Exchange Street

"Exchange Street" is a dance performance written and choreographed by Jill Rucci of 8&1 Dance Company in Dallas, TX.  I had the pleasure of lending some multimedia direction and production to the performance.

This video was displayed on screen as an opening sequence used to establish setting and mood and in unity with the narrative of the overall performance.





This video was displayed on screen at the end of the performance as a dedication.




I also produced this short interlude, which was played on screen, to show time passing and to segue between scenes.  




 "Exchange Street" is a full length dance drama that tells the story of a professional boxer and the sacrifices he makes along the way to his dream.

What would you exchange for your dreams and aspirations?

Happy Birthday Scott LaFaro

Scott LaFaro is one of my musical idols. His work with Bill Evans on the Village Vanguard recordings of 1961 moves mountains in my soul.  His tasteful interplay with Bill Evans in their trio was mutually stimulating and influential.  At 25, his death in a car accident was a major shock to the jazz world.  One can only imagine what he would have went on to compose.

I have a deep appreciation for LaFaro's graceful lines and his colorful use of space.  The way he interacted and conversated with the piano made for a dark/light contrast that was subtle, like pulling light from a shadow. 

In homage to Mr. LaFaro's work, I created the following pieces based on a photograph I found in a jazz archive site.  The photo credit is unknown. 
 

"Scott's Portrait in Jazz"
16x20 Silkscreen and Acyrlic

"Scott's Portrait in Jazz"
16x20 Silkscreen on Board

I made a few shirts as well:

A Mingus Among Us

"Contour of Charles Mingus"
Silkscreen and Airbrush
18x24

Lifeline

I found myself in need of a creative exercise to help shake off some of the more mundane and tedious tasks I've been immersed in lately.  Rather than debating where to get started and what to do, I decided to look through an old sketchbook to see if that sparked any ideas.  I dug way back, from a time before I knew anything about digital art and came across some this old sketch I did called "Lifeline."  It was part of a series of self portraits I was working on.

I decided to revisit the sketch and to turn it into vector art. 

Greetings!

It's been a long-standing dream of mine to make a living working in a creative field.  This motivation drives my insatiable appetite for developing my skills and artistic talents. This path led me to Quinsigamond Community College where I received an Associate Degree in Applied Arts.  The Applied Arts Division recognized leadership traits in my work ethic and I was recruited for a position as a student mentor. Subsequently, I was invited to sit on the Quinsigamond Community College Academic Affairs Committee.

My desire to continue learning took me to Anna Maria College (AMC) where I obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art & Business, with a minor in Graphic Design.  I graduated summa cum laude and was soon contracted by the President of Marketing and Public Relations at AMC to oversee the college’s web and social media marketing efforts.

I worked very closely with Student Activities to market their events.  My efforts proved to be successful judging by the major increase of participation by the student body. I applied strategic and innovative methods of communication through CMS and social media platforms to effectively increase the college’s web and social media traffic by 126%.

Improving student engagement through communicating, brainstorming, and building on ideas with the students, staff and faculty of the college was an extraordinarily valuable experience for me.  I worked closely with college leadership to develop a strategic marketing communications plan that succeeded for numerous stakeholder groups.  Successfully implementing strategy at a large organization like the college was really encouraging. I decided to enroll in business school to learn more about social marketing.  In 2014 I earned an MBA from Anna Maria College with a concentration of Leadership in Marketing Ethics.

I now offer my services as an independent consultant and freelance designer.  I offer clients over ten years of experience in Graphic Design, Creative Writing, Videography, Sales & Marketing, Photography, Copywriting, Audio Production, and Music Performance.  I create unique multimedia marketing collateral, suitable for social media and numerous other channels.

Looking toward the future, I am planning on exhibiting my work more frequently in local shows and galleries.  I will update this blog with events as I book them.   I expect to produce much more conceptual art, writing, and satire.

I believe that all good art makes the viewer stop and notice something that is usually taken for granted.  In this way, designers have the responsibility and the means to transform ideas into tangible change in the communities they serve.  This blog aims to inspire some of that.  Welcome.