7.27.19: A New Haven Farewell

We hate to love you and leave you, New Haven, but our adventure here has come to an end. The highlight, of course, was our time spent with your young visionaries whose passionate creativity and dedication to social justice issues assure us you’re in good hands for the future. But we also loved exploring your many secret gems and daily delights: the Obias & Isms show at the Pride Center, a slowly disintegrating Swoon piece, a film fundraiser at the New Haven Company Factory, The Local Honey Project at Pardee Morris House, Helen’s hospitality and heaping bowls of delectable Arethusa Farm Dairy ice-cream, a free 35mm screening of Speed Racer as part of the Treasures From The Yale Film Archive series, at rainy day tacos at Long Wharf and a close encounter with Bread & Puppet Theater, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Yale University Art Gallery with dear friend Jeffrey Yoshimine, the very magical Institute Library (one of a handful of private mechanical libraries left in the world, with it’s own unique cataloguing system!), best burger ever at Louis’ Lunch (don’t even think about asking for ketchup!), a night of weird tango music at Best Video, walking around Lost In New Haven, Ferraro’s wonderful world of CHEAP MEAT with the Ten Commandments laid out nicely right beside the exit, morning mayoral press conferences, daily green bike rambles (love the Farmington Canal heritage trail!), Perkins Rubber Stamp Company, endless pizza options (Pepe’s comes out on top according to our taste buds but shout out to Sally’s for amazing graphics!), fireflies, chatty old ladies and work by Women Artists of the New Haven Paint & Clay Club at the New Haven Museum, Friday afternoon bambolini at Skappo, Saturday morning cannoli at Lucibello’s Italian Pastry Shop, a perfect day of Madison beach + dogs with Jeffrey and Susan (I’ll cherish the hawk feather always!), and of course our beloved Wooster Square that we passed through every single day on our way to or from somewhere. Of course we’re leaving a little bit of our hearts with you… The Sound We See: A New Haven City Symphony film and exhibition will be on display at Artspace until September 14! All aboard!

 

 

7.23.19: The Second Most Popular Flavor In America

In the midst of preparations for Friday’s Sound We See exhibition opening–making t-shirts, writing artist statements, choosing stills, figuring out what will go where in the gallery space–we take some time out for a scavenger hunt on The Green with our SAP doppelgängers: the 2019 Public Art Fellows at Site Projects who are in the midst of making videos about transportation in New Haven. Although the competition got a little contentious when one team was docked 20 points for lateness and STILL managed to sail on to victory with perhaps a bit more gloating than was sportsperson-like, everyone was a winner because Ashley’s Ice Cream (named for a Frisbee-catching whippet…add that trivia to this trivia: the Frisbee was invented at Yale!, and your brain may start spinning round and round) donated a giant bucket of bliss in honor of National Vanilla Ice Cream Day! Super yum!

7.18.19: We’re Projecting

All systems are GO at SWS: New Haven… minds and machines working in harmony! All 24 hours plus credits are shot and processed. Music, poetry and posters are being created. Snacks are devoured. Games are played. Analog projection skills are mastered. Stills from ¡Que viva México!, a 1932 map of Harlem Nightclubs and a 3D book of Paris landmarks are examined at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Thanks, Tim!). 650 feet of stupendous Super 8 is telecined in Stonington, CT at Charter Oak Scanning, located in an old velvet mill where that little tiny strip of fabric on Kodak 35mm film canisters used to be produced! All the raw footage is watched collaboratively with popcorn and much excitement. Plans for editing start percolating…

7.16.19: It’s All About The Process

Day 7 and the focus is on the process: processing the Super 8 film shot over the last few days and learning about the process of conduction from Tyshawn Sorey, composer and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire. The take-aways can be applied to making music, making films and living life: play with your limitations, move beyond fear, don’t just follow, create your own atmosphere, it’s not “entertainment”! Run with it, young Jedi!

7.15.19: Take It To The Limit

Let’s see just how much we can pack into a single day! It’s a wee hours chocolate-chip-cookie-and-Korean-surf-rock-fueled Mentors Meet-Up as we journey to the top of East Rock Park for a 2 am moongaze with Emil, then over to the train tracks to channel the Lumière Brothers with Soldedad at 3 pm, back and forth across the blue blue electric blue Q Bridge with Emily and Sarah. Jasmine and Tyler explore Fair Haven at Noon. 1 PM and it’s back to Artspace for the most chaotic, most cacophonic All-In SWS shoot EVER! Then some round-robin hand-processing, direct animation, soundtrack composition, loop projections while Paolo and Syed sneak off to Vivi for a tasty 3 pm bubble tea shoot. Switching gears, we invite the public to come on over for a discussion about Echo Park Screening and a special screening of Free Time & Sunshine: Home Movies in Southern California, a documentary created by the Fall 2013 EPFC Youth Class. After devouring copious amounts of popcorn and lemonade, it’s time for the final shoot with Nelly and Genesis at Union Station. Wow, Team, we made it!!!!! 24 film shoots in four fabulous days and we’re right back where we started from… all roads lead to Wooster Square!

7.14.19: Park It!

Today it’s a New Haven neighborhood park tour beginning at the stroke of midnight with Neveah’s Edgewood Park shoot starring Cousin Liz. At 1 AM, we scoot over to the Edgewood Skate Park to longboard Elm City-style with Dyme. After a little late night felafel refuel rest stop at the legendary Mamoun’s, we meet up with John at Quinnipiac River Park at 5 AM and take a conceptual trip across the bridge just as the sun comes up. Nagelly brings Isaias and their host family along (all the way from New Canaan!) for her 7 AM celebration of sites of importance to the Latinx community in Fair Haven, ending up in Criscuolo Park. A little nap and we’re rarin’ to go for Daniel’s 5 PM taco truck tour at Long Wharf Park and followed by an idyllic stroll through the Nature Preserve. And we wrap it all up with some 7 pm beach time and a stroll through Lighthouse Point Park with Rayona and Alona, soaking up that sunny Sunday evening summertime vibe.

7.13.19: Family Affairs

From early in the morning until late at night, today it’s all about FAMILY! For the 8 am shoot, Stella goofs around with her Dad and her sister at the Boulevard Flea Market (oldest in Connecticut!). In the 9 am hour, Sara documents food for body and soul at the Wooster Square Farmers Market and Loaves & Fishes at Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James, paying tribute to family histories of struggle and resilience. At 11 am, Isaias tells us about family life in his home town of Riobamba, Ecuador, as we ramble around The Green. While we’re in the neighborhood, Carol gives us a glimpse of the final resting place of some of New Haven’s early families in the crypt of Center Church on The Green. We join Mabel at 2 pm to walk in the footsteps of a favorite family stroll along the Vision Trail, created in 1995 in conjunction with a New Haven hosting of the Special Olympics . Yreli’s whole family–including Bobby The Dog!–gets into the act for her 8 pm shoot at Wilbur Cross High School. At 10 pm, Evan celebrates his figurative and literal educational families at the two high schools he attends: New Haven Academy, and EAC where his artist Mom is a teacher!