Another Creative Interest: Video

I am always busy with my regular wood lampshade business, so it seems a bit odd to me that I felt the need to find another creative outlet. Nevertheless, that is just what I have done.

This past Autumn and Winter, I created artistic and unusual DVD that is a collaboration with my wife (Kathy Lowe), who recently released a new CD "Above Water." The music on this recording represents a sound adventure unlike anything you have every heard before: soothing, mysterious, ethereal, and spiritual. Kathy recorded the main vocal tracks into the side of a million gallon water tank, taking advantage of the incredible natural reverb generated by the airspace in the tank. The songs are elegant in their chant-like simplicity, while layered with nuance and unexpected pleasures that give a depth and haunting beauty that will stick with you forever.

I recorded the video for this on a short section of a brook that is near the water tank where Kathy sang for the CD. Some of the footage was shot during foliage season, the rest while ice was forming on the edges of the brook. Much of what I shot is very closeup scenes, often unrecognizable for what it captures. When I edited the footage into the final movie, I chose to use quite long shots, averaging around 30 seconds. The combination of the subject matter and the the editing, accompanied by Kathy's music, makes for a mulitmedia meditative experience that is beautiful, relaxing and hypnotic. The quality of the production is professional and crisp, and the response from the many people who have seen this this project is uniformly ethusiastic.

If you go to http://www.woodshades.com/AboveWater.html, you can see a short segment of the video, compressed to work as a download. The entire DVD includes 6 of Kathy's new songs and is 28 minutes long. We sell the DVD for $15. The CD is also $15, or you can buy both for $25. Kathy's music can also be heard at CDBaby.com.

I am totally unclear about where this project will lead me. Certainly I have no intention of cutting back on my production of the lampshades. I have a long term interest in video, mainly thru my volunteer activities with the Guild of NH Woodworkers. Thru that organization, I have helped create a huge library of over 100 demonstration videos, and last winter when I was injured, I transfered all those tapes to DVD format. So I have had the equipment and the technical skills, and now I am inspired to uses those to work on creative projects.

There is one strong connection between my lampshades and this new video projecct: they both provide an experience that emphasizes relaxation, calmness, intimacy and an appreciation for the gifts of nature. So in the end, perhaps these two disparate creative endeavors are really just branches of the same tree.