Set Your Sights on Adventure!

As promised, here is the commercial I created with Time Warner Media Sales for Norman Rockwell Museum's new Howard Pyle exhibition:

This spot will begin airing this month in Western Massachusetts and Central New York on Time Warner Cable stations... throughout the run of the exhibition, I believe. 

I have to give big props to Emily McEntee Shaw, Producer/Director at Time Warner. We had worked together last year on a couple spots for the Museum, and she is an absolute pleasure. We worked on her Avid Media Composer, and it all came together rather seamlessly.

My colleagues and I first came up with a suitable 30 second script, I gathered the images and then chose a narrator from a few choices. I was drawn to Dave, who is the one we ended up using... apparently he also has done work for the History Channel, so it makes sense that his voice fit for Pyle's historical/fantasy subject matter. 

The trickier thing was finding the music. My experience finds that is always the most challenging... the soundtrack can't distract from the piece, and I think we managed quite well here. I have to admit that I was unsure about the narration when I first heard it, but the music made it sail with a little "pirate ease" once we combined them together.

I do love to edit, and this was one of those experiences where I wasn't pulling my hair out through the process... it was nice to work with a fellow video professional. Granted, the artwork stands on it's own, so I guess I should also be thanking Mr. Howard Pyle.

Howard Pyle: American Master Rediscovered is on view at Norman Rockwell Museum through October 28, 2012.

Good Relations

I started the day off by doing another radio interview (in the words of my co-worker, "you're famous again!"). This one was for Jazz FM, a radio station based in the UK... yup, Anglophile that I am, I can cross another item off my bucket list. Actually, this station is devoted to jazz, as its name suggests... I just hope that my interview is slated next to Miles and Coltrane... not Kenny G. The representative was part of a so-called FAM group, which the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism puts together. Basically, groups of journalists travel throughout the state to learn about the various cultural attractions. I gave them the low-down on Norman Rockwell and Howard Pyle...

Rockwell and Pyle side-by-side
From "Howard Pyle: American Master Rediscovered."
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum.

The new exhibition looks great, and has received some favorable press. Here is a short article I wrote for the Berkshire Visitors Bureau that describes, in part, Rockwell's admiration for the Golden Age illustrator's work. It is rather fun to see his 1959 painting Family Tree on view next to Pyle's classic pirate illustrations.

Sarah and I missed the opening, but it looks like people had fun... dressed up as swashbucklers and shaking their pirate booty on the dance floor. The truth is that I have dressed up as a pirate on a couple of occasions... just for the fun of it... arrrgh!!!

"Howard Pyle: American Master Rediscovered."
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum.

So I am busy trying to attract press for the exhibition, which can be a creative exercise in itself. Last week I represented the Museum during an event called Celebrate the Berkshires, put on by the Berkshire Visitors Bureau. It was a good opportunity to network and learn what the other cultural organizations are doing. 

I have to say I have the utmost respect for what Mass MoCA is involved with... they just seem so forward-thinking, and after hearing their Director speak, that is no accident. Joe Thompson was on-hand to present the Berkshire Trendsetter Award to Jacob's Pillow, another great cultural organization, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. The dance organization does wonderful work, and just announced their outdoor performance schedule. Sarah and I love heading up to Becket... into the woods... to see live dance. Jacob's Pillow and Mass MoCA are absolutely deserving of the accolades they receive for all of their quality programming. The Rockwell Museum has some fine exhibitions as well, and we were also nominated for a couple Trendsetter Awards, including "Public Relations," which made me think I'm doing something right.

And so, the summer season begin...

Related Link:

Berkshire Visitors Bureau article on Howard Pyle exhibition

The Art of Documentation

Continuing on yesterday's thread about the Museum's upcoming exhibition on illustrator Howard Pyle, It turns out there is a documentary about the artist that was just released. It looks well-done... here is a preview:




The feature was produced by filmmaker Paul Mento from Silver Hand Productions. According to the Delaware Art Museum, which organized the exhibition and screened the documentary, Mento has been a lifelong fan of the artist. His name sounded familiar to me, and now I realize that he had actually been in touch with me at the Museum a couple years back, looking for information about Pyle's influence on Norman Rockwell. I'll have to check out the documentary--no doubt it will be useful in learning more about Pyle's work and how to promote the exhibition.


There is another new artist documentary coming out, which is also worth mentioning. Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounter follows the work of acclaimed photographer Gregory Crewdson, who creates haunting, surreal, and stunning photographs, that have an eerie, cinematic feel to them. Think Edward Hopper born again as a filmmaker who is taking still photos, and that it what Crewdson's world looks like:






I first discovered the photographer's work when I started working in Massachusetts. He has set many of his scenes there (including my former town of Lee), and spends a bit of time in the Berkshires. There is even something of a twisted mirror on the work that Rockwell is known for, and I have met the photographer on a couple of occasions while I have worked at the Museum; the last time was during a lecture he gave at Norman Rockwell Museum a couple years ago, where this documentary filmmaker, Ben Shapiro was also present. 


The film is having a screening on the final night of this year's Berkshire International Film Festival. My friend Stephanie, a talented actress, actually posed for one of the photographs in the series that is being examined in this documentary (it even made the cover of the catalogue for the series). I wonder if she will make it into the documentary... go Stephanie!

My "Crewdson-wannabe" photo shoot with Sarah following
the photographer's lecture at Norman Rockwell Museum, March 27, 2010.
Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

I would love to see the documentary (maybe even work with Crewdson sometime), but we are scheduled to meet our wedding photographer this Sunday--he's also a creative guy... I just hope the wedding photos don't look like Crewdson's! Hopefully there will be other screenings of the film to catch.

Hmm... these documentaries make me jealous really... I'm not sure how they are totally financed and produced, but what a great gig--I could get into doing work like this (and I'll keep trying!). Looking for time, money, and a good HD camera... please!

Related Links:


www.howardpyledvd.com


www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com


www.biffma.com

Sharing The Treasure Chest

I have been busy at work preparing for a new exhibition that is opening up next Saturday, June 9, at Norman Rockwell Museum. Howard Pyle: American Master Rediscovered looks at the work of an artist who is frequently referred to as the "grandfather of American illustration." Howard Pyle (1853-1911) was one of the most popular artists of his day, creating widely circulated images of pirates, knights, historical figures and fairy tales for popular American publications. His work was admired by such creative types as Vincent Van Gogh, Mark Twain, and Norman Rockwell, and has had a lasting impact on our visual culture (Pirates of the Caribbean, anyone?).

I think this exhibition, curated by the Delaware Art Museum, is going to be a good one--sort of a summer blockbuster, if you will--the artwork looks stunning:

"An Attack on a Galleon," Howard Pyle,
1905. Oil on canvas, 29 1/2" x 19 1/2"
Delaware Art Museum,
Museum Purchase, 1912

"The Mermaid," Howard Pyle, 1910.
Oil on canvas, 57 7/8" x 40 1/8"
Gift of the children of Howard Pyle
in memory of their mother, Anne Poole Pyle, 1940

"The Buccaneer Was a Picturesque Fellow,"
Howard Pyle, 1905. Oil on canvas, 30 1/2" x
19 1/2". Delaware Art Museum,
Museum Purchase, 1912.

Eat your heart out, Captain Jack Sparrow... Pyle also served as a teacher for many talented illustrators whose careers took off during the early 20th century. N.C. Wyeth, Jessie Willcox Smith, and one of my favorites, Maxfield Parrish (I can see the influence in Parrish's highly dramatic and detailed paintings). 

So I'm in the process of setting up press interviews and trying to spread the word about the exhibition. If that weren't enough, the Museum will be holding a special pirate-themed dance party during the opening, as well as a Thursday night lecture series during the summer, that looks at the artist's influence. So I'm busy trying to come up with catchy slogans... "Set your sights on adventure this summer..." "Shake Your Pirate Booty"... not sure if "Pirate Bootylicious exhibition" is going too far... but this should be a good one.

Related Links:

Howard Pyle: American Master Rediscovered