Wow. It's hard to believe that I started
this blog a year ago today, and still managed to meet my challenge of creating a post
EVERY DAY to document this significant year!
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| Looking back, moving forward! Photo by John Whipple. All rights reserved. |
To be honest, this was also meant to be a
way to get my name out there on the inter-webs (while I work on a professional
website), and there were times when I literally groaned at the thought of
having to come up with some creative, coherent post by the end of a long day...
seriously, it's difficult to talk about yourself all the time! But I did
manage to pull it off (often to the late-night chagrin of my patient wife), and
must say that it's nice to have a real-time record to look back on the events from the past
year. I think there is also something to the idea of putting myself out there
to the "universe" because there were some truly great
moments and opportunities that came my way. Without further ado, here is my
personal Top 10 for 2012 (hey, I told you I liked creating these things!):
10. Connected (Writing's On The Wall)
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| NYC's Spoken Word Almanac Project (with visuals by yours truly). Photo by Jonathan Weiskopf. All rights reserved. |
As I mentioned, the goal of this blog (in
addition to giving my Mom some daily morning reading material) was to get my
name out there− seemed to work! A few professional contacts I made this year
mentioned finding this site, or asked− out of the blue− about such
endeavors as my improv group that they could have only read about here(!). I also continued my work
with the Spoken Word Almanac Project earlier in the year, creating visuals for
their "news in review" style format of performance poetry.
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| "Troy Record," April 26, 2012 |
2012 also saw further work with Peace Action New York State, where Sarah and I
helped out with a July peace march to commemorate the World War II era victims of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I videotaped special lectures for the group on such
topics as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
I continued to land other interesting, independent video projects, although I had to be conscious of
biting off more than I could chew up to and around the time of my July wedding.
I didn't come as far as I had hoped this year in terms of advancing my career,
but it was a year that saw me making significant strides and remain in
the game.
9. King of All Media
Well, it was certainly a year where I
stepped it up in terms of my outreach towards the media. 2012 saw me interviewed
by such outlets as The Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, The
Springfield Republican, The Schenectady Gazette and New England
Public Radio in regards to various exhibitions and programs at Norman Rockwell
Museum. I took my Manager of Media Services title to new heights by leading the
effort to launch our own page on the Google Art Project, and twice appeared as
a guest on The Roundtable, produced by the Albany NPR station, WAMC. This
past month I even went international with an interview for TV Tokyo's Bi
no Kyojin Tachi, regarding the career of artist Norman Rockwell. It felt good
to be able to use my experience and knowledge gained on the job in a creative way... after more than a decade of working at the Museum and in TV
news, I certainly feel confident in my abilities.
8. We Are Family
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| Updating Norman Rockwell's "The Runaway" with my nephew. ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
My family grew this year, and part of what
made this year so memorable was being able to help celebrate their own
milestones and achievements. First off, I became a uncle again... times three!
Sarah's two nephews ushered in the new extended family by being the ring bearer
and master of butterflies at our wedding. And although she was pregnant and
couldn't attend our big day, my sister gave birth to another beautiful little
girl weeks later... apparently she hasn't stopped smiling since she
arrived! The smiles continued in October as my mother-in-law received a
special honor for her ongoing efforts for peace.
Proving that weddings are contagious, my
two twin cousins announced their own engagements this past fall, and my
sister-in-law just got engaged... I was happy to lend a creative hand in the
planning of the latter, where my future brother-in-law took me up on my idea
of proposing to his girl during the previously mentioned Japanese TV
shoot that my nephew took part in... now THAT was a Norman Rockwell
moment.
7. The Art of Improvisation
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| Another RBIT-ing performance. ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
At the beginning of this year, my
friend/groomsman Frank announced that my old improv group was going to start
performing in South County of the Berkshires again, which is where I continue to work.
"How can I get in on this?" I wondered aloud, and suddenly found
myself "back on the boards," playing gigs with The Royal
Berkshire Improv Troupe at the beautiful new Spectrum Playhouse, located in my
old hometown of Lee, Massachusetts. It has been a wonderful experience
reconnecting with these old and new friends, and challenging myself with some
performing again... the late night karaoke after-parties were pretty great too.
6. I Am The DJ, I Am What I Play
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| Broadcasting live from the WEXT studios! Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
I was fortunate to return to another
favorite activity this year− during and after college, I had enjoyed being a
music DJ (including a stint with independent rock station WBER in Rochester,
New York).... well, thanks to Capital Region station WEXT, I found myself doing
my best Casey Kasem on a couple of occasions this year: first during an hour playing some of my favorite songs on their MyExit program, and also earlier this month
as I recorded a tribute show to the Norwegian band, A-ha. The latter program
was in celebration of the band's 30th anniversary (and knighting in their home
country!), and should be airing at the beginning of the new year. Hopefully
there will be more on-air opportunities... did I mention that I'm a bit of a
"ham" radio operator?
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| home sweet home. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
5. New Digs
After an extended "transition"
period, which included apartments in the Berkshires, New York City, and the Hudson
Valley, I finally settled into a lovely old, renovated home in downtown
Schenectady with my wife Sarah. In addition to enjoying the resources of
"The Electric City" and Capital Region, it is just nice to finally
have some room to spread out, get organized and creative again (bonus points
for this past week's clean up). Yes honey... "feels like home."
4. Mr. Ed
One of the most satisfying moments this
past year was the opportunity to continue furthering my education. I FINALLY took another
graphic design course, which is something I have been wanting to do for some time now
and made possible by the excellent Arts Center of the Capital Region. The class
helped me understand key design principals, come up with ideas for creating a
logo and website for my business, and learn the ins and outs of Adobe
Illustrator. I also utilized some of this newfound knowledge in the design of
our wedding invitations and thank-you cards... turned out beautiful (thanks to
instructor Taylor Gillis of Troy's Design It Together for sharing his own
knowledge and insight).
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| Invitation only... by design! Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
The Arts Center also gave Sarah and I a
chance to brush up on our swing dancing during a course timed perfectly ahead
of our wedding, and offered me a chance to play around with a DSLR video
camera during two weekends of their video art course. This was a great,
creative exercise... the DSLR takes a little getting used to, but the picture
quality is fantastic.
Extra kudos to the Center for letting me take the camera
out on yet another afternoon (outside of class) to further acquaint myself with one of the newest
tool for filmmakers, and continued appreciation for my friends at CTSB-TV in the
Berkshires for letting me try out a number of other new HD video camera models
for various projects. As they say: learning is fundamental!
3. Four More Years
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| Promo for Darian Dauchan's Obamatry, a spoken word remix, featuring multimedia design by JC. Courtesy Darian Dauchan. |
The fiscal cliff, Obamacare, gun
control... it was a tense 12 months, made more so by the fact that this was an
election year. Although I don't approve of everything that unfolded during his first term (read: drones), I still supported President Barack Obama,
and felt that he held the conviction and intelligence necessary to lead this
country back to greatness. I felt a little guilty that I could not actively help
his campaign as I did four years ago, and for a while it got to be a nail-biter...
Republican candidate Mitt Romney made some last-minute strides this past fall
that had many of us wondering if the country would be heading in another
direction. What a relief it was to wake up on November 6th to the news that
Obama had won a second term, and that many of the initiatives that progressives
had been working so hard to advance (health care, marriage equality,
immigration, etc.) would be saved. It's hard to believe that the state of the
union was swaying precariously in the balance just over a month ago. Of course we've still got a long way to go, and I wish President Obama the best of luck
over the next four years... forward!
2. Hero Worship
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| Interviewing acclaimed comic book artist Alex Ross in his Chicago studio. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
2012 found me getting back in touch with
my "inner comic geek," and thrilled at the arrival of our new exhibit, Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of
Alex Ross, at Norman Rockwell Museum. I have been a fan of Ross' work since 1994's Marvels, so it was a great
thrill to meet the artist again and see his stunning, original art.
The icing on the cake: the chance to travel to Chicago and interview Alex Ross for a new exhibition video. I had to push for
this one, but it felt great to utilize not only my video production skills, but
also knowledge of a medium that I, like Ross, grew up
with.
(Above is a movie trailer I also created for the exhibition− good fun!)
(Above is a movie trailer I also created for the exhibition− good fun!)
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| Yours truly... your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights resereved. |
By the end of the year, I had reconnected
with an aspect of my youth that I have sometimes felt embarrassed over the
years to admit to enjoying. However, the success this past year of such films as Spider-Man, Batman:
The Dark Knight Rises, and especially The Avengers (♥) made it
seem slightly less geeky to proclaim my superhero/comic book love... I even
proudly represented the Museum's exhibit at the Albany Comic Con in October,
and have become a frequent visitor to the area comic book stores... Bazinga! (must-read
of the year: Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story).
1. Our Big Day
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| Mr. and Mrs. Clowe! Photo by John Whipple. All rights reserved. |
The big day arrived fast and was not
only emotional, but a little surreal... to have so many of our loved ones surrounding
us (and our friend Tom co-officiate the ceremony), and find myself standing at
the alter as my new bride walked down to the aisle to The Beatles' "Here
Comes The Sun"...
At that moment, the skies opened up on our
beautiful outdoor ceremony, and it began to rain. I certainly wasn't expecting
this, although it came as some relief to the summer's extended dry spell and
intense humidity... but on my wedding day?
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| Dance away... Photo by John Whipple. All rights reserved. |
We followed the wedding with an absolutely
magical week in Montreal and Quebec City, chasing after more waterfalls, and
enjoying getting lost in Canada. Married life has been great! It's good on the
other side, and I wonder why I waited so long...
***
As with any year, 2012 was filled with
many highs and lows... laughter and tears... I sometimes found myself
questioning my faith, wondering how a higher power could allow such
tragedies to unfold as the summer shooting in Aurora, Colorado; the destruction from Hurricane Sandy; and the recent fatal shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and
Webster, New York (near my own hometown)... I made a point of going to church
on Christmas Eve to have some time to reflect on this past year's events, and try to
come to terms with some of my own personal anger at events that took place in my own life this
year, which I felt I had little control over...
***
So, I literally just opened today's mail
(snail not e), and found a late Christmas letter from my friend Tom, the
reverend. At the top of his own yearly review, he noted our wedding and how
beautiful it was to take part in the service... in describing the previously
mentioned downpour, he referenced one of the scriptures Sarah and I had chosen
for the ceremony, from Song of Solomon 8:7: "Many waters cannot quench
love, neither can floods drown it..."
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| "All You Need Is Love."--The Beatles. Photo by John Whipple. All rights reserved. |
Updated Soundtrack for 2012:
Port of Morrow, The Shins
Signs & Signifiers, J.D. McPherson
The Lumineers, The Lumineers
England Keep My Bones, Frank Turner
Laura, Diego Garcia
Django, Django, Django, Django
Boys & Girls, Alabama Shakes
Wrecking Ball, Bruce Springsteen
Delta Spirit, Delta Spirit
A Thing Called Divine Fits, Divine Fits
Making Mirrors, Gotye
There's No Leaving Now, The Tallest Man on Earth
Out of My Hands, Morten Harket
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