Not Just for Artsy Fartsies – Milwaukee Artbeat Showcase Review 2/26/10

I’m not the artsy fartsy type. At least I didn’t think I was until I went my first Milwaukee Artbeat Showcase at The Hide House in Milwaukee, WI. Milwaukee Artbeat is a non-profit organization based in Milwaukee, WI that supports the retention of art programs in Milwaukee area schools. Each event showcases several Milwaukee area amateur artists looking to get the word out about their gift. The artists are sculptors, painters, dancers, singers, poets, filmmakers, and more. It’s an all-round win-win event.

I built the Milwaukee Artbeat website and therefore felt obligated to attend the recent showcase. I even drug along a friend from Lake County Social Networking, Kris Schroeder from Kristina’s Photos, who was nice enough to volunteer to photograph the event.

And then I was blown away.

First of all, The Hide House, also known as Mercy Hill Church, is an amazing venue. It’s tucked back in the neighborhood streets of Milwaukee where there’s nary a streetlight. Walk in to The Hide House, and you are greeted with old building charm – brick interior walls, exposed rafters, and cement floors, mixed with technology – flat screen TV’s and a hi-tech sound system.

Here’s a look around before the show started (ignore the blur & shakes – I’m an amateur!):

The gallery was filled with art by Heather Braatz, Brittany Farina, Eddee Daniel, Calli Thomas, and Blythe Davis. Dr. Mark Mantel supplied the background composition (mixture of percussion, video, and electronic sounds – weirdly amazing and slightly hypnotic) for the gallery gaulkers like myself.

Annie B. – singer/songwriter

First up to perform in the showcase was the co-founder and producer of Milwaukee Artbeat, Annie B. herself. Here’s her acoustic performance:

David Press – Spoken Word Poet

Without wasting any time, David Press‘s spoken word poetry pieces and interview started. But this ain’t your momma’s spoken word poetry. Just wait… (Ostrich what???)

Nicole Waters – singer/songwriter

Next up was singer/songwriter Nicole Waters. She performed a few pieces that got our heads boppin’ and our feet tappin’. Her extreme modesty only makes you like her more, as you’ll see during the interview parts.

Albin Erhart – Outsider Artist

Following Nicole was an artist doing some of the coolest and hardest to pronounce artwork ever. Albin Erhart makes Pentakisdodekaeders and Tryptichs. Yeah, just try to pronounce them. You’ll be wrong. Check out his art and interviews.

Firestarter Films – Shawn Monaghan and Phil Koch

After a short break to chat with the artists and hit the potty, Firestarter Films kicked off the second half of the showcase with the winner of the 48 Hour Film Festival in Milwaukee in 2009 – The Apprentice. Or as I like to call it, The Muffin Man. One word – hilarious.

Then Shawn Monaghan and Phil Koch talked about the making of “The Apprentice”, about Firestarter Films, and introduced their next video “The Test”.

“The Test”

The next interview section with Firestarter Films dove into their background as filmmakers and how Firestarter Films came to be. They also introduced “Brookfield”, a film project about a lake creature that combined footage from several Milwaukee area filmmakers into a single short film.

“Brookfield”

In the Firestarter Films summary interview, they talked a bit more about “Brookfield” and how YOU can get involved with the Firestarter Film Festival.

Supermassive Studios

Supermassive Studios had a tough act to follow with Firestarter Films, but Tyler Shadick, an intern with Supermassive, did them proud. In the first part of the interview, Tyler introduced Supermassive Studios as a design boutique and described some of their specialties. That was a great lead-in to their demo video, also shown below.

Supermassive Studios Demo Reel

In the second part of the interview, Tyler talked more about some specific technology that Supermassive Studios works on, and he introduced the short film “Equinox”.

“Equinox”

The final part of the interview with Tyler got into the making of these types of hi-tech films and then introduced “The Box”.

“The Box”

Independent Filmmaker Quinn Hester

Quinn Hester is currently a film student and he presented some of his own (tedious) works of art. In the first interview Quinn told us about himself and introduced his first feature of the night, “Fragments of Being”.

“Fragments of Being”

Quinn then went on to discuss exactly how he made “Fragments of Being” and the meaning behind it. He also gave a preview of his upcoming feature length film (you must watch to find out the details!), and introduced the next film on the docket for the evening, “Framework”.

“Framework” (He scratched that film frame by frame, folks! It took him months!)

And Quinn finishes up the February 26, 2010 Milwaukee Artbeat showcase with a rundown on how he made and how long it took him to make “Framework”. Patient man right there, ladies.