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SECOR GALLERY PRESENTS EXHIBITION OF DIGITAL & INSTALLATION ART

Exhibition Features Toledo Area Artists: Fred Leighton and Fontana

February 7th marked the opening of an exhibit of new artworks at The Secor Gallery located at 425 Jefferson Avenue Toledo, Ohio, 43604, across from the newly constructed Lucas County Arena. The exhibition features the artworks of artists Fred Leighton and the collaborative husband-wife team of Anthony and Sandra Fontana, simply called Fontana. The opening reception was held on Saturday, February 7th from 6-9pm. On display until Saturday, February 21st, this show features installation art, machinima animation, and digital prints. (Check this blog again for the full machinima).

The Secret of Bigfoot Pass

In The Secret of Bigfoot Pass, Fred Leighton has created a large cube comprised of plexiglass, fiber and computer-controlled LED lights along with several digital 3D analygraphic printed images. The title of the work refers to the 1976 TV show and paperback of the same name featuring the Six Million Dollar Man character, Steve Austin. In the story, the legend of Sasquatch is explained as a cyborg created by Alien explorers. Half-man, half-machine himself, Steve Austin confronts Bigfoot and the extra-terrestrials. In this group of works, the artists explores the significance of these characters and the popularity of the themes and subject matter in mid 1970s America, a fascination that continues to today.

Fred Leighton was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1965. He holds a BA from The University of Michigan where he majored in History of Art and an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design where he studied Interactive Design and Game Development. As Developer and Producer, Leighton has been recognized by HOW, PRINT, WIRED, and Mac Art & Design for his creativity in developing interactive media projects for subjects including artists Rev. Howard Finster and Joe Coleman. Leighton uses physical computing, interactive installation, digital images and sound, online interactivity, and game design to create interactive artworks. Fred Leighton is currently an Instructor in Visual Communications Technology at Bowling Green State University.

We Are Avatars

Since 2005, Fontana has been investigating virtual identities in online social platforms, their economies, and the ways in which relationships are represented in digital forms. In this body of work the Fontana's collaborative search for distinct ways of documenting their avatar's experiences and memories can be seen through blended reality installations, altered avatar representations, and machinima animations. Through their artworks, Fontana's search begins with their digital documentation of their daily lives on social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, extends through their alternate, imagined, and "real" personas in virtual worlds such as Second Life, and burgeons forth into a space where viewers are able to question the paradox: "Is the virtual real?"

Anthony Fontana has been exhibiting artworks in and about online virtual worlds since 2005 and began creating machinima animaitons using the virtual world of Second Life in 2007 as a way to tell stories connected to humans, yet beyond the experiences of one's own body. He earned an MFA in Painting from Northern Illinois University in 2004 and a BFA in painting from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2001. Sandra Fontana has worked as a professional photographer and homemaker for the last 7 years. She has toured the country shooting beauty pageants, school portraits, and often using her own children as subjects. Her favorite subject has always been herself, shooting several hundred self-portraits over the last decade. In 2001, Sandra earned a BFA in Photography from the Columbus College of Art and Design.

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If you would like to schedule a visit to the gallery or need more information about the exhibition or artists please contact Fred Leighton at fred@artsdigital.com, visit www.ArtsDigital.com, or www.AnthonyFontana.com.

A few months ago I presented at a comic conference in Second Life. Check out the article and mention here:
http://www.comicbookbin.com/SecondLife004.html

"Anthony Fontana discussed the challenges of using Second Life to market comics, an activity which Fontana has pioneered and which is still very much in its infancy."

This work is the first by the collaborative husband and wife team known as Fontana. By reflecting on individual personalities and real world identities, similarities between virtual world persona's are expressed through emotive animations common to the Second Life avatar, yet intriguingly unique. These works begin to examine the emerging language of machinima (machine-made-cinema) and its role in the continuum of traditional cinema language; machinima that documents and expresses the memories and experiences of avatars. Through a large aggregation of images, videos, and installations based on the accumulated inventory of the Fontana avatars, Anthony and Sandra supply the viewer with information that is both identifiable and indifferent; bridging connections with those who understand the virtual world phenomenon and those who have not yet begun to understand its impact on society at large.

Some Flickr pics:

Six Apart, the makers of LJ and Vox have recently created a one stop blog-app for FB called 'Blog It'. This app is also available for the iPhone (I have a BB). From this one app I can post to all of my blogs on VOX, Blogger, WordPress and more. No more logging in to separate accounts.

The next test will be to post from my BB using the mini Opera browser.

**UPDATE**
This test post worked to Vox and blogger, but not WordPress.org blog. Also, cannot edit or change posts from Blog It on Facebook. Also, had to change default Vox blog post to share with anyone, otherwise it posts to another default setting.

(Bowling Green, OH) – On Tuesday, April 22nd the Bowling Green State University Virtual Campus in Second Life® held a "Birth/ Earth Day Celebration" in commemoration of the first birthday of the virtual island. The celebration included poetry readings, live DJs, art exhibition openings, and an Earth Day scavenger hunt. During the scavenger hunt, the island was devastated by the effects of global climate change. In the past week, factories emitting black smoke appeared around the island. The sandbox, an open area for building objects, transformed into a paved parking lot full of cars. The island, unable to sustain the polluting effects of these new additions, began to change. The water levels rose and covered 80% of the island flooding the classrooms, Writing Center, Performance Center and Zen Garden. The trees on the island turned brown and died. The grassy areas became an arid wasteland and turned brown. Icebergs carrying stranded polar bears appeared around the island. This catastrophic event complicated the Earth Day scavenger hunt and made it extremely difficult for the participants to find the hidden clues. The scavenger hunt contestants were asked to find 10 items that contained clues on what they could do to prevent global climate change in the real world.

Despite the challenging environment and the difficulty of finding the clues, there emerged a winner. Linda Mandlebaum, BGSU Professor in the Department of Intervention Services, collected the 10 items and answered the five questions correctly. As the participants discovered the various clues on how to save the earth, the environmental damage began to reverse itself. The water receded, the trees turned green, and the parking lot disappeared. Dr. Mandlebaum won 2,000 Linden dollars for being the first to “save the island.” She donated her winnings to Wheelies, a center for disabled residents in Second Life.

The Birth/Earth Day Celebration was simultaneously broadcast on a large projection screen in the lobby of the Bowen Thompson Student Union on the BGSU campus and in Second Life on the virtual campus. Barbara Toth, director of the BGSU Writing Center hosted the poetry readings. The art exhibitions included an installation artwork by Jeff Lovett, a visiting artist from Ohio University, and work by graduate students from the Digital Arts division of the School of Art. The live music was performed by DJ What the Bleep, a TCOM student and VCT student, DJ PsysiX. The event was coordinated by Anthony Fontana and Bonnie Mitchell, both professors in the School of Art, with the help of the Ohio Learning Network Second Life Learning Community members at BGSU and Second Life student assistants.