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June 23rd, 2017
​at Autotelic Studios
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During LAUNCH residency 2016, Andi Crist, a founder of Autotelic Studios, was one of the artist leaders guiding the residents. We spoke a bit and she put me in contact with Ryan Burns, curator for Autotelic, and here we magically are a year later.

This being my first solo show, I got super excited,
and figured it should be something other than animation.

So, last December I ordered a Prusa i3 Mk2 kit, which arrived late January.

​Took me a couple weeks to make the time to build.​
​Then a few days to get it running smoothly.

If you actually get time to just sit down and work on this, it could be a day or two thing.
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​The model was built using 3D Studio Max, though any 3D software would work. A shell modifier was added to it, as objects intended for print need a thickness to them. Then, wanting the piece to be bigger than my printer was able, the model was sectioned into parts that would fit in an 8" cube (limits of the printer). Exported as individual object files, each section was first put through Netfabb, to ensure they were closed and structurally sound. This fixed file is then placed in CURA, a printing slicing program, as it is easier to rotate and position the piece on the printer in CURA, than in the Prusa provided, Slic3r program. However, Slic3r sets prints up better by having more adjustments enabled, so the CURA settled file is opened in Slic3r to cut the layers and create the .gcode for the printer to read.

​While these pieces were printing, a Raspberry Pi3 kit was ordered. Now, I've never used a Raspberry Pi before, and am ever so happy that NOOBS is a thing, or I would have had a hell of a time. Installing the TFT screen did take a little while. Messed up and had to make a clean SD-card and go through NOOBS again before I got it. Getting Processing on the Pi, which is the software creating the visuals, went smoothly, and I seriously lucked out on the code.

KuKo Visuals, is this person on YouTube who makes awesome videos about code. Their audio reactive code with gradient shifting squares was close to what I imagined, and although I'm still going through the code to better understand it- tweaking code that is already written is super easy. Messaged KuKo Visuals saying, hello, I used your code for this thing, hope that's cool- and I doubt they'll respond. Especially since by sending that message, YouTube showed that 2 years ago I had messaged the same person asking about some, "Arduino function generator", and got no response. Whoever you are, you are most helpful, and thank you.
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Just sits in there.

​Thing about this code is that it's performing FFT(Fast Fourier Transform) analysis of the audio file, and that's hard work for a micro-computer to do, but wait- it then turns that data into visuals. It most certainly lags on the Pi in comparison to running the code on my laptop. But you know, of course it does. I'm still impressed by the strength of the Pi3, and the minim library for that matter. Kuko Visuals also has a video where they delve into audio analysis with the minim library. 

A way to spend some time, Fast Fourier Transform.

The audio file used was a snippet of the two-black-hole collision from 2015, on loop.

This sculpture was to have no power cords running from it.
​Inside it the Pi3 is plugged into a ChargeTech portable power outlet.​
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​Any questions, or input, would love to hear it.
​sutureblue@gmail.com

Back in December, having great reviews and it being a part of the open source community (and also price point) I placed an order for the Prusa i3 Mk2, 3D printer kit. Finally arrived Feb. 13th, and just at the end of the last week I finished building and calibrating it.

Photo above is my first full print, about 26 hours in, least 20 hours to go. The piece is of another artist's, David Van Ness, and it will be sent over to the Glitch Art Is Dead show in Minneapolis, along with another I'll be printing by Jame Usill, and one I printed before of Mark Klink.

WHICH ALSO HEY,
a few of my videos were accepted into the show and will be on display. Really excited as glitch artists from across the states and over seas will be coming together. There will be workshops, performances, and lectures- it's going to be so wonderful. I'll be out there March 18th and 19th.

Very soon I will be ordering a Raspberry Pi kit . That with the Prusa, will be used for an upcoming solo show in Chicago at Autotelic Studios, during the month of June-July 15th. After that show I plan to use my printer to focus on creating experimental speakers to study shaping sound,

​and also hiding from everyone.

Mind me, this will be one of the longer posts I'll have. A lot has happened since graduation in May. Here are the main bits.
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INTERNING WITH SPECIMEN PRODUCTS

In the summer I was reading at Simon's Tavern. Overhearing the young woman next to me talking about art led to us engaging in conversation. Her name is Bianca Bova, and she ended up inviting me to participate in, AFFREIGHTMENTS, at Gunder Exhibitions. Due to her friendship with Andrew Bird, Ian Schneller, who creates the speakers that Andrew takes on tour, lent a set of horn speakers and an amplifier to one of the participating artists in the show. Schneller attended the show's opening and he told me to contact him about his internship program at Specimen Products. I'm there once or twice a week working towards being an apprentice. 
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COLLABORATION WITH MARTINO PRENDINI

Like most of the artists I have thus far collaborated with, Martino Prendini and I were introduced to one anothers work through Glitch Artist Collective. Prendini also often implements rotoscoping into his work, and after consistently seeing his wonderful test animations in my FB feed, I asked if he wanted to do a collab together where we send "letters". He sent me his letter a couple months ago. I'm about halfway through drawing and will then add sound/foley/music.
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INTERNING WITH MIKE REA

This actually began in the winter of 2015, and is now more of an occasional thing.
Mike Rea was my sculpture professor at NIU. Wanting get accustomed to Chicago before I moved, and see what it is to be a working artist, I asked Rea if I could be his studio assistant.
​Rea has shown me what it is to be dedicated, prepared, and comfortably professional.
​The photo above is of us performing at his show, STICKY,
at Roman Susan, during their No Diving show.
He made the bar, knifes, beer bong, cutting board, masks, and golf clubs.
During the performance we were permitted only to mime and make daiquiris.

STICKY was also a part of Rea's show, Depress Mode, at The Franklin.
My old friend, and comedian, Trevor D. Kravits, took Rea's place behind the bar for this one.
His improv led to a lot of shaken can sprays and margarita on my person.
STICKY STICKY STICKY

As the grunt work that is rotoscoping continues, I needed a break.
This is the depiction of the outside world for my final final.

In 3ds Max I loosely modeled a landscape, of which
I placed a displacement modifier on with a bitmap texture
of a brownian noise video I made in Audacity and
tweaked in After Effects. The flat, static-like texture
is the same video made into a material and tiled.
Doing a mock-drawn aesthetic here via the
"ink" material within 3ds, so there's consistency.

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In the final semester of my BFA at NIU and
for my senior capstone project I am putting
together an, at least, 3 minutes rotoscoped animation.

I need to work a hell of a lot faster,
this is due come April.
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At least the majority of it is filmed.

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...for the glitchin'

Didn't want to use any computer glitches for this .gif, such as sonification, copy & paste manipulation or what have you- so I did a standard capture setup with my BPMC unit (right now I only have two synths, this one and a Tachyons+), sending the video render I had at this point out as the signal.

Gathered a lot of footage, but these three are the only ones I used for this .gif.

Utilizing the masks I drew by chroma keying them separately, creating an unorganized method of pre-composition within pre-compositions in After Effects, and shifting through blend modes- this final video was created.

Which ultimately I turned into a .gif to be shared with GAC