucial as time passes. The rainy season is soon approaching and with out adequate shelter, disease will spread fast. Architecture for Humanity has a vision for the long term survival of Haiti. You can view their plan for reconstruction here:

http://architectureforhumanity.org/updates/2010-02-18-haiti-quake-a-plan-for-reconstruction

you can also donate online:
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/pechakucha-for-haiti

Spread the word, bring your friends, and Thank You for your continuing enthusiasm for PechaKucha Worcester!

Rebuilding A Future: Giving and presenters Nicole Valentine and Dan Burke

PechaKucha Worcester Vol 4 is a fundraiser with the aim of rebuilding a future for Haiti.

Even if you are unable to attend on Feb 20th you can still make a donation through First Giving. All the proceeds go directly into Architecture for Humanity's 501c3 account towards actual reconstruction, all the other costs have already been covered!



The evening in Worcester will consist of presentations by artists, community builders, filmmakers...you know, our usual eclectic mix of Worcester Creatives!

Announcing presenters Nicole Valentine and Daniel Burke

Nicole Valentine, Director of Emergency Services/Public Affairs American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts.
Her Topic:
The work to date with Haiti, and how we are working in our community, across the country and around the globe.

Daniel Burke will be presenting 6 min and 40 secs of acoustic grand piano set to images from Architecture for Humanity and Haiti. Thank you to Daniel Burke for his musical vision.

Pecha Kucha for Haiti, Worcester Vol 4 Feb 20th at 55 Pearl
Presentations start at 8pm.

Vol 4 Presenter Profile: Helen Beaumont

Helen Beaumont
From farming to fashion- How does one visit to an art museum for a child transform their life?
ARTS: the nectar of our community- how it brings our city to life connecting us to each other.

BIO

Helen Sheldon Beaumont lives her life at the intersection of art and commerce. She has spent her 18-year career with the Estee Lauder Companies Inc. blending marketing and successful business development with make-up artistry. Ms. Beaumont is the chair of the Worcester Cultural Commission, a volunteer body dedicated to promoting the cultural affairs of the City of Worcester and allocating hundreds of thousand of dollars in state grants to meet the cultural needs of the city and its community.
Ms. Beaumont was born in Vermont and raised on a farm in rural Ohio, where she began singing in barns and churches at age 5. Brought back to New England a decade ago by her career, she settled in Worcester and quickly became enmeshed in the cultural life of the city. She can be heard performing around New England with the traditional ska band Guns of Navarone and also spreading her beloved gospel-influenced country music to the area by sitting in with other bands.

website links
www.worcestermass.org/wccommission
www.myspace.com/navaronereggae

on FACEBOOK become a Fan of the Worcester Cultural Commission

Cynthia Woehrle is a fan of

Worcester Cultural Commission

Create your Fan Badge

An Important Message from Cameron Sinclair

A Message from Cameron Sinclair

February 14th, 2010

We include here a message from Architecture for Humanity founder Cameron Sinclair that should give everyone a better idea of what the “Global PechaKucha Day for Haiti” event really means, what’s at stake, and how you can participate.

Haiti Fatigue.

It’s a phrase we will begin to hear over the next few weeks. The fact is more people died in Haiti than in the 12 countries affected by the ‘04 Tsunami. Oh, and rainy season begins in 8 days. So this natural disaster IS a big deal and it’s going to get rough.

We are not the first responders, we’re the last responders and we’re in for the long haul. We estimate having teams in Haiti for 4 years but we will only do that with the financial support of others. Thanks to the amazing Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein we’re going to change that.

We are one week away from launching Pecha Kucha for Haiti – the worlds largest distributed conference. This will be a 24 hour Pecha Kucha (20×20 style) in more than 100 cities – with 2000 presentations. 100% of all donations/proceeds will go towards building schools and community centers in Haiti.

I’d love it if you got involved in some way.

We are looking for a few more (local) speakers?

With more than 100 cities participating there is no need to fly, no dodgy hotel to overnight in and no lost luggage. We’re making all speakers local. You live in NYC, then speak in NYC, If you are in Zilina, Czech – sorry it’s full! | Can’t find your city and are very ambitious? – email Mark Dytham ( mark@klein-dytham.com ) and host one.

*personally after doing DLD, Davos and TED, I’m excited by a conference that doesn’t require 1000+ to fly from one corner of the earth to another. Could this be the future of conferences?

What does a presentation look like?

• Maori, The culture of my land
• Made in Deptford
• The Story So Far (about PK)
• Duct Tape Type Face

We are looking for ‘virtual’ presentations?

So you are busy, we understand. Mark and Astrid have a cunning plan. Thanks to sponsors Ustream and Rackspace we can pre-record a presentation and we can show it as we move around the world. Brian LeBarton (Beck) & Francesco Valentino just composed one – music only.

Spare 400 or 20 seconds?

You can be brave and do a full 20×20 (20 slides x 20 seconds = 6 min 40 sec) OR if you are really, really busy – just contribute 20 seconds of audio (and we’ll put in a slide). You can just say something like ‘I’m TKTK and do TKTK. I care about creating a sustainable and economically sound future for Haiti. Let’s Build Back Better with Architecture for Humanity.’

OK, what about someone else’s time?

You all know famous designers, engineers, musicians, artists and other creative spirits. Even celebrities. Admit it. Heck, NYC has Florian Idenburg, Gregg Pasquarelli, Craig Dykers and Iwan Baan to name a few – all talking about what they know best. What’s your city got?

Why so serious?

Look it is our job to be serious. We are immensely fortunate to work alongside communities and build their hopes and dreams. The work isn’t depressing, it is awesome. If you want to present, please be upbeat and speak on the sublime to the ridiculous. No one wants 24 hours of depressing visions, that’s called CNN. So seriously. Entertain, inspire and most importantly – be passionate.

To present email me and I’ll connect you to the right people. cameron@architectureforhumanity.org
To pre-record email Mark Dytham.mark@klein-dytham.com
To attend, show up and make a donation.

By the way this email took you 6 min 40 seconds to read. So you do have the time! (I kid)

Cheers,

Cameron

Chief Eternal Optimist @ Architecture for Humanity
848 Folsom Street, Suite 201, San Francisco, CA 94107-1173
W: 415 963 3511 | M: 646 765 0906

Architecture for Humanity is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crisis and brings professional design services to communities in need.

Haiti Reconstruction
Our blueprint for reconstruction
Students Rebuild
PechaKucha Global Day for Haiti – Feb 20th

Vol 4 Presenter Profile: Benjamin Caras

Topic:

Computer controlled mechanics: How I coaxed my computer to work for me rather than against me.



Benjamin Caras is an artist and metal fabricator who builds computer controlled cutting machines/robots on the cheap, that rapid prototype parts, draw large-scale patterns… and write graffiti.
“This technology changed the way I design, fabricate, and think about art and the process of art making.  I'd like to share my discovery of inexpensive, renegade automation and encourage others to explore it for themselves.”

Bio:

Benjamin Caras has his MFA in visual art and digital fabrication from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  He hails from a family with a deep history in the metal’s industry.  He draws from his rich industrial background to influence his art.


Websites:

www.artdoxa.com/benjamin <http://www.artdoxa.com/benjamin>     
www.ledgerockfab.com <http://www.ledgerockfab.com>

Global PechaKucha Night for Haiti, Worcester Vol. 4

It only took seconds to destroy so many bright hopes and dreams in Haiti. The 280 city PechaKucha network is joining with Architecture for Humanity to help rebuild Haiti 20 seconds at a time.
Join us around the the world on 20th February for Global PechaKucha Day for Haiti.
20 seconds, 20 images, 200 cities, 2000 presentations, 200,000 people - with the aim to raise $1,000,000 for rebuilding Haiti.

Join us for this epic global event!
Worcester Vol. 4 at  55 Pearl Restaurant
55 Pearl Street Worcester Ma 01608
Saturday Feb 20th 2010 7:00 pm-11:00 pm
Door opens at 7:00pm
$20 suggested donation
100% of the proceeds benefit rebuilding in Haiti
Presentations begin at 8:00 pm
Seating limited to 100 seats
Standing room always available!
Cash Bar
55 Pearl opens at 4:00, for dinner reservations call  508-755-7327

Night includes portions of the 24-hour WAVEcast featuring other participating cities from around the globe.

Read more about about the global effort here: http://www.pecha-kucha.org/pechakucha-for-haiti

Donate Online: http://www.firstgiving.com/pechakucha_for_haiti

Watch the announcement at Tokyo Vol. 68:

Presenter Profile: Matthew Trimble and Garett Hwang

Presenters Matt Trimble and Garett Hwang:

These designers extraordinaire that hail from MIT's School of Architecture and Planning, aim to take ideas and see them into "progressively more realized forms". Working together with their diverse backgrounds they come up with some fascinatingly intricate products like this lamp:

For Pecha Kucha Night, Garett and Matt will be presenting some of their recent work, focusing on projects that have elicited the development of products. Taking cues from their emergent language and process of making, the design of each product interweaves the framework of established precedents with exploratory methods evoked from the use of CNC prototyping. machines, traditional wood shop tools, and hand-made models.

Matt Trimble and Garett Hwang are the principals of Radlab, Inc, a multidisciplinary design and fabrication consulting firm located in Boston, MA.  The scope of Radlab's work includes architecture, design computing, digital fabrication, and product development. These areas are viewed as uniquely distinguishable, and yet distinctly complimentary. At Radlab, opportunities for exercising disciplinary combination's are always on the agenda.

Garett and Matt met in 2004 as graduate students at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning, where among other things, they pursued their mutual interest in computational design and rapid prototyping. Their unique backgrounds serve to promote a rich culture of experimentation, with work experience between them that spans from Ai Wei Wei's FAKE Design in Beijing to Neil M. Denari Architects in Los Angeles.

Presenter Profile: Michael Born

Special guest speaker from Pecha Kucha Boston #10: Architectural Illustrator Michael Born.

Remember when you used to have fun drawing as a kid? How did everything get so technical?  In his work as an architectural illustrator, Michael Born has worked in many different styles.  Along the way he has learned that the real goal of illustration is communication.  Even the simplest of drawings can spark emotion and engagement in a client or audience.

Michael sparks that emotional connection in a way that photorealism cannot, by melding classic rendering artistry with cutting edge tools including Sketchup, Photoshop and Wacom pen tablets.

He will be presenting on the compelling uses for these techniques, including such surprising applications as an intriguing virtual walking tour of Beacon Hill based on an 1849 murder mystery.


You can follow Michael Born on Twitter and see more of his work here:
http://www.bornillustration.com/Born_Illustration_|_Home.html

http://twitter.com/mikeborn

Michael Born speaking at Pecha Kucha Boston Vol. 10

Presenter Profile: Dr Ellen Perry

Dr Ellen Perry: Turning Objects into Stories

Ellen Perry is Associate Professor in the Department of Classics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.  She received her Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Michigan.  Her particular area of research is the art and archaeology of the Roman Empire.Her publications include articles on Roman sarcophagi, the aesthetics of ancient painting and the Roman imitation of Greek art as well as a book *The Aesthetics of Emulation in the Visual Arts of Ancient Rome*, published by Cambridge University Press.  Professor Perry currently teaches courses in ancient art and archaeology.  She has lived in Italy, Greece, and Germany; led archaeological tours in southern Spain and worked on excavations at Corinth, Greece; Qift, Egypt; and Carthage, Tunisia.

Presenter Profile Brian Burris

"Black Azrael" image source Burrisworks.com

Since the first time I saw it at The Sprinkler Factory several years ago "Black Azrael" has been one of my favorite paintings. The image is dark, textural, other worldly, a journey through space; artist Brian Burris's technique is so different from my own, experimental, improvised, spontaneous... I've always been fascinated by the process.  Whats even more fascinating about this Fire Fighter Soccer Dad is the juxtaposition of his life and career to his philosophy and psychological explorations that he extracts from his paintings. About this contrast writer Julie Grady notes "His double life as a standup, regular guy who saves lives, fights fires, and takes care of his family versus his artistic side, I realized, isn't a double life at all. It's one life. 'Reality is projection,' he said. " Your conscious is just fighting it.' "

For Pecha Kucha Night Brian Burris will be exploring the significance and themes of his paintings and how he attempts to "no less than to affix a living soul onto canvas."

Brian's statement on his presentation:

I usually demure when asked for the guided tour of the psychology of my paintings, unless plied en Bacchanal or by an especially beguiling muse, but when asked if I'd like to participate in Pecha Kucha night, I decided I'd attempt it.
My subject will be no less than to try to shed some light on the significance and themes of my paintings in six minutes, forty seconds or less. Like Mr. Kite on trampoline, I will attempt to elucidate upon Aleatory Technique, Automatic Painting and Modern Man in Search of a Soul (to cop Jung).
'Aleatory' meaning developed by chance, more an unconscious invocation of forms in paint than Jazz or algorithm. From the Latin, alea, the rolling of the dice. This aleatoricism arises from the surreal automatism of my technique, producing what has become, apparently, a recognizable style.
As far as the soul goes, I'll quote James Hillman in saying 'there is an invisible connection within any image that is its soul... Then why not to go on to say "images are souls". We can meet the soul and understand it.' (paraphrasing from Inquiry into Image).
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'll cross the line into mediumistic automatism, insanity, and attempt no less than to affix a living soul onto canvas... Which is of course what I've been attempting to do all along.

BKB


Bio
Brian Burris has been painting for over twenty years. He is a primitive, in the sense that he is self-taught.
Originally, he more closely identified with the abstract expressionists, with the emphasis on the 'automatic' or subconscious act of painting, the accompanying emotional intensity and the anti-figurative, sometimes violent and grotesque aesthetic.
After a seven-year hiatus from painting, Mr. Burris returned and segued into a more minimalist style seen in color field painters like Clyfford Still, Rothko, and Barnett Newman.  He began to explore the parallel themes of automatic and aleatory abstractionism, combining the spiritual and the unconscious in the painting process, the works themselves progressing according to the will of the subconscious and the properties of paint and canvas--thus letting the execution and the subject matter become analogous with where the unconscious meets chance, spirituality meets psychology, and the implications of archetypal awareness and gnostic meaning surface through the medium.
The artist received some attention for his non-traditional artist's statements based in his background in behavioral modification and studies in psychology and religion (including that of non-verbal communication); the effects of hue, declination of line, image juxtaposition compartmentalization on specific areas of the brain, as well as archetypal imagery, Burris explores non-verbal communication of context and emotion through color fields.
In late 2008, Mr. Burris published a book (conceived, written and published in three days), called 'Codex: Fragments & Schemata'.  The work was a montage of paintings, artist statements and fragmented graphics meant to invoke the semblance of disinhibiting stimulus, the prose targeting the unconscious, transcending linear formula or understanding. Like the Zen koan, seeking to evoke ‘the forms of an idea of a thing and its aspects, and bring the viewer to succumb to the illusion of the whole’ (to paraphrase Jung), the themes explored run from the Gnosticism to Hillman psychology, metaphysics to the subconscious, and yet are then disavowed by the artist, Judas-like, as fiction.
Brian Burris shows a half-dozen times a year and is currently represented by the commercial Dzian Gallery on Water Street in Worcester Mass.  He shows through ArtsWorcester, as well in corporate, institutional and retail settings, and has shown in venues from Cambridge to Northampton.  The artist maintains a website: burrisworks.com, which contains links to various related media, news articles, etcetera, as well as information on where to purchase his book.

Presenter Profile: Joseph Farbrook

Joseph Farbrook
Video sculpture and virtual art installations.

Joseph Farbrook will present a selection of his digital artwork
including video sculptures, digital performance art, and virtual
reality art installations as he explores the intersection of video and
videogame perception.

image source Journal of New Media and Culture

Joseph Farbrook

Biography

Joseph Farbrook grew up in New York City and Santa Fe, raised by his father, a concrete poet, and his mother a painter. Farbrook attended the University of Colorado focusing on performance and narrative, where he wrote electronic music, poetry, and fiction. Becoming interested in a more immersive approach to narrative, he began using computers and the Internet as creative media. Subsequently discovered by the art department, he was offered a fellowship to pursue an MFA in digital art. Working in a visual arts environment, Farbrook began creating electronic installations, interactive video, and virtual reality narratives. He also experimented with media-reflexive live performances mixed with interactive screen projections. Farbrook's latest work explores the intersections between video, video games, and sculpture.

Farbrook exhibits both nationally and internationally. Recent venues include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, La Fabrica Arte Contemporaneo in Guatemala, The International Center of Bethlehem in Palestine, as well as venues in Mexico, Chile, Korea, and the USA. Farbrook is presently an assistant professor of interactive media and game development at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.




Statement
Scantly a generation ago, moving image screens were restricted to television and cinema and the content was nearly exclusively generated by corporations and conglomerates that dictated the form and aesthetic of what should and should not be seen by the masses.   The content was restricted almost entirely to news and entertainment and limited in scope to what could be sold as a commodity.
Presently, technological advances have given moving image screens an explosion of new forms and possibilities of content.   The moving images produced by the flickering lights of liquid crystal displays can be seen on the huge billboards of Times Square, advertising on the roof of taxi cabs, on supermarket cash registers, ATMs, watches, calculators, cell phones, picture frames, kitchen appliances, music players, cameras, signage, and advertising devices of all kinds.   Although television screens have been around since the thirties and movie screens longer still, it is safe to say that the moving image screen has re-emerged as a new medium and invariably (in accordance with Marshall McLuhan) there is also a new message.

Adding up the hours we spend staring into screens, it could be argued that we are seeing an ever-greater part of our lives mediated by this device.   Virtual Reality has quietly emerged on this side of the screen and embedded itself into our psyches.  The collective imagination is to an ever-greater extent being co-opted and aligning itself to the operational workings of this new prosthetic.   It is now a critical time for artists to temper this overwhelming involvement and offer insights into this reality, complete with new paradigms of perception, new ways of seeing into, and through, the ubiquitous screen.

Presenter Profiles: Karl Connolly and Nicole Connolly

Introducing Karl and Nicole Connolly, presenters for Pecha Kucha Worcester Vol. 3. Nicole loves to inspire people to travel to new places around the world and Karl wants to make you dance!

Karl Connolly "I was born and raised in Ireland and in 1991 after attending one of the first Rave parties in Dublin I became hooked on electronic music.

The then emerging Rave scene was new, fresh, exciting, and the DJs were suddenly being cast in a new light – they were rapidly becoming the new stars.

I was amazed at the way the DJ was controlling the entire room, and the music had a grip on every clubber in the place."

Karl Connolly will be presenting on the history of club DJ'ing as well as the process of mixing music live. ALSO he will be performing for the event! So if you love to dance you don't want to miss 3 Live Dj sets by DJ Karleboy at 7:20, 9 and 10 pm. Lights and sound provided by Funzalo Light and Sound

Nicole Connolly:

Featuring images from 2009 trips to Iceland, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden and Heidelberg. Nicole will share her excitement for travel photography, how to she prepares for the trips and some funny stories that happen along the way.

Nicole was born and raised in a small town close to Stuttgart, Germany. As a child she spent her summers in Hungary visiting her grandmother where life on a small farm and the natural beauty of her surroundings left a big impression on her.
 

"I believe in taking images which use basic colors, natural light, clean lines and simple forms. To achieve a focused and pure picture I like to get very close to my subject and capture the moment when the elements come together in perfect harmony."

"I try to remind myself how important it is not to lose that little bit of a child in me, and look at the world in that curious, innocent and playful manner. I try to incorporate those characteristics into my work."