Mayan Appocalypse 1 year Pre-Party.
December 21, 2012 is the reputed end date of the current mayan calendar cycle. We have no idea what is in store for us and we wanted to celebrate that uncertainty as a great mystery we get to watch unfold for us. Cynical or serious? Paradigm changing or subtle irony? A really fun vector design.
Bird Of Prey
Torin Goodnight is Bird of Prey. This music is expansive, highly skilled, heavy and filled with dancfloor filling excellence. An amazing set at the Living Room at Shambhala in 2011 alerted everyone to their presence. Check it out...This is a poster for his show in Victoria BC. Note the subtle nod to Judas Priest's 80's metal opus "Screaming for Vengeance".
GREAT CENTRAL SUN
Shine Edgar is an exceptional person. Possibly the most positive thinking person i have yet encountered, his energy and enthusiasm is infectious. After briefly meeting him a number of time on tour with Adham Shaikh, we finally got to talking about me doing design for his upcoming album, produced by Adham. I was excited to be part of such a diverse world music project, with reminscent overtones of inspirational early electronic acts like baka beyond, and the realworld label run by peter gabriel.
DREAMTREE PROJECT
Adham Shaikh has been a longtime friend and artistic collaborator. I think of him as a successful role model / big brother who has continually supported me and provided me the opportunity to design, usually completely without micromanaging interference. It has been an honour and a pleasure to work with him over the years. His project with Uwe Neumann, an Indian Raga Fusion electronic music mashup, is one of the most intriguing world beat projects on the planet right now, fusing dancefloor sensibility with classical indian ragas provided by the incredibly talented Uwe.
Permaculture, Community and Design Initiatives
As a graphic designer, I realize the importance of branding and advertising in today's world. I also recognize the perils of a corporate design world devoid of substance or realness. Graphic Design is a necessity which is not always accepted or embraced by people whose aspirations and projects lie outside of the monetary world. Being a social activist, and a permacultural supporter from my earliest days of design, I have come to understand the need for design as something which transcends the immediate value of bringing customers to projects or making money. I am much more than an advertiser, and my clients represent projects, services and products which embed as much education and forward thinking value as possible. Gaiacraft is one such project which has, from it's original inception, focused on the world building initiatives of community and permaculture as a means of generating authentic abundance in a world altogther too focused on money as a value. It has also embraced the world of graphic design as a means to promoting that end.
EARTHDANCE VANCOUVER ISLAND 2011
Earthdance 1999 was on of the the first graphic design gigs of my career. It's so far back now it is outside of my old harddrives, languishing in somewhere back on my old spindles of cd's from a time when my design was just beginning. I met Sandra Karpetas, the organizer of Earthdance Vancouver 1997-2000, before I even had really cruised the modern internet. She was an inspirational being, encouraging me to get involved in the dance music community beyond my interests as a partier and dj, which really jumpstarted my interest in graphics. It was through Earthdance that I clued in to how large the global dance electronic dance music culture was.
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summer 2011 mini update
The summer has been hectic and chill at the same time. I have enjoyed the outside world more than i have in many years, even during the time I lived on the sunshine coast. I've pretty much been eking a meagre existence by making posters for the local club. I keep posting them because each one takes time and even though many are modifications of admats or images i find online, they all have their charm and i could use each one as a miniature essay on design. I only get text details and logos for most of these, sometimes i get art direction, like from Dave Geddes at BassBizniz productions, but often its body copy only. The rest is up to me. Each one of these posters takes between 1 and 3 hours depending on how seriously i decide to take it, and how much editing has to be done. My goal is to have them done from start to end in 2 hours. I consider each one it's own meditation in design, both in theory and in practice.
Something borrowed something new
I like to completely demystify the process of my art. Most of the new media artists I know are happy to tell you the deep specifics of how they created the things that they did. For us it is part of the process to share and innovate, as well as cultivate a complete acceptance of the concept of remixing. Today's artforms are hybrids of past media styles and principles mashed into the software of the modern era: instant creation. These artistic tools are available to a wider range of people than ever before in history. So much of what I do has become media collection and collage.
NEW ENERGY NEW EARTH
Svetlana Bell came to Onbeyond with a vision. She works with guides and varied spiritual transitions to help people prepare for the coming shift in consciousness.
