Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- It’s been a relatively bleak week in New York. The rain won’t stop its gray battering of our skylights, and we hop and skip past the many puddles on the sidewalk. Waiting for a light usually means a splash off the nearest discourteous speeding driver who runs too close to the curb, spattering all those there. After two or three days of it, everything takes on the eerie grey glow.

- On Tuesday morning, Sept. 6th, Jordan Belson died of heart failure at his home in San Francisco. For the uninitiated, Belson was an abstract filmmaker who produced a body of work of over 30 films which sometimes were called, “Cosmic Cinema.” His work was ahead of his time, and he led a number of like-minded non-objective film makers through the 50s and into the 60s. From 1957-1959, Belson was the Visual Director for The Vortex Concerts at San Francisco’s Morrison Planetarium. This series of electronic music concerts accompanied by visual projections allowed him to create visual illusions with multiple projection devices, combining abstract film footage of patterns with planetarium effects. He abandoned traditional animation methods to work with real time projected light in making his Vortex work.

His long shadow remains with us as film still tries to absorb what experimentation and observations he offered us through the medium.

The Center for Visual Music offers a DVD release of Jordan Belson’s Five Essential Films. They also have a biography and filmography of the man’s work.

Earlier this year, Belson signed a statement asking people not to put his films online, as this does not do justice to his work. A sentiment I am fully in agreement with. Regardless, someone has put several of them up on YouTube. Epilogue, a great work, is his last completed film done in 2005.

John Hubley once told me that an effective rain cycle had two different patterns of rain at slightly different angles to each other. One would be inked in black, the second (behind the black) in gray. It works well, of course.

- Kathy Rose is still actively making films. She wrote to say that her latest, “The Metaphysical Paintings”, just went up on Vimeo. She also has her own page on Vimeo, here.

She continued to say in that note that she: “Will also have video installations exhibited October 5 & 6 in Motion Pictures 2011 a dance video venue in Philadelphia.”

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Lowell Hess is an extraordinary illustrator whose work has just been collected in a book called The Art of Lowell Hess. You should look out for it. Until then, take a look at this blog (Today’s Inspiration) which gives a good overview of Hess’ life and work.

Thanks to Bill Peckmann for the heads up on the site.

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- There’s an exhibit of Jack Davis’ art running at the University of Georgia’s Hargett Library. “The exhibit features much of Davis’ early work from his days as a student living in Athens. Many of Davis’ subjects from those days provide a rare glimpse into life as an undergrad when campus was dominated by veterans getting their education from the GI Bill.”

The exhibit will continue through November. Anyone living in or passing through Athens, Georgia ought to go see it.

Darrell Van Citters is back. His blog, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, has featured many excellent articles about the people who had worked on that Special. Now, after a long hiatus, he has a two part article on Lee Orgel the real man behind the television special. This is an excellent site that offers lots of premium information. Just take a look at this feature on Abe Levitow or this piece on designer Shirley Silvey. There’s a lot to see on this blog.

Skwigly is a British site that has had a relatively long life. Originally, a blog that offered some excellent stories, they eventually closed it down. Just as suddenly, they’ve been reborn. David Smith is the editor and he mixes it up. The current site seems a little less vibrant than the original, but it’s still a must-visit. Sort of a British AWN (not quite as large albeit somewhat more organized) there are some fine posts on this site. An Arthur Christmas image from pencil drawing to finished cg background; An interview with animator, Alex Williams (The Lion King, Roger Rabbit, The Iron Giant); A story about Osamu Tezuka and even an article about the invention of the rotoscope by the Fleischers. My one complaint for the site is that they don’t have an easy “search” button. You have to go through each and every slow-loading page to find out what’s there.

- Tomorrow will be the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Much has been made of it here, in New York, and I don’t know if there’s been as much attention given it outside of this city.

Just prior to the Obama “Jobs” speech, the television networks announced that there was “credible but unconfirmed” reports of another attack on NY on the anniversary. Shades of the Bush administration terror fears that were thrown at the public. In NY, we’d gotten a clue that something was up a few days earlier when police started showing up again at the subway entrances to go through the passenger backpacks. Why did they wait until just prior to the speech to make it public when they had the news two days earlier?

The odd thing about New Yorkers is that it really isn’t on our conscience. They can hurl the words at us as often as they do, but we just go on through our paces – getting through the days.

Sunday there will be some sort of celebration at the site of the World Trade Center. The papers have reported enough bickering between the government plans and the families of the victims. Will they read names? Won’t they read names? I really don’t know anymore, and I won’t be watching. I’ll be in my studio, maybe listening on the radio. More likely, I’ll be listening to the soundtrack of Mike Leigh’s Topsy Turvy.

And, yes, rain is expected on Sunday.

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