art VIDS

 

let us now praise famous hummingbirds

I recorded this Rufus Hummingbird nest on Whidbey Island in 1984 using professional, broadcast-quality (for the time) 3/4" video gear.   My dad found this nest on some property he owned; it was only about 4 feet off the ground which is exceptionally low so I had a rare opportunity to record the nest over the course of three weeks (on weekends when I came up from Seattle).  I had to mount a small light near the nest, begin running tape in an outboard deck, walk away and hope for the best (always exceedingly dangerous to do since there are so many unseen, feral watching eyes in the forest; the good news is that the birds reached maturity and flew away safely).   Interestingly, the mother hummer got used to the gear there and proceeded to feed the young repeatedly.

I have video recorded a number of young birds in their nests over the years from hummingbirds to raptors and I am always delighted by how comfy and cozy and idyllic (seemingly) those first lazy days of life appear  --   swaying quietly in often-stunning, always-changing light and weather (sometimes with mind-boggling views of the landscape below).  The program plays with time in that the birds become younger as the program proceeds.   The music is one of my first digital compositions using a (for the time) state-of-the-art Roland Super Jupiter synth with a controller plus a wonderful Emax outboard synth all controlled by a polyphonic, Roland 88-key keyboard.  The music was recorded and mixed on a Teac 1/4" 4-track tape deck.    (Please follow my video work on Vimeo and my musical recordings on SoundCloud.)

 

I recorded this Rufus Hummingbird nest on Whidbey Island in 1984 using professional, broadcast-quality (for the time) 3/4" video gear. My dad found this nest on some property he owned; it was only about 4 feet off the ground which is exceptionally low so I had a rare opportunity to record the nest over the course of three weeks (on weekends when I came up from Seattle). I had to mount a small light near the nest, begin running tape in an outboard deck, walk away and hope for the best (always exceedingly dangerous to do since there are so many unseen eyes in the forest; the good news is that the birds reached maturity and flew away safely). Interestingly, the mother hummer got used to the gear there and proceeded to feed the young repeatedly. The program plays with time in that the birds become younger as the program proceeds. The music is one of my first digital compositions using a (for the time) state-of-the-art Roland Super Jupiter synth with a controller, a wonderful Emax outboard synth all controlled by a polyphonic, Roland 88-key keyboard. The music was recorded and mixed on a Teac 1/4" 4-track deck. (Please visit my website for more of my videos, audio recordings and artwork: https://thomasager.com)

 

 

 

Tokonoma - April 2-channel Program #1

TOKONOMA - APRIL 2-Channel Program #1.   This was a part of a magnum opus that I worked on for about 20 years based on the seasons, in the manner of the Japanese Tokonoma.   This multi-disciplinary project consisted of stacked light boxes ("Totem Lucida") , videos, music, large-format and 35mm photographs, drawings, paintings, digital realizations and complex multi-media installations of all these artworks in various configurations, with sound environments tailored to each exhibit space.   Various iterations of the Tokonoma project were mounted throughout Washington State from about 2000 to 2008, often under the aegis "E-Scapes".

This piece is a two-channel program based on the original Tokonoma painting for the month of April (the original 48"x24" painting was created a la prima in acrylics and was mounted/exhibited as an archival 48”x24” Duratrans Lightbox).   A complex set of what I called “motifs” was extracted (photographically) from each Tokonoma painting (one for each month of the year) and edited with “spiritually and seasonally matching” video footage, digital realizations of various kinds and photographic work into a piece that was meant to be viewed simultaneously as a two-channel experience.   The two-channels allowed me to mix these many elements together in a dialogue.  All video and audio field recordings were shot and edited by myself.     (Please follow my video work on Vimeo and my musical recordings on SoundCloud.)

TOKONOMA - APRIL, 2-Channel Program #1. This was a part of a magnum opus that I worked on for about 20 years based on the seasons, in the manner of the Japanese Tokonoma. This multi-disciplinary project consisted of stacked light boxes ("Totem Lucida") , videos, music, large-format and 35mm photographs, drawings, paintings, digital realizations and complex multi-media installations of all these artworks in various configurations, with sound environments tailored to each exhibit space. Various iterations of the Tokonoma project were mounted throughout Washington State from about 2000 to 2008, often under the aegis "E-Scapes". This piece is a two-channel program based on the original Tokonoma painting for the month of April (the original 48"x24" painting was created a la prima in acrylics and was mounted/exhibited as an archival 48”x24” Duratrans Lightbox). A complex set of what I called “motifs” was extracted (photographically) from each Tokonoma painting (one for each month of the year) and edited with “spiritually and seasonally matching” video footage, digital realizations of various kinds and photographic work into a piece that was meant to be viewed simultaneously as a two-channel experience. The two-channels allowed me to mix these many elements together in a dialogue. All video and audio field recordings were shot and edited by myself. (Please visit my website for more of my videos, audio recordings and artwork: https://thomasager.com)

This Tokonoma Mandalas AUGUST video is comprised of a set of motifs from the August Tokonoma painting described on the Artworks/Tokonoma Lucida page of this website.