Interview with Director of FilmShift: Part I

"After seeing an entertaining film, I feel motivated, fired up, open to new ideas and new possibilities."- Jeremy Jed Hammel, Director of FilmShift

While doing research for the Glovebox Short Film and Animation Festival, we started emailing and talking to other film festival directors to see what works for them. As we introduced ourselves and met people from the community, we were pleasantly surprised to be welcomed with open arms. We connected with Jeremy Jed Hammel, the Director of FilmShift and the FilmShift Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. 

The FilmShift Festival is a grassroots organization that supports and promotes independent films, filmmakers and small businesses. Their mission is to find shifts, both big and small, in the art world and the local community and to highlight the success of these independent artists and entrepreneurs. The FilmShift Festival champions films from across the nation, films that are produced independently and on the local level by professionals and students using predominantly small or “green” businesses. Hammel, always the philanthropist, donates 20% of the festival’s gross ticket sales to non-profit groups. We applaud his effort and look to this veteran festival for mentorship as they lead by wonderful example. Hammel was kind enough to speak with us on the phone, answering questions and doing an interview for our blog readers. He gave us so much great information that we can't wait to share with you. We are sharing the interview in 2 parts because there is so much good stuff we want to highlight each issue separately. His message? We are all here to support each other.

"It's important to me that I make a positive and lasting change within my community...I want to make the world a better place, and Filmshift is my way of doing that."  - Jeremy Jed Hammel, Director of FilmShift
Jeremy Jed Hammel is a multiple award-winning filmmaker and has produced projects for The American Film Institute and NBC’s national network show, and his work has won prestigious such as Best Feature winner. (Read more about Hammel's accomplishments here.) Hammel’s latest producing project, “The Legacy,” Directed by Mike Doto, won Best Comic Related Film at the 2010 Comic Con International Independent Film Festival in San Diego.  

GLVBX: What do you do as a festival director? 
JJH: I book the venue, design (along with our web designer) and update our website, write press releases, update our social media, correspond with filmmakers, procure and coordinate our sponsors, coordinate with our judges, work with our graphic designer, web designer, and festival program designer...Organize volunteers, update each entrant with the status of their work, post our "Call For Entries" with every film office in the country as well as with colleges and industry message boards worldwide, watch every film that is submitted, set up our online ticketing interface, post our flier in businesses around the Boston area, pitch story ideas to the media and do interviews with them, do Q and A's with filmmakers at their screenings, and make sure everything runs smoothly on the days of the festival...there's some more to do in there, but that's the bulk of my work.

Wow! Do you have any spare time after that? What other projects are you currently working on?
JJH: My current producing project, “The Legacy,” Directed by Mike Doto, won Best Comic Related Film at the 2010 Comic Con International Independent Film Festival in San Diego. Doto’s previous film, the award-winning, “Peace,” is available on iTunes and stars Kurtwood Smith from “Worst Week,” and “That 70’s Show."

We know Hammel is a busy guy, proven by the number of projects and accolades in his repertoire. A number of Hammel’s screenplays have won awards in screenplay competitions across the country, including one of his screenplays that made to the Top 15% (out of 5500) screenplays for The Academy’s 2008 Nicholl Fellowship! Hammel has worked in every area of film/TV production, in nearly every capacity.  His crew credits, among other things, include the critically acclaimed hit series, “ER”. Hammel tells Glovebox, 

 "Filmshift has given me the opportunity to bring together my love of film with my desire to make the world a better place."  

Why did you start FilmShift/FilmShift Festival?

JJH: It's important to me that I make a positive and lasting change within my community...I want to make the world a better place, and Filmshift is my way of doing that.  Filmshift combines a few things that I am passionate about with what I am most qualified to do: I feel that it is vitally important that we all donate a portion of our time and/or money to charity, so 20% of our gross ticket sales will go to a local charity called Christopher's Haven.

I am convinced that locally-based, small businesses will save our country both from this current economic downturn and from losing our diverse national identity.  So, I feel that sparking a dialogue with members of the community about how local and green business can help is imperative. Organizations like one of our media sponsors, Somerville Local First, and our Presenting Sponsor, The Longfellow Clubs, as well as our audience raffle sponsor, Cambridge Naturals, have been doing great work within the communities around the Boston area. Their hard work, passion, and leadership inspired me to frame my film festival around local and "green" issues.
Lastly, I believe that entertaining and thought-provoking films can inspire change not just on a grand scale, but within ourselves individually.  For me personally, after seeing an entertaining film, I feel motivated, fired up, open to new ideas and new possibilities...and if I didn't enjoy the film, then I want to find a way to try to do it better...but either way, I feel inspired after I see a good film.  My goal is to have Filmshift audiences feel that same way.

It's in my nature to bring people together, it's in my blood to be an entrepreneur, and I've spent over a decade working in both the studio and independent film/TV industry, so it just made sense to me that I create Filmshift.
What parting advice can you give us about Boston Film Festivals?
JJH: Boston and New England has so many diverse film festivals and so many passionate and talented filmmakers here in the area, I'm hopeful that collectively we can start seeing a consistent stream of high-level independent films, produced on the local level.

The one lesson that I've learned from my time in both Boston and LA is one that I cannot stress enough:  No one is going to Make It Happen except you.  So go do it.  Now.  Make your film  Just don't bet the house on it and don't expect you'll be rich and famous once you do.

Thank you Jed for taking the time to impart these words of advice that will help filmmakers and people who want to embark on putting together a local film festival. Join Glovebox at our first film festival on June 11th. More info here.

Glovebox Short Film and Animation Festival

Tickets are FREE and open to the public for the Glovebox Short Film and Animation Festival.  The party begins at 2 PM at the Somerville Theatre.  Come early to claim your tickets and check our blog after Memorial Day for more information on film artist and time!

Mark Your Calendars

DIY Zines!!!

Today’s blog post is about all DIY and by that I mean making your own Zine.  

Definition of A Zine: magazine - a non-commercial, often hommemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject mater (merriam-webster dictionary) 

To me zines have always been this cool form of raw expression and are usually made on super low budgets. Perfect for the DIYstarving artist.  My desire to write about zines stems from two places

1.   I once submitted some of my own work to a zine called doomzine. It was a fairly simple process and when the zines where complete, each participant was mailed a copy of one.  I must say this was really exciting.

2.    My friends and I are making are own zine!!!! I’ll give you a little insight into how my friends and I decided to create a zine:

One night we were all hanging out and watching the Nickelodeon Show "Hey Arnold" and the episode we were watching was the one where Helga becomes famous because of her attitude.  There was a scene where she was on the cover of the magazine "Vague"  (a play on Vogue- fashion magazine.) We all thought it was hilarious and one of us thought, "Hey, we should make that into a zine."   So from then on it was decided that we would now contribute are ideas to the world of zines. So far our zine is still in its infant stages but we have decided that it will be a seasonal zine and the first issue will hit the streets this fall.  In tribute to "Hey Arnold," we are calling it "Vague."  

Want to make your own Zine? Check out this video from Intent.com on Youtube!
Community artist and editor-in-chief of "Eyeball Burp Publications" Ann Matsushima demonstrates how to make your own self-published zine with very simple material, and speaks about the importance of creative self-expression. -IntentVideo July 2010

Helen Molesworth talk at The Art Institute of Boston

On Thursday April 21, 2011, Glovebox Co-Founder Jodie and myself, Brandon Aguiar - Glovebox Intern and Guest Blogger, had the pleasure to listen to a talk by Helen Molesworth at the Art Institute of Boston (AIB).  Stuart Steck, a professor at AIB arranged this dialouge between this famed curator and the public.  Thanks to all who put this together.  Helen had so many personal stories and advice for future art administrators, artists and museum professionals.  Hats of to you Helen!

About Helen Molesworth -  Helen is the chief curator at The Institute of Contemporary Art, and the topic of the night was, “Exhibition Making." A talk about two exhibitions that she feels she can completely claim her own and can be listed under the title of “her work."  She talked about the feeling of owning a project and how there are very few times in life as a curator - where she consistently has to answer to the media, the museum, the artist and the public - to feel the ownership of an all encompassing project that consumes you both in passion and in work.

Work Ethic -  This exhibtion at Baltimore Museum of Art questioned the idea of: How do we measure the amount of work we do? Am I working too much? Or too little? or What is work? And, how is it measured?  As she spoke of the various artist throughout the past decade, the unraveling of just how complicated the idea of work and how the worker

Part Object Part Sculpture - "Part Object Part Sculpture is an intellectually provocative and erotically charged exhibition that will place the sculptural practice of the last half-century in an entirely new light," says Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin. "I believe this exhibition will aptly and exquisitely engage both the physical territory of the building and the conceptual territory of the center's mission.  This exhibition at Wexner Center for the Arts is extremely personal, even though it may not have appeared to be at the surface. The show was inspired by the wedding gift Duchamp gave to his wife, Alexina Duchamp (The Wedge of Chastity). Made out of bronze and plastic it represents Duchamp's fascination with sexual ambiguity.  This personal and obscure object made Helen become interested in other gifts that artists have given to people. On top of all these idea going around in the curator's head, her soon to be husband had just proposed and she was contemplating whether to get married or not, which I thought was interesting because I could see how such a major life decision could really effect the way an exhibition like this could turn out.

Even though I’m not a curator and truthfully had no prior interest in what it takes to become one before this talk, I found her and her talk to be fantastic. She was so down-to-earth and spoke to us as if we where just having a conversation.  She was engaging, funny, and she made you want to to be her friend. Until this talk, I never really thought about how a curator defines his or her work.  It always seemed they were a background to the art that others have created.  It was a curators purpose to arrange those works within a confined space.  It was interesting to understand the dynamic story that a curator must play out, capturing the beauty of an artwork and simultaneously acting as the ring master to keep everyone involved at the edge of their seat. All in all, this was the best talk I have ever been to and if you ever catch wind of Helen Molesworth giving a talk near you I highly recommended going.

You can find out more about Helen here.
Picture taken from the Tate's website, Part obect part sculpture definition from the Wexner center for art website, picture of Helen taen from Art Fag City

The Second Dimension Pahty

The Second Dimension! Opening Reception April 30th 7-10PM

Boston by Boston Scrapbook

 All pictures courtesy of Adam O'day.  Thanks Adam!

Boston by Boston

Opening Reception this Thursday, April 14th from 5-7 at Twelve Chairs in Fort Point, Boston.    

Wicked Cool Kid!

Val's Vlog

Song: 'the truth hurts so this should be painless' by Her Space Holiday

We are SO EXCITED to unveil the work of Valerie Arruda for the Glovebox Short Film and Animation Festival! 

We approached Val because we love her funky, super-creative drawings and check out her lettering on her blog! Swoon-fest!

We asked Val about her process and in the spirit of the film festival, she made this great vlog (see above). 

"I like to pack a lot into my drawings so I make little lists in the margins of my paper, that way I won't forget what I want to include in the drawing."

Val tells us about her process, which she describes as being "very rough". We beg to differ - everything Val draws seems to unravel in an organic style that is all her own. Whether flirty scalloped letter forms or feisty, one-eyed wolf-like characters, her work is always dynamic and we can't get enough! She told us that the idea for the drawing for the Glovebox Film Festival poster came easily and it looks like she had fun doing it!

"The slowest part was probably the lettering. Hand lettering can be tedious at times however letters are one of my favorite things to draw! It's so satisfying once you get the letters the way you want."

Valerie describes her creative process that we see in the vlog and how she arrives at the final product. We love seeing the photoshop process and the finishing touches of the deckled edge. Nicely done! 

"The final image actually contains two separate drawings. I didn't decide on the design of the bottom of the poster. I made xerox copies of the initial drawing and drew on those, allowing me to try different treatments. I tend to think like an illustrator, so it's tricky to wake up the designer in my brain. Drawing a picture comes naturally, but having that picture contain information and interact with type is definitely a unique task. It helps me when I sketch out different ideas and lay them all out in front of me when deciding on a solution. To sum up, I had a blast making this poster and thank you Glovebox for the artistic freedom!"

Thank YOU Val!

Check out more of Val's work and leave her a comment on her blog here.

An interview with artist Amber Hakim by Brandon Aguiar

Glovebox intern, Brandon Aguiar takes to the Beantown streets to hit up some real artists, check out his interview with Amber Hakim!


BA: I know you're in school at the Art Institute of Boston to be a photographer, but you once said to me that you like to work in multiple mediums. Can you elaborate on what mediums you prefer and why?


AH: Sure thing, I originally went to school for Printmaking, which was my first love. I used to paint and draw a lot but my attention now-a-days in more on photo for school reasons. I like to consider myself under the label of "artist" rather than strictly "photographer" because I still work with other mediums. Before the semester started up I was getting back into drawing. Right now I'm really into this play on women and mother nature, juxtaposed with the satanic rituals associated with the nude female image and the idea of  nature as satan's "church," which was influenced from Lars von Trier's movie Antichrist.  Speaking of nude females...like every other art school student, I love nudity and I focused on the nude female, or rather scantily clad female form for a while. I curated a small student show last year with a few peers that was heavily based around those ideas and I did a lot of small sculptural pieces using animal bones and found objects with nature elements. I also carry those ideas in my current printmaking. I'm really into intaglio and etching. I love the physical work that goes into printmaking. I love getting my hands dirty. Seriously, I love ink covered hands and the smell of metal on my fingers. Is that weird?


BA:  I don't really think that's weird, I love the look of an artist.
BA: Now, getting back to photography - I understand that you work with in both "snap shot" photography and your fine art work....what about both do you find interesting?  


AH: Yeah, there's kind of two sides to my photography. I'm really into the snap shot asthetic and the freedom of on the go 35mm shooting. I like catching these moments of my life and documenting the people around me. I was really hooked on shooting my friends all the time and just the stuff we did when we hung out, just screwin' around. Sort of like Nan Goldin way less intense and more humerous. It  was a way to document my life and a way to reminisce. On the other side I do more conceptual work. I like being able to challenge myself with this side of my photography and work more with symbolism, double exposure and what not. I like working out more complicated ideas. Its therapeutic and and rewarding to create images that I can really connect with one a deeper level. One common thing that ties both sides of my work styles together is that I deal with people and relationships or identity. I'm working on a project right now about my relationship with my parents and growing up in a religious household. So I'm shooting still in the documentary style but I'm also combining my conceptual style by overlaying symbolic arabic text, kind of like Shirin Neshat and Lalla Essaydi were doing but I'm not trying to be political with it. Oh! and I also shoot film for the most part I hardly do digital but sometimes its nice to just shoot and not worry about film.

BA: Who are some of the artists you find inspiration from? 


AH: I've been hooked on Ryan Mcginley for a while now. He's definitely a big influence on my snap shot style work.  and Nan Goldin is sick too. Richard Billigham is another favorite of mine. Um, aside from those I love Francesca Woodman  and Sally Mann, Diane Arbus, Annie Liebovitz and Wolfgang Tilmans and pretty much every featured photographer on notcommonpeople.blogspot.com haha.


BA: You have done some of your work with Urban Outfitters.com, can you explain that in more detail?  You have also mentioned in conversation that you would some day like to run your own gallery. How did those plans come about and what are some of your goals for your gallery?



AH: Well basically I started up a Society6 profile which is a place for artist to show and sell work. They print it on canvas or t-shirts or even iphone skins. Urban is an affiliate of Society6  and they search for artists to sell in their Urban Print shop online. So I have a photo that was chosen and sells in their online store and its going pretty well. I love what Society6 does to help out artists just starting out. Its definitely a way to acquire affordable art which is hard now a days. My ultimate dream is to run my own gallery. I just love the idea of being able to help out other artists get there work out there. I worked for a gallery for a year in Beverly and now volunteer at the Fourth wall  and I just love the atmosphere of working in a gallery. I Thought about it being a little cafe type gallery which would be good for keeping the business afloat but these are pricy future plans I've got. Someday though I feel it could happen with the right planning. I want it to be a a space for young artists to have a chance to show their work cause its hard when you're young! But, yeah owning a gallery would be a dream come true. I just like the idea of surrounding myself with art  and making its my life which isn't far from the truth now but I just hope for the day when I don't need to work a shitty retail job.


check out her stuff here and here

Artist Toolbox: Get Involved

Glovebox is committed to providing our community with great resources - whether it’s getting your art in front of the public,  learning how to price your work, or staying motivated.  No one will deny that it takes perseverance and determination to make a career out of art. We are here to help you. Tell us, what do you want to know?

First, you can check out your local resources. As an artist, motivation can be a challenge. Sign up for a class at a local community center to meet peers, improve on a skill or learn a new technique. Stop staring at an empty canvas and try something fresh today!

 

Glovebox had the opportunity to meet Ed Hauben, the Director at Newton Community Education (NCE) center, to talk about motivation. The NCE is a hub for educational, social, cultural and vocational programs for adults and children. Learn from a professional Illustrator in the Illustrating Children’s Books course. In the class students develop and design original ideas into a detailed storybook. Students will even learn how to publish work under the guidance of the instructor.

“[The NCE] offers everything from basic drawing, intro to painting, pastels, Chinese brush and Impressionist painting to advanced painting, figure drawing, illustrating children's books and all levels of digital photography.” Ed Hauben, Director of NCE tells Glovebox about other invaluable resources they started for artists, “Because of the demand, NCE now offers Art Group, a place for artists to meet, review, and talk about their work, and The Business of Art, a discussion about how to promote and sell work.”

The NCE is always looking for new local teachers who would like to teach. Ed tells us that he encourages professional artists to “Share [their] passion with highly motivated and interested students while giving back to the community.” A great resume builder and a way to make some extra cash.

Sign up for a Newton Community Education class today at newtoncommunityed.org. Get familiar with the Massachusetts Cultural Council, ArtSake and other local community centers. And if you start teaching at NCE, let us know because we want to take your class!

Interview with Dan Osterman by Brandon Aguiar

Church's Rocks- scanned pencil sketch, colored in photoshop

Glovebox caught up with Boston based landscape artist, Dan Osterman, here is what he had to say:
GLVBX: What is it about the New England landscape that you continuously find inspiring to work from? 

DAN: Well I came up from New Jersey in ‘78 when I really wasn’t strong at making a habit of doing art. I still hadn’t committed. I love the Jersey Pine Barrens and the South Jersey shore and I did some work but it was sporadic. I had to move elsewhere to get serious about life. One thing about New England I immediately liked was it wasn’t as muggy in the summer, it’s gotten muggier since then though. What do I like best about the N.E. landscape? Getting lost on the backroads. It began out in Central Massachusetts for me. Little towns that time forgot, the Quabbin Reservoir, Mt. Wachusett.

GLVBX: I noticed that your style is very loose and free. Do you paint your work on-site quickly or is it actually a more planned out process done from photographs?

DAN: I do work fast. I pack a lot of stuff to be prepared. I work in water-based media, so that means acrylics, inks, watercolor pencils, prepared masonite panels, heavy watercolor paper. The ends of brushes, nib-pens, palette knives for scraping are big with me. With painting sometimes it’s all about the texture. Since ’94 we try to get up to Monhegan Island in Maine every year. It has been a destination spot for artists since the early 1900’s. It’s got heavy, dense woods as well as crashing shoreline and the highest cliffs on the US Atlantic coast. No cliffs in New Jersey. When I go out to places like this for a week, I can get 2 and 3 good pieces done in a day. And I draw a lot. Many times a painting is done later at home and based on a sketch that I think I can improve on. This is very different from working from a photograph. The machine only holds you back from remembering what you saw. It is a hindrance, a wall between what you see and your eye. Drawing and painting are not about reproducing, they are about seeing. And painting is more about the head and making choices. A lot harder. I’m not saying I don’t take digitals of stuff that I find interesting because I do. It’s all put into the great maw. But to me everything starts with drawing which is about being in the world, immediate and freeing. I guess this is why often my painting has aspects of drawing in it. Now you mentioned that you liked the piece that is on the front page of my website titled “Cuttyhunk Island”, which is sort of a little Martha’s Vineyard for Republicans out off New Bedford. That piece has tons of color and some people take it for a painting but it’s all Photoshop. I did a pencil sketch of some rocks, put it away for 5 years, scanned it in one day and colored it up. Voila- a new medium.

GLVBX: How often do you travel to favorite/new spots?

DAN: Well there’s Monhegan. A few years ago I discovered the South Shore. Took a car trip down 1A south through Scituate and Marshfield. If you’re willing to get lost and go down sidetracks you’re liable to find some exciting things. There’s a place in Marshfield that used to be a railroad bed and now is a road with houses lining it. The road ends where the marsh and the river begin, but the remains of the railroad continue and there’s a manmade island that was created as a support for the railroad with a little house on it in the middle of the river. Whoever owns it probably barbecues on its little porch in the summer facing the setting sun watching the river flow. This is where I did the “Red Boat”, which is on the website. There’s an old railroad bed like this on the Cape too that crosses Rt. 6 in Eastham that is quite magical. It snakes up through Wellfleet and the Pamet river and harbor in Truro, and disappears once you come to 6A into Provincetown. They discontinued service on this line in the 30‘s or something because the weather and the tides did such a number on certain lengths of it. If you’re really adventurous you can drive parts of this railroad bed but you also might get stuck in the sand. Anyway it’s all for inspiration. I pack my stuff up and go. I walk a lot too like in the dunes. 

GLVBX: Who are some of your favorite artists and why?

DAN: I love too many to name and always come across more. But the influences mostly are Frederick Franck for the drawing and Robert Henri and his Ashcan School. Charles Burchfield, George Bellows, Arthur Dove, Georgia O'Keefe, Polly Thayer, Milton Avery, Ben Shahn, Thomas Hart Benton. And the Wyeths, particularly Jamie, the youngest. Very queer stuff.

GLVBX: What are your plans for the future?

DAN: These days I’m just trying to find a gallery to take some of my work.


Check out more about Dan on his site:
http://www.danosterman.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DanOsterman


*All photo courtesy of Dan Osterman