Sylvia Toy Industries

Great Advice

2012-02-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

what he said ...

Let me know if you think I'm crazy

2012-02-19T04:53:00.000-08:00

I am still working on this - will be reformatting, etc.

ouch ...

2012-02-17T21:07:00.000-08:00

Everything

2012-02-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

I am currently engaged in a lively Facebook conversation with some other artists. One of them asked today if I make a living off my art. This was my response.

my father did me the kindness to tell me when i was 8 that if i wanted to be an artist, i should learn how to do something else for a living. but he also taught me that i should value my work and it was important to put it out there in the world. so as soon as i believed i was good enough not to embarrass myself, i have put whatever art form i was making out in the world.i made sculpture because i loved doing it. i've sold a lot, but not enough to make a living. if i'm working as a theater artist, i get paid about 60% of the time, and that's only a few thousand USD per year. i have never depended on that or sculpture for a living. i just now believe my video art is at journeyman level, and i begin seeking funding this year, but i don't expect to support myself on it. that's not the way i grew up; and that's probably why it's still the center of my life - everything that i live for. everything.

Almost a prayer

2012-02-12T08:52:00.001-08:00

this monologue that was shot to be a backdrop for another video, has its own moment as an accident of things happening and experienced at the same time.

7 feb 2012

2012-02-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

Sylvia Toy

9:42 AM (0 minutes ago)

to primo

there are a lot of high-calibre, high-profile video art exhibitions sponsored by European venues. they are all free to enter. why should i, an artist, pay you 70 euros when my work is showing on Art TV (3 videos) and videoart.net (8 videos)? it would hurt my reputation for me to pay a gallery to show my work. i do not want to hurt my reputation among my peers. your approach is exploitative and demeans art.

sincerely, sylviatoyindustries

On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 8:15 AM, primo piano livingallery <primopianofficepress@gmail.com> wrote:

PRIMO PIANO LIVINGALLERY
VIALE G. MARCONI 4 LECCE (ITALY)
TEL/FAX: 0832. 304014
www.primopianogallery.com

SCENICWORLD

VII INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
VIDEO ART & DIGITAL CULTURES
FROM 31 march TO 08 april 2012

Hi, how are you? I inviting you to entries for the 7th Edition of FESTIVAL of Video Art & Digital Cultures 2012, to be held in Lecce(Italy) from March 31th to April 8th.
Exhibition concerns (experimental music, video performance, video installations, video animation and short films) whose production has been made in the last 5 years.
Primo Piano LivinGallery seeks work that broadly explores these identity questions of art/not art, new/old. We invite artists, musicians, performers, film/video makers, and new media practitioners to submit their work for this edition. Take a look on file attached.

Best Regards
Riccardo Sacquegna

--
http://www.videoart.net/home/Artists/ArtistPage.cfm?Artist_ID=2469

Kabuki Geisha

2012-01-27T06:48:00.000-08:00

wish me luck - submitting this here and there over the weekend, along with a few sub-5 minute works to Art Screen. i have been so preoccupied with this that i have not done much else besides the daily drudge. this would have taken a lot of sweat and restraint, however, even if i had all the time in the world. Michael Lewis was Second Unit Director.

Flowes

2012-01-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

Mid-Market Street, near Guerrero Street in San Francisco. This lake has been growing ever since a weird, unusual early summer rainy spell last year (2011). However, our part of the country is now in drought pattern. Now that there's a sump pump on the site, suspect aquifer?

Agoraphobia on the farm

2012-01-15T14:05:00.000-08:00

Work in progress composed from B-roll shot of the panoramic view from the building my paralegal day job is in, Financial District/San Francisco CA. i was fortunate to be able to take advantage of shooting the disappearing day at the time of day there is just enough natural light to shoot it. Having such an odd artist's gig, i am indoors a lot and since i'd rather shoot anything at all than nothing, i have grown to love the distortion that window glass creates. However if i ever get a chance to go up two flights to the roof ...

Shot on a Vixia HG 20 with an Opteka wide-angle lens, and a Flip Ultra. Indoor footage shot approximately 15:00 to 17:00 standard time on two different days. Outdoor footage shot by Michael Lewis at 13:00 standard time (Patricia's Green, the Hayes Valley Park in San Francisco).

CV of sylviatoyindustries

2012-01-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

Nena SylviaToy St. Louis Lewis

INTRODUCTION

I am a lifelong artist who has always had a day job. My art videos canbe watched all over the Web: (http://sylviatoyvideo.blogspot.com,http://vimeo.com/sylviatoyindustries, http://keskarelamovie.blogspot.com/). Iam grounded, happy and flexible, and am delighted that I continue to learn newthings, using both right and left brains.

SKILLS

· MicrosoftOffice Suite: Word, Excel & Powerpoint.

· LegalWriting (discovery, demands, briefs, motions, trusts).

· Knowledgeof California Superior Court procedure (local rules, San Francisco).

· LegalSolutions.

· Videography:Pro and consumer cameras; Final Cut Pro, IMovie, Quicktime Pro.

· Internet:research; blogging; SEO; basic HTML; YouTube; Google Docs; Google Sites.

· MaintenanceIT for PC.

· QuickBooks.

EXPERIENCE

Filmmaker, September 2006 –Present

Currently in pre-production of my secondfeature film, a performance art movie based on my play, Indigo Lady, which was produced by the Lorraine Hansberry Theater in1994 (http://indigoladythemovie.blogspot.com/). My video Depression As Geography premiered in CologneOff 2011. My portfoliois on the curated sites, videoart.net, under the artist's name, Sylvia Toy andhttp://www.artchannel.info's Art TV (Paris).

Director, Keskarel, A MovieNovember 2010 – November 2011

Conceived and directed a feature-length,live-action storyboard developed entirely through actor improvisation. Strengths:Supervised an intern writer, who created a script for the 2012 filming of themovie.

Founder & EmeritusArtistic Director, Jump! Theatre, 2005 – 2011

Actor, writer, producer, communicationsmanager, videographer and grantwriter. Strengths: SEO, artist management, smallbusiness, event planning and marketing.

Sculptor, ProfessionallyRepresented Artist, 1985 – 2009

My work is in approximately 50 privatecollections throughout the United States. Over a 25-year period, I have beenrepresented by commercial galleries in Omaha, San Francisco and Los

Angeles. Strengths: Business skills, timemanagement and self-promotion.

Actor (Small Stage Theatre), 1990– 2007

I toured professionally, primarily as a soloperformance artist, for 17 years - including, Cultural Odyssey’sAfrican-American Performance Art Festival, Afro Solo, Brava Theatre’s TakingShape and Solo Mio. The Lorraine Hansberry Theater produced my play, ESSAYS ONANGER AND CUSTARD PIE in 1994. I was a participating artist in the ArtistDiversity Residency Program at the University of Nebraska from 1998 through2003. My solo play SCHOOLS!, a story about home protest school during the CivilRights Movement, premiered at the Afro Solo Festival in San Francisco in 1997,and toured theatre, schools and other venues for 6 years. I

acted in staged readings, radio plays and blackbox theatre productions in both new and extant work in San Francisco between1993 and 2007. Strength: Mimicry, improvisation and voice work; self-promotion.

Paralegal, 1980-present

Writing, editing, document management;strength: Writing and client contact; business skills, and time management; self-employment(2008-2010).

May 2011 – present, Paralegal/Office Manager,Harry Gordon Oliver II: Paralegal assistance in drafting trusts; secretarialassistance in tax matters; weekly maintenance IT, basic troubleshooting,updating and backup for two PCs; bookkeeping; collections (cold call andcorrespondence); interfacing with vendors; and basic SEO (set up/maintenance ofblog and LinkedIn pages), San Francisco, CA.

November 2010 – March 2011,contractor/Technical Writer, Rocket Lawyer: Coding and light editing of legalforms created for online use by consumers, San Francisco, CA.

September 2010 – December 2010, Paralegal,Robert Half International: paralegal support in default judgments andcollections for single solo corporate practitioner, San Francisco, CA.

October 2008 – December 2010, IndependentParalegal Contractor for Attorney and pro se clients: Assisted in Bankruptcy& Personal Injury; Discovery, Pleadings, Demands & Briefs, Motion.(Clients include Guru.com; Hermin A. Dowe/9 months; Pro se client/8 months),San Francisco, CA Bay Area.

March 2004 – August 2008, Paralegal, Choulos,Choulos & Wyle: Assisted plaintiff personal injury, pleadings, discovery,demand letters, and briefs; medical records summary; research, San Francisco,CA.

July 1997 – March 2004, LexisNexis, Editor:editing/indexing legal publications, San Francisco, CA.

1980–1996 Litigation Paralegal, New York;Lincoln, NE; San Francisco, CA.

EDUCATION

· Internship (Digital video production forCommunity Vocational Enterprise), January-June 2009

· LegalVideography Certification, American Guild of Legal Videographers, 2009

· Video Editing, individual tutoring by DarrellHoldaway, 2007-2009

· ParalegalCertificate, Institute for Paralegal Training, 1980

· BA(Art/English), University of Nebraska, 1974

HONORS

· VideoArt.net Artist, (since 2008)

· Art TV (ArtChannel.info, Paris), beginning in2011

· Exhibitor, CologneOff 2011 (September 2011)

· Gallery Artist, Altered Esthetics/Minneapolis,(2008-present)

· Editor's Choice, 22nd & Harrison, National Geographic Everyday Explorers Videos(2008), which has been discontinued by the host

fear

2011-12-31T06:32:00.001-08:00

fear 2009, Friedhelm Fischer

i broke my rule about watching art video without sound on a first viewing, and watched Friedhelm Fischer's little movie Fear with my headphones on. I am glad I did, because the music, urgent voices vocalizing suspenseful terror, is well-matched to the video's compelling imagery, particularly the slow but resolute footsteps of the antagonist. The best thing about this movie is the humanization of the protagonist (played by Nina Fischer) by showing her very white face in an otherwise dark monchromatic setting of blacks & grays. i would have liked 1 or 2 tight shots of her face - we only see long and wide shots of the protagonist (i.e., at some distance), which weakens our ability to empathize with her and creates static tension in the video. perhaps the director wants us to side with the antagonist ...

fearby Friedhelm Fischer http://vimeo.com/84268271:30 minutes

2011-12-30T20:02:00.000-08:00

My camera takes me on adventures on the way to work by seeing things that i just wouldn't give a second thought. The spoken word in this video is taken from the readout on the console of a MUNI subway train's console. The view of the train is a loop of the subway driver's announcement of a 1-minute delay that lasted 10 minutes.

Roots on the Wall

2011-12-26T16:37:00.000-08:00

If I could draw like this, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

New Vimeo Channel

2011-12-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

As much as I like TV, and as many episodes-with-a-similar-theme that I make, should have done this sooner, A****le On Vimeo.

NANO-REVIEW: Women's Health Film

2011-12-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

Women's Health Film - WHP from Running Cow Films on Vimeo.

i often watch videos in the middle of the night with the sound off if there are no headphones within easy reach. i have learned that if a video is engaging with the sound off, i am usually glad if i watch a second time with stereo. this chick flick is an Indian film, quite recently uploaded by Running Cow Films, that has no subtitles but tells a story of a modest young woman, distressed by, as i learned to call it from my polite Southern mother, "female troubles" - sympathetically and with a warm flavor of family dynamics that can be universally understood.

Women in India are modest, shy of dealing with physical ailments peculiar to women. This film tackles this issue.
Director: Anushka Shivdasani Rovshen
DOP: Samir Mahajan
Editor: Navnita Sen
Music: Rajat Dholakia
Client: World Health Partners

Weighing in as an artist in retirement from most of my art forms

2011-12-15T05:19:00.000-08:00

just commented on a younger artist's Facebook post, and since almost all my friends and a lot of my relatives are artists who are younger than me, i am reposting my comment:

i'm weighing in from the pov of someone as a person who's shamelessly promoted herself in numerous mediums. i still and always wear all black because i used to have to go from day job to art opening to call at some black box theatre a...nd back home after my performance to paint a sculpture and or rewrite a new script and or work on publicity for my next show and or research new opportunities. i arranged a successful Pac NW tour of my last evening length solo show by working on the Net (dial up!!!) on my IMac after 1 am for months. i would say i would not do that again if it were not for the fact that if i Google "Sylvia Toy," who as you know is my filmmaker persona not even a real person, she has top listing in the search, and usually appears as the first 2 or 3 search results as well as the 6th and 7th. that happened because of shameless self promotions and keywording "sylvia toy" and "sylviatoyindustries" and all syl's stuff ALL OVER THE WEB, which includes videos made when all i had were acting and storytelling skills and no technique (embarrassing, but a link is a link), watching and commenting on other people's stuff, having 6 (i think) blogs, AND:

****trying to get exposure in different venues!!!!! [example: i have gotten better results on the more competitive artist's sites like deviant art-which i highly recommend to anybody who's learning how to have presence on the web-and Vimeo than Revver, Youtube, Google video, Blip, etc] and NOT!!! to put the same flavor of work on each different site.****

also, as a more senior visual artist once told me: there comes a time when you have to pass on an opportunity because you are past the point of showing in "alternative" venues. that's only part snobbery - it's mostly about risk taking, focus and strategy.

when i used to send out slides (which i absolutely hated doing), i imagined being at one end of a long table and at the other end were a panel of curators - i ALWAYS put faces on them and gave them personalities. i really believe that helped me market myself.

Review of 'Au Secours,' 1998, by Isabelle Froment

2011-12-13T05:04:00.000-08:00

Au Secours by Isabelle Froment, 1998 (http://www.24-25.fr/work.php?work-id=gama:heure-exquise:main:Work:1049), "Le stéréotype du surhomme qui veut sauver le monde est repris. Mais le superman s'est transformé en femme échouant à chaque tentative désespérément."

if you love:

• Batman more than superman;
• physical comedy;
• live performance in art galleries;
• video art;
• guerilla theatre;
• have sat through a whole evening of Samuel Becket short plays and would do it again;
• Apaché; and
• contact improvisation,

you will enjoy this video - i know i did ...

happy holidays

2011-12-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

not one of those people who hate the holidays. went up the hill from the sad brick ant farm (a·k·a San Francisco's Financial District) with my Flip Ultra to Union Square on a Tuesday one lunch hour and walked down Stockton between Sutter & Post Streets, and then went back at 17:00 a few days later on Friday to walk back down the street again. so much energy, so much chatter, so many lights ...

my neighborhood this morning

2011-12-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

the difference between a cameraman and a woman with a video camera in her Coach bag is B-Roll ...

New Indigo Lady Storyboard

2011-12-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

My latest work-in-progress.

A thumbs up for the short short, 'The Deviant'

2011-11-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

http://vimeo.com/29139203

The Deviant, by Karam Natour

this beautifully shot, elegant short film caught me by surprise. i am not a fan of allegory - nor of political art, which in my opinion is too often forgiven for lack of craft. there is no lack of craft in The Deviant, whose message is clear, startling and thought provoking. please watch it!

- sylvia toy

A message from sylvia toy: Progress, slow, but progress!

2011-11-25T17:47:00.000-08:00

My review of Robert Wise's wonderful 'Helen of Troy' (1956)

2011-11-20T16:34:00.000-08:00

fair-haired youngest son, not too bright - and that plus his looks repeatedly get him into trouble - wrecks the very expensive coming-of-age parental gift that is quite the fancy mode of transportation, is rescued by a local authority figure's unhappy wife (who's younger than her husband but about 10 years older than fair-haired youngest son) and is manipulated by her into carrying her off in one of her husband's very expensive fancy modes of transportation - with her husband, his kin and all their minions hard on the heels of the elopers. i told my husband Michael: "this movie makes me glad we didn't have kids." the link is to the movie on Amazon ... http://www.imdb.com/video/amazon/vi1619369753/

Toy Truck

2011-11-16T21:36:00.000-08:00

New study for "Indigo Lady"

2011-11-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

This video and the other studies done so far for 'Indigo Lady' will soon be compiled into a Quicktime storyboard to help me, the designer Tyler Cohen and the actors go forward.

New study for "Indigo Lady": Ghost of Great Grandmother Flavia

2011-10-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

green screen sketch for my video performance art feature, which layers reality, memory, fantasy, desire and delusion in the story lines of the two main characters, a mother and daughter at war with each other and their own disappointments while the ghost of a famous female ancestor haunts them - or, taunts them. whether the ghost is real ultimately will depend on the viewer.

ah ah ah - did i hear you say quirky ...

2011-10-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

this is another study for my movie in-progress, "Indigo Lady" (a solo play i did a million years ago), about a serial murderess who murders the men she loves when they disappoint her. i'll be working with my gal pals Sapna Gandhi (Indigo) and Diana Slampyak (Indigo's trophy wife mom). i get to play the ghost of Indigo's great grandmother, the founder of a ranching empire in Western Nebraska. Tyler Cohen is creating the basic design of the settings. the movie will largely be based on Rashomon-type storytelling - i.e., monologues improvised by the 3 main actors (the third is the only man who survives, a detective who investigates the husbands' disappearances).

to interweave fact/memory/fantasy/illusion that are the stuff of each character's version of what happened, i will be using montages in a lot of the scenes. right now, i'm having a lot of fun creating video "sketches" while Tyler creates the real ones.

New study for "Indigo Lady"

2011-10-19T03:50:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the scene of Tuco running through the cemetery looking for the grave of "Unknown" in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Sergio Leone).

New performance art video

2011-10-15T21:12:00.002-07:00

"Keskarel' - latest story conference

2011-10-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

Chris, the AD and co-writer of our quicktime storyboard, has transcribed the entire storyboard, and currently is making the dialogue real and creating dimensionality to the script, which he and Michael Lewis will co-direct.

New project: Film version of my solo play, 'Indigo Lady'

2011-10-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

An exercise showing Detective Donald's POV as he familiarizes himself with his prime suspect's neighborhood on his initial investigation of Russell's disappearance and possible murder and Indigo's paranoia about men and grim hatred of Russell, who raped her on their wedding night, as well as her madness and macabre sense of humor.

Study for 'Indigo Lady'

2011-10-01T04:22:00.000-07:00

Matins

2011-09-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

What i did last weekend

2011-09-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Keskarel, a Quicktime storyboard (Director's Cut)

2011-08-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

This is the Director's Cut of Keskarel, A Quicktime Storyboard. It is raw, exactly what I shoot for as an artist. I can hardly believe that I was able to do that, given all the variables - five other people who I had to completely trust and who had to trust me. I think there is a lot to be said for being 60 and mellowed out - but also for spending almost 20 years in theatre. Only theatre people could have made this movie the way we made it.

Keskarel - update this week: We are done!

2011-08-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

congratulations to the Keskarel for wrapping the shooting of our Quicktime storyboard. our AD, Chris Arthur-Henly Robinson, is out of town, writing the screenplay 'Keskarel' from his outlines and the storyboard. we made this video greeting card for him. the final version of 'Keskarel A Quicktime Storyboard' will be posted on Vimeo in September 2011 after its screening in San Francisco. in this video: Michael Lewis (cinematographer), Nima Nejad ('Mikael'), Diana Slampyak ('Keskarel') and sylviatoyindustries (a woman of many hats). also absent is Nidal T. Musallam ('The Landlord'), who had a previous engagement (i.e., closing Nabila's and going home for a well-deserved rest).

thanks, everyone!

sylvia

Keskarel Update: Story Conference

2011-08-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hamlet is like a box of chocolates ...

2011-07-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Steven Lewis: Best brother-in-law ever + Sapna Gandhi: best amiga ever.

Keskarel - update this week: The final cut, 3rd Pass - we are almost done!

2011-07-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

This is the final version, minus 1) the pivotal incident subplot storyline scenes, nicknamed 'Hamlet + Ophelia' and featuring Steven Lewis + Sapna Gandhi; 2) the ending, which the characters have not revealed to us yet; and 3) pickup. We will post the last pass with the real ending and all the pickup we shoot for the rest of this summer on September 18th, after the movie is screened in San Francisco for a private audience in September 2011!

Saturday Morning Movie

2011-05-14T04:05:00.000-07:00

As I continue my film education ...

on Youtube

Sorry, my art is free ...

2011-05-12T04:34:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately for this guy, and others in the future, I'm sure, not only do I already know about the gallery system, and 'paying to play,' I've gotten back more than I've given from all the free video that I've uploaded - exposure, which he wants me to pay him $144.00 for.

My Progress: 'Pastime' documentary

2011-05-07T03:42:00.000-07:00

This is a rough cut - very rough.

Flesh, 1932

2011-05-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Been wanting to see this for a long time. I love Wallace Beery, and
wow, even if Karen Morley wasn't so convincing. Wow.

It must be real ...

2011-05-05T12:02:00.001-07:00

i'm a finalist!: i just UPS'd 'Depression As Geography'
to CologneOff 2011 global videoart fest. yay!

Pastime's Awesome Progress

2011-05-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

thanks, guys!

Pastime's Progress: Mayday

2011-05-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

Pastime's Progress

2011-04-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

maybe May Day? ...

AprilTwentySeventh2011:Mural in Progress By Pastime

2011-04-27T15:38:00.001-07:00

yay!

Speaking of Talented + Clever Graffitists ...

2011-04-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Tagging is a form of tantrum, in my opinion
- but, what would you call this:
using someone else's work as a painting surface?

AprilTwentySixth2011:Mural in Progress By Pastime

2011-04-26T13:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was rain day. Between then and now, the "P" was tagged by someone lacking imagination, cleverness and talent. I disagree that there is no art in graffiti and tagging - some tagging is artful and sometimes even clever. However, our tagger of the last 24 hours is no artist and I've chosen to blow up the area that was tagged and show it how looked yesterday the way Pastime's crew left it.

Pastime's Progress

2011-04-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

http://sylviatoyindustries.blogspot.com/2011/04/
apriltwentyfifth2011mural-in-progress.html

Cross your fingers for me ...

2011-04-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

Latest documentary project

2011-04-24T15:50:00.001-07:00

Documentary shooting is my hobby. While I work pretty hard at all the art forms involved in making my performance art videos, which is a "serious" form for me, I try to keep as much spontaneity as possible in my docs. They are about sharing good experiences, and there's little if any ego attached to them. However, I think the corporate, legal and art video that I've worked so hard at have informed my little hobby.

[video offline for editing - the mural's almost done!]

The Pastime videos (sylviatoyindustries' blog) are just the latest in myshootfromthehipwithaFlip on the way to work, the grocery store, Macy's, the Post Office, etc., and in this case, on the way to a job interview. In the spirit of quick&dirty, these little docs are edited in first-gen IMovie.

Yes, this video is worth 19:08 minutes of your time.

2011-04-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

While I do not agree with some of the editing choices made here, I believe that this video, Diary, with its raw, brutally honest, risk-taking shooting, is truly "blood on the canvas."

Happy Friday ...

2011-04-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

Now all I need is to get to the point ...

2011-04-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

Chris, my intern and mentee, has gotten really good at following my first important instruction to keep me on topic. Our project is going so well that I want to repeat it with another intern or interns when we finish Keskarel. So, my project this week is writing a grant proposal narrative. 1870 characters in, and I feel like I'm not getting to the point - in dramatic writing circles they would tell me "this is backstory." But sometimes you have get the backstory out of your system before you get to the point.

"I was fortunate to have well-rounded mentorship as an artist from a very young age. My father, who must have had the patience of a saint to teach me drawing from life, also taught me "If you want to be an artist, you need to learn how to do something else for a living."

◆

I used to believe that it was because I was a pragmatist and just didn't want to struggle - i.e., be a starving artist - that I learned how to do something else. I don't believe that anymore, having quit a paralegal job in order to get a video production internship just six weeks before the Crash of 2008. I thought I would easily find paralegal temp work while learning pro videography - who knew that two large San Francisco law firms would completely shut down, while a number of others had large layoffs, all of which created a flood of paralegals and associates in the job market. So, I put an ad in craigslist and joined Guru.com, and I freelanced, and had paralegal work because everybody was looking for a bargain. In doing so - sometimes having no work and others having 5 gigs at once - I went up on the tightrope that I had always associated with starving as an artist.

◆

What made that work was not just that I am a talented paralegal writer with years of paralegal experience and knowhow. What made that work was that my first artist-mentor, my dad, influenced me to socialize myself in the non-art world as well as the art world.

◆

These days, I find myself mentoring quite often, just like my dad with so many young people and like my mother still does. My father mentored like it was his job; my mother mentors because that is one of the things that happens on her path of life. I feel that I have the advantage of both: I mentor because I feel "I owe" for all the good fortune that I've had and I mentor because there are such fabulous people who are serendipitously on my path of life."

Tarzan on Saturday morning - just like when we were kids

2011-04-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.archive.org/details/TarzanoftheApes1918AndyDivx

Old Favorite Movie

2011-04-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

Cabin in the Sky (download at http://www.archive.org/details/my_cinemaCabinintheSky)

New favorite place to surf

2011-03-27T08:56:00.001-07:00

From the Internet Archive

Librivox recording of The String of Pearls by Author Unknown.
Read by LibriVox Volunteers.
The tale of Sweeney Todd has had many incarnations, most famously the stage and movie musical by Stephen Sondheim. But it all started in 1846 with a serialized telling of the story titled “The String of Pearls” in the weekly magazine “The People's Periodical and Family Library”. Called by some a romance, by others a horror story, it is one of the earliest murder mysteries. In “The String of Pearls”, Sweeney Todd is less sympathetic than in some of his later incarnations – a perfect villain, totally self-seeking with no redeeming qualities. How the deeds of Todd are uncovered and how he is brought to justice make a most intriguing tale, but one probably not suited for the very young and certainly not for the squeamish. (Summary by John Lieder).

Favorite TV show of all time - now let me get this straight ...

2011-03-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

... you mean, I could have been watching Murder One for free on IMDB?

Flashback: Whose POV?

2011-03-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

posted on youtube by Starcross42

"... the characters have become so odd we have no other choice but ..."

2011-03-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

http://keskarelamovie.blogspot.com/2011/03/ad-chris-to-sylvia-characters-have-both.html

Old Favorite Movie

2011-03-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

This video is the combined version of "nanovideos" that I made for my last solo theatre piece, Jill: Anatomy of Suicide. I am trying to collect all my old performance art vids and put them in Sylvia Toy's Book. I will upload my favorites here, also.

Video Art and Experimental Film Festival 2011

2011-03-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Link

New favorite movie

2011-03-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

Venlafaxine Hydrochloride from Cristobal on Vimeo.

Flo Kitchen In The House

2011-03-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

http://www.flokitchen.com/

Another awesome nephew ...

This was a real find ...

2011-03-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.archive.org/details/Harakiri1919fritzLang

Ant Boogie: another Timeout New York cover by Zenith Richards

2011-03-03T20:08:00.001-08:00

'Wisteria Lodge,' The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

2011-02-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

I have just seen this beautifully made episode again, and now wonder if I have had it in the back of my mind without realizing it, the whole time that I've been making art video, and now my movie. The cinematography and the editing are so stunning, it makes me cry. This is the aesthetic to which I aspire.

It appears the entire episode is in segments on YouTube. Start here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrJHVCTbStw

First Dumbshow Scene: Scribblings

2011-02-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

1st shot: camera zooms in to Hamlet's face staring directly into it

BEAT

Hamlet comes forward in his chair and turns his head slowly until his face is pointed directly to his left

BEAT BEAT

2nd shot: camera zooms out to show Hamlet in his chair and Ophelia a few feet away staring at each other
BEAT

camera pans as Ophelia crosses until she's standing directly in front of Hamlet's chair with her back to the camera
BEAT

3rd shot: left side CU of Ophelia as she says "You said you wanted to get married. Maybe you made a mistake."

BEAT BEAT BEAT

4th shot: wide shot from Hamlet's right as Hamlet rises from his chair without breaking his stare with Ophelia (Ophelia barely lit from the front and her shadow long on the floor), Hamlet continues to rise until his shadow completely covers Ophelia.

Hamlet says: "Maybe I did."
Cut away immediately to Keskarel gasping as if she's choking, then zoom in to her iris with the reflection of a man's face dissolving to a wide shot of Keskarel covered by a man's looming shadow.

Cut away to Keskarel backing away from the window and out of the room.
5th shot: (through Keskarel's window): Ophelia backing out of Hamlet's shadow until the two shadows are completely distinct from each other. Hamlet sits. Ophelia leaves the room.

Keskarel This Weekend: My new favorite Hamlet ...

2011-02-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

Nicol Williamson was even the right age - ironic that Anthony Hopkins was perfect as Claudius, though born the year after Williamson. And I did not know Marianne Faithfull could act - let alone Shakespeare! I am outlining my faux wife-beating dumbshow scenes over the weekend, and very well might watch the Hamlet + Ophelia scenes a number of times.

New favorite movie

2011-02-15T05:24:00.000-08:00

from Daniel Ivan on Vimeo.

... and since it's 5 a.m., I can only watch it muted - that's good vid!

All press is good press

2011-02-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

http://keskarelamovie.blogspot.com/2011/02/thanks-g-for-keskarels-first-press.html

23 posts on the Keskarel blog since January 25th ...

2011-02-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

and blogged.com gave us a nice review!

A Great Shoot by Zenith Richards

2011-02-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

Zenith Richards,
http://zenithrichards.wordpress.com/,

is a photographer, born and raised in New York, and educated at Oberlin.
He wanted 2011 to be his breakout year as a photographer,
and I think that's exactly what's happening.

Collect your press

2011-02-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

That's my second rule about self promotion. My first rule is: don't believe your own press, good or bad. But I don't quite know what to think about this:

http://birria507.com/spam-blocking/block-email-spam/block-email-spam-keskarel-second-cut/

Actors & Performance Art

2011-01-31T19:47:00.000-08:00

With the caveat that 1) this is a sterling example of why my teeth itch when i/others call me a performance artist and 2) there is awkward editing and questionable choices in this video - with that said, i sat through the whole thing because of the nice work of the female actor who does the heavy lifting in this video.

Specchio delle mie trame,
A twilight theatrical piece by Mauro Petrarca, Francesca Fini & Sylvia Di Ianni

portrait of the artist

2011-01-31T19:12:00.001-08:00

sylviatoyindustries' bio

Great pix by my nephew, Zenith Richard

2011-01-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

http://zenithrichards.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/subway-series-xiiii-music-at-hoyt-schermerhorn/

An Exquisite Corpse: "Politics"

2011-01-23T04:41:00.001-08:00

The Exquisite Corpse Video Project (ECVP) is a unique video collaboration among artists from all over the world, inspired by the Surrealist creation method, the "Exquisite Corpse". Coordinated by Brazilian artist Kika Nicolela, invited participants create video art in response to the final seconds of the previous member's work. Each artist is asked to incorporate these seconds into their piece, creating transitions as they please, until everyone's vision is threaded together into an instigating final "corpse."

The ECVP Vol. 2 was made in 2009 and was based upon 12 different themes.

POLITICS is a collaboration between the following artists:

Marty McCutcheon (USA)
Arthur Tuoto (Brazil)
Guillermina Buzio (Argentina)
Giselle Beiguelman (Brazil)
Ulf Kristiansen (Norway)
John Criscitello (USA)

Hayes Valley shoots: dollar 99

2011-01-22T21:09:00.001-08:00

perfect example of rewrite rewrite rewrite - after thinking and thinking and thinking and almost throwing out the related footage - finally put my hayes valley story into context.

Keskarel the Movie

2011-01-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

I have slowly been developing the character and background story of the former protagonist of Keskarel as a Quicktime storyboard. She (no name for her yet) is now in the position of pivotal character.

I assigned my intern Chris Robinson to flesh out Keskarel, formerly the antagonist-pivotal character. Chris split Keskarel in two - one a woman with a traumatic past who is obsessed with an 18th century infanticidal, and the other, a volatile woman lawyer. Keskarel the PTSD victim is the protagonist; the pivotal character who is the only character we've seen so far in the Quicktimes is a nosy, eccentric spinster videographer and those two and the lawyer are neighbors. Either they can all see into each other's apartments, or the spinster videographer can see into both, and that's how we get to know them. Once Chris has his plan more fleshed out, he will start shooting Quicktime scenes to add to the storyboard.

I will be changing the video as the Quicktime storyboard develops - I hope you will stay tuned and watch me blog Keskarel into a movie.

Luis Lamadrid

2011-01-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

what he said ...! :

VIDEO ART DECALOGUE
1. Video art is stated in its own tradition: Paik-Vostell
2. It is not fiction or documentary. It is not made with invented characters and stories, nor with true stories and real characters
3. It contains feelings, conflicts and ideas
4. Images and sounds are autonomous. They can be complementary, but they are separate works
5. The production conditions are simple. Video art rises outside the imaging industry
6. The materiality of video art is translatable into different formats and media, existing or future
7. It is conceptual and easily reproducible because of the clarity of the idea and the simplicity of production
8. It must be in the public domain and not an object for collection or exchange
9. It is a technological unconscious adapted to a heterogeneous reality, mediatic and problematically virtual
10. For all the above, video art is vital, political and emancipatory

2011-01-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

Photo of the day: Pigeon feeder, by Zenith Richards (New York)

Happy New Year

2010-12-30T20:42:00.000-08:00

a little analog slapstick

New Video

2010-12-26T22:20:00.001-08:00

Excellent video by Sandeepan Chanda

2010-12-12T18:22:00.001-08:00

Paranoia from Sandeepan Chanda on Vimeo.

Mr. Chanda is on Vimeo.

New Documentary: mummification

2010-12-06T09:04:00.000-08:00

new HD art vid!

2010-11-27T18:37:00.000-08:00

new video on vimeo

2010-11-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

please watch.
thanks!

Tyler Cohen

2010-11-19T07:07:00.001-08:00

very cool stuff.
and check out her blog: http://primazonia.blogspot.com/

Elk - Cold Creek, NV

2010-10-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

I was sitting on the stoop hoping to catch some coyote, when I saw this beautiful creature. I was so surprised I almost missed shooting her! After she left, I did eventually see about 9 pairs of eyes in the brush and realized I was small enough to be dragged into the bushes by a pack of coyotes. I wish I could have seen myself scrambling back into the house in my nightgown and hiking boots.

New Promo

2010-09-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvLYcUlxNM

and come visit my Etsy shop!

Please watch my new net.art movie.

2010-08-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwmIY3MhCdE

'Harvesting the Lost': Dan Wilson introduces the company

2010-08-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Harvesting the Lost by Dan Wilson

From September 03, 2010 8:00 PM
Through September 25, 2010 8:00 PM

@ Phoenix Theater
414 Mason St., Sixth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103

Price $25.00

Info Line 415-517-1285
http://www.tripleshotproductions.org/

Deep Well

2010-08-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

thank you from the bottom

2010-08-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

A would've-been play is now providing me with fun material for video performance art about who's sane/who's not, black holes and collapsing universes ...

Video just for fun

2010-08-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Liz Gjelten's play Hunter's Point in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival

2010-07-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

Jump! Theatre resident playwright Elizabeth Gjelten, has been developing her play Hunter's Point in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and you can catch it on Saturday, July 31 (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/6501). Liz recently stated. "[Hunter's Point] came from my feelings of helplessness and guilt in the face of a loved one who lived on the streets for many years, as well as my own struggles with my unruly mind." The Festival has helped Liz "work with some structural questions Ihave about the play - I want to simplify and pare it down."

Cast Iron Skillet Cooking:Succotash

2010-07-27T18:06:00.000-07:00