The World On The Moon

I love finding other people who blatantly combine arts and science (Let's hear it for having a BFA in Theatre Costume Design, with cognates in Art History, Anthropology AND Biology!).  Those of you who read my blog saw my post on using NASA photos as an inspiration for my dyed silk.  I really think that by combining art and science (and history and sociology and...well you get the idea) we are broadening the audience for both; by creating a larger audience we create a more fertile ground for all of the work we do.

While listening to NPR Science Friday today I heard about the Gotham Chamber Opera producing Haydn's Il Mondo Della Luna/The World On The Moon (written in 1777) in the Hayden Planetarium in New York City.

One word...AWESOME!  They cobbled together space footage and years worth of planetarium shows into a video backdrop for this Opera.  Since they could not use traditional lighting without washing the projections into oblivion they used some truly creative solutions, light up costumes, low-wattage lights at short range, book lights sew onto the costumes (nope, not kidding) and actors performing on ladders.

From what I can see it is just amazing.  The bad news is that it is in NYC, more than a thousand miles from me, and totally sold out.  The good news is that they are talking about it becoming a touring show! 

Here is the Science Friday Article:

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201001292

The YouTube Video from the American Museum of Natural History:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbm89W0VKyY

The NY1 News piece on the production:

http://www.ny1.com/7-brooklyn-news-content/ny1_living/112480/hayden-planetarium-hosts-haydn-opera

Happy New Year!

Now that I have officially survived the holiday season and the start of the new year I am going to be focusing on my projects with a renewed vigor.  My resolutions have been two fold, first is to work on my health, eating, exercising, taking time to generally make my body and mind a priority.  The second part of the resolution is to build my business.  I have started by getting in touch with several agencies that will help me start all of the legalese required to have a business. (Here I was hoping that seven years of college would be enough, shows that you can always learn something new.)

The holiday season was good to me, I was able to see my Aunt and Cousin from Denmark, all of my friends in Michigan, some from Chicago and a slew of my Michigan-based family.  Greetings to all of you from down here in Sunny (but unseasonably "cold," O.K. so we have had frost 3 times this week, when you have palm trees that counts as cold) Florida.

In addition to the joys of seeing everyone and visiting home there were other benefits to Michigan including snow and having my work put into Trillium Art Gallery in East Lansing, MI.  Stop by and talk to Kali, the owner, if you are in the area.  She specializes in local artists and Fair Trade, since I have worked with her for going on ten years she counts me as a local still.

This past week marked my first Florida retail venue, a big mile stone to check off on my business plan, I now have a small selection of scarves at Catai Trading at Wilburn's Inc. in Dania Beach, Florida.  In Caryn, on of the owners, I found a kindred taste, her shop is a lovely combination of international fabrics, vintage costume jewelry, sculpture and assorted antiques.  My heart was won over by the comfy couch, piled with Indian silk pillows draped in fabric situated in a window over-looking the street.

Yet more good news for the budding business; I was able to make enough sales over the holiday season to order more supplies, they just came in today!  I am thrilled with the quality, gorgeous stuff, heavy silk charmeuse that feels like butter, luxurious mat-finished crepe de chein, gauzy silk chiffon and more acid etched beauties in both satin and velvet. My mind brims with ideas for turning these into finished pieces.  So keep your eyes open for some very exciting new material in my Etsy shop in short order here.

Here is an example one of the previous batch of crepe de chein scarves to tide you over until I have new pictures to post: