Gorge-ous!

Ithaca's Buttermilk Falls... a must-see!
Photo by Sarah Clowe. All rights reserved.

In addition to visiting with friends and family, and enjoying various cultural activities, this month has been a great opportunity for us to hike around some beautiful areas in the Capital Region, Adirondacks, and Western New York. 

I've said it before... Scott E. Brown's New York Waterfalls: A Guide for Hikers and Photographers (Stackpole Books) is an extremely useful guide for telling us how to get there, locate and photograph the best views. Here are a few of mine...

In order of appearance:

Hadley Mountain, Hadley, New York
Buttermilk Falls State Park, Ithaca, New York

Taughannock Falls State Park, Ithaca, New York

Letchworth State Park, Castile, New York

All photos by Jeremy (and Sarah) Clowe. Canon EOS Rebel T3, 

EFS 18-55 mm, EFS 55-250 m. Minimal Photoshop color/light correction.

©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

airborne!

inside/out in the Berkshires... Photo ©Jeremy Clowe.
All rights reserve.

The week ended on a high note in the Berkshires... the Google Art Talk was a big success (so far, over 600 worldwide viewers), and there's already talk about the Museum getting involved with another one. For those who missed it, you can watch the archived talk (and even see a few minutes of me and my hastily tidied office at the beginning... lol) on YouTube.

Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon running around the Stockbridge Cemetery, taking photos for an upcoming TV commercial showing Halloween-themed events happening in Western Massachusetts. Sort of a bold way to spend Friday the 13th(!), but I came out alright... and so did the photos. Actually, I think I managed several rather eerie shots, which is what they were looking for (the Springfield visitor bureau representative sure was enthusiastic about the results). I'll see about sharing them at a later date.

Photo from "Dancers Among Us" by Jordan Matter.
©2012 Jordan Matter. All rights reserved.

Turning from the dead to the living, I thought I would take a moment to talk about a great photography book that is out right now called Dancers Among Us. Photographer Jordan Matter has taken some delightful photographs of dancers taking flight in everyday situations, and this collection is really a fun and inspiring collection for any coffee table (dance lover or not). The subheading for the book reads: "A Celebration of Joy in the Everyday."

Joie de vivre: Jordan Matter speaks in Blake's Barn,
Jacob's Pillow, August 23, 2013. Photo by Jeremy Clowe.
All rights reserved.

A few weeks ago, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Berkshires invited Mr. Matter to speak about his work and sign copies of his book in their Blake's Barn space (donated, in fact, by dancer Marge Champion, whose late son Blake had performed at the festival). A fan of his work, I decided to go check out the talk, and had the pleasure of chatting with Matter afterwards (my dancing wife and I now own an autographed copy of the book). I really enjoyed hearing his stories about getting involved with the project, some of the adventures/challenges along the way, and how he approaches his craft. It turns out that the affable photographer does little in the way of pre-planning the shoots, preferring to let the dancer and location inspire him on the spot. To me this seems like a perfect solution to overcoming intimidation or getting too hung up on the details of a work. His next project will be a book looking at athletes in similar situations.

The Festival posts many of these "Pillow Talks," but I have not seen the lecture posted yet. I did find this fun clip of Matter working on a shoot up in the forests surrounding Jacob's Pillow itself (you get a sense for his outgoing personality here as well):

Meeting Matter at Jacob's Pillow, August 2013.
Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

After the talk we stayed around to watch a dance performance at the venue's Inside/Out stage, where dancers literally perform against the beautiful countryside of the Berkshires. I started taking a few non-flash photos, but was asked to refrain by the Pillow staff... understandable, as they have it all very well-documented (photographers, videographers, etc.). I have documenting dance in the past... I'll have to see if I can find some of my work as I start to organize my old files here in the Electric City. 


Of course, I have also always loved dancing (indeed, Sarah used that quote that he dances "like no one is watching" to describe me at our wedding). The spirit of Matter's work reminds me that we should definitely look into taking some more classes soon. So on this Yom Kippur weekend I say "L'chaim!"

Related Links:

www.jordanmatter.com

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

Pictures For the American People

Photo of family taking part in this year's U.S. Naturalization
Ceremony, held at Norman Rockwell Museum. Photo by Jeremy Clowe
for Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

So we continue into our next busy season at Norman Rockwell Museum. I have to say, the Fall is really a glorious time to visit the Berkshires— the colorful foliage is an artistic display in itself.

This past weekend I helped out with another U.S. citizenship naturalization ceremony at the Museum. This was our second time hosting (in partnership with the Berkshire Immigrant Center), and I'm really proud that we have gotten involved with such a significant event. It's hard to beat Norman Rockwell's artwork (in this case, The Four Freedoms) as an appropriate backdrop to welcome new American citizens; it's also inspiring to meet these individuals who have traveled so far (Pakistan, Ghana, Colombia, etc.) and worked so hard to become part of our country. With all the recent uncertainty about the U.S. economy and foreign relations (i.e. Syria), it is a reminder of how much the world still admires our country. And what joy on these new citizens' faces... I filmed and took photos of the event— you can view some of the latter on the Museum's Facebook page.

Visitors interact with the exhibition, "Norman Rockwell: Happily
Ever After." Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell
Museum. All rights reserved.

This morning I'm helping to run our first live Google Art Talk. The online chat, which begins at 11 a.m. ET, will focus on Norman Rockwell's artistic influences— two of our curators will lead the discussion and I will be running their visuals for them. It looks really interesting, and I urge you to sit in or catch the recorded lecture, which will be archived on YouTube. I have spent the past couple months coordinating our involvement in this event; I learned about these new online art talks being held in Google Plus' Hangouts, and had approached the company about taking part. It's a live event, so hopefully it will go off without a hitch... similar to our involvement in the Google Art Project— read more about that initiative, which I also helped coordinate, here.

And speaking of technology, we had another nice article about our current initiatives, including today's Art Talk and our recent foray into QR code-enhanced exhibitions; I am quoted in this Berkshire Eagle article written by my friend/journalist Jenn Smith— I appreciated the mention of my video interviews, which are included in the exhibit.

Photo by Ben Garver for "The Berkshire Eagle."
All rights reserved.

Looking ahead, I'm getting ready to tackle my next exhibition video (Wendell Minor's America) and expand on some of our video production capabilities. In the meantime, I continue to play the part of spokesman— this week I conducted a tour and some interviews with travel writers visiting from Austria, and I have a short, live interview about the Museum scheduled for WSBS Radio this Friday, September 13, at 8:15 a.m. 

As if that wasn't enough, here is a link to a recent interview I gave to O Globo, a popular newspaper in Brazil. The article looks at the increasing popularity of Norman Rockwell, and the Museum's efforts to continue to spread the word about his art with an international audience. It's fun to see my words translated into Portuguese... heck, I'd be happy to travel to South America to take this global outreach one step further!...

Related Links:

Google Art Talk

2013 U.S.Citizenship Naturalization Ceremony (photos by JC), Norman Rockwell Museum Facebook page

"Culture a Click Away," Berkshire Eagle, September 6, 2013

"Retrato Do Século XX," Globo a Mais, August 16, 2013


"Pintura de ilustrador de revistas é a mais cara do acervo da Amazon Art," O Globo, August 18, 2013

Cracking The Code

I had a text from my Uncle the other night, saying that he heard me on the radio. Yeah, it's a new age... 

Time to replace magnifying glass with smartphone?...
“Art Critic,” Norman Rockwell, 1955.
Norman Rockwell Museum Collections.
©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN

The occasion was an interview I gave to WAMC, the Albany, NY, NPR affiliate, about local museums' use of technology. It was a perfect time to again highlight our new exhibition, Norman Rockwell: Happily Ever After, which offers visitors the chance to use their phones/tablets to access enhanced content related to the artwork (including my videotaped interviews). This is made possible through QR code links, which really seem to be everywhere nowadays... Sarah was just commenting how she found them on grapes recently in the grocery store. Seriously... grapes?

Anyway, it's an interesting radio segment− you also get to hear a couple of the model interviews I have conducted at the Museum over the years. 

Like the recent Wall Street Journal article, I was interested to hear what other organizations are initiating in terms of technology. The delightfully rural Hancock Shaker Village has even begun installing computer kiosks and renting iPads. I think it must be more of a challenge to preserve the authenticity of a historic site, while bringing in modern tools to assist and engage visitors. Ultimately, it requires good design− it seems pretty obvious when organizations are falling over themselves to bring out the latest technological fad, without any real benefit to the original content.

So what have I been up to this Saturday morning (besides this quick blog post)? Kicking back and enjoying a book. Happy to report that no QR code is required.

Related Links:

"Local Museums Embracing Technology," WAMC Radio, August 15, 2013

"Historical Sites Welcome Kids Who Love to Text," Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2013

Great Scots

Jeremy with the "invisible band" (left to right: Neil Primrose,
Andy Dunlop, and Fran Healy. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

One of my favorite bands, Travis has a new LP coming out next week. Where You Stand is the seventh studio album for the Scottish quartet, due out here in the States on Tuesday, August 20. Rolling Stone is currently providing an advance streaming of the album on their website, and I gave it a full listen during my extremely rainy ride to work this morning (perhaps appropriate for the band known for their hit, "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?"). As the magazine points out, Travis' talent for creating big melodies remains intact!

I had a chance to interview Travis in Boston back in 2007, and enjoyed talking with them about their songwriting process (yeah, I should post the full interview online... I know). There is a hint of melancholy in their music, which I have always found attractive. On this new album, I also sense a new maturity... the songs breathe a little easier than on their last effort. Solid musicianship rings throughout.

One of the highlights is the song, "Moving," which has been getting some airplay on our local station WEXT. According to a video documenting the recording of the album, lead singer Fran Healy actually dove into the ocean near their studio to get the proper "adrenaline" to hit the high notes for the chorus (there's a funny clip where he runs right back up to lay down his vocals following his "polar bear" outing). Check out the song and it's very cool video (the visual effects were created during actual filming- not post- using film clips projected on to the band members' breath!). 

Return to form? Looking forward to it!



Related Links:

www.travisonline.com

"Travis' Big Melodies Intact on 'Where You Stand' - Album Premiere," Rolling Stone, August 12, 2013

Travis- "Berkshire Soundstage" preview (interview with Jeremy), YouTube

Made in America

Norman Rockwell Museum video interview with illustrator Wendell Minor.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon starting work on a new video project: a short documentary for our upcoming exhibition on illustrator Wendell Minor. Known for his many acclaimed children's books, Minor's art touches on his love of history and the environment. Wendell Minor's America will showcase original artworks, artifacts, and references from such picture books as Look to the Stars (by astronaut Buzz Aldrin); Abraham Lincoln Comes Home; and America the Beautiful. 

Wendell Minor's studio. Photo by Jeremy Clowe
for Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Along with Norman Rockwell Museum's Chief Curator Stephanie Plunkett, I traveled to Minor's home in Washington, Connecticut, to conduct the interview. I was lucky to once again borrow a Sony NXCAM HXR-NX5U to do the filming. We set up the interview in Minor's studio, which he shares with his wife/collaborator Florence, and it went well. The artist has a decent amount of light coming through the window near his workspace, which hopefully served us well. I used a reflector to warm up some of the background.

During our visit, I found myself appreciating the Minors' decorative sense− sort of a mix between Southwestern and Eastern U.S. This was actually my second visit to the couple's home− the first was back in 2004 when I interviewed Wendell Minor at length for my documentary Drawing Inspiration: Norman Rockwell in Stockbridge (Rockwell was a strong influence on the artist).

Wendell Minor's America opens November 9 at Norman Rockwell Museum. I'll have more details on the exhibition and video in the coming months. In the meantime, here is a promo video that the artist put together for the exhibition, which gives you an idea of his work: 



Related Link:

Wendell Minor's website

Spokesmanship

"Hey girl..." doing my best Ryan Gosling
to impress you. Photo by Ben Garver
for The Berkshire Eagle. All rights reserved.

Ok, it must be pretty evident by now that in addition to writing/video producing, one of my main duties at Norman Rockwell Museum is spokespersoning (Not a word? Should be). Honestly, it's something like performing... and storytelling. I am proud of what I have accomplished in this regard over the past decade, and today comes my second appearance in The Wall Street Journal. 

Norman Rockwell Museum is included in a feature about historic sites/museums utilizing new media/technology to attract new audiences; I was interviewed at length last week about our digital initiatives, and they use a quote in today's paper about our new exhibition, Norman Rockwell: Happily Ever After. This new experiment involves visitors using their smartphones or tablets to access content available through QR codes placed near the paintings. In addition to Rockwell's reference photos, the model videos mentioned in the article were created by me—some are quite old... recorded not long after I started at the Museum in 2001. As you may know, I have been involved with other technological initiatives during my time at the Museum, including exhibition videos, an interactive timeline and Google Art Project, but this is the first effort involving gallery material accessible by portable devices. Anyway, it's a cool idea... we'll see how it pans out. It's also interesting to read about the technological efforts and concerns from other venues listed in the article. On top of that, they use one of my photos on the newspaper's front page (reproduced here)!

Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Of course I wish I had more time to create videos, but there is something rewarding about acting as a spokesperson... makes all those public speaking classes pay off. It's also interesting to see how often I am misquoted or my name is misspelled/mispronounced (eh, that's "Clowe," rhymes with "the show")... you have to let it roll off your back, I guess... ultimately, it is all about promoting the venue and work. 

On that note, here is another interview I gave to The Berkshire Eagle a few weeks back for an article about low-cost opportunities at the area's cultural organizations. Perhaps the best quote in the article comes from my wife's cousin Vicki, who has been a long-time member of the Museum (I actually met her years before meeting Sarah!): "I've been to other museums in different states and countries, and a lot of them are stuffy. The Norman Rockwell Museum isn't like that -- everyone is friendly. They take a personal interest in you." 

Well-said.

Grab a chair! Representing the Museum and Norman Rockwell in the
artist's studio. Photo by Ben Garver for The Berkshire Eagle.
All rights reserved.

Related Links:

"Historic Sites Welcome Kids Who Love to Text," The Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2013

"Norman Rockwell Museum: Where 'everybody is friendly," Berkshire Eagle, June 25, 2013