Early Warning System

Art... The greatest of early warning systems?

Cartograph exhibition preview night - all invited

Are event promotions allowed on here? Anyhow...

Brass Gallery, Leeds rounds off the 2010 theme of ‘Graphic’ with Carto-Graph: artistic responses to maps, charts and all things cartographic.  http://bit.ly/f98w9T

The annual themed group exhibition features previous Brass Gallery exhibitors who have responded to map-based imagery, producing work which is surprising, intriguing and unexpected.

Featuring responses from Heather Barnett, Hannah Leighton-Boyce, Samuel Fisher, James Moss, Katy Devine, Katherine Johnson, Katy Devereux, Helen Saunders, Matthew Young and Ann Marie James.

I’d love you to join me as our guest at the Preview Event on Thursday 9th December, 6pm until 8pm, for canapés and drinks.

Please RSVP to:
gallery@brassagency.com

7 Days - Trailer Concept

Trailer music concept inspired by the first 7 days of Creation.

The music is supposed to reflect the dramatic transformation of our planet from being null and void into something harmonious, perfect and Glorious!

Graphic Novel Bible

My project- what do people think? I'd like reactions, critiques, biblical correction, prayer and helpful suggestions.

My name is Alex Morgan I’m at the Newfrontiers church in Bristol

I feel compelled to do an unabridged Graphic novel of the Bible, i have decided to start in the book of judges as it stories lend themselves well to comic style action.

The qualities of my project are thus…

aimed at adults, young adults and teens aged 15+
-very historically accurate
-not shying away from the more unsavoury events and issues
-representing the true ethnicity (i.e. no white Jesus)

Below I have posted the first completed page. I plan to add additional pages as i go, so everyone can comment and give critique.

As this is the first page I will also annotate the work so you can see how the sort of things involved with the project.

Panel 1 = Manoah milks a goat, because i wanted to show and everyday work activity and based on later verses about sacrificing a goat and Samson’s gift of a goat to his new bride I concluded they must have at least a couple of goat- the breed is Cretan wild, thought to be the type in the middle east at that time, it as a nanny goat so ‘relatively’ small horns. 

The bowl the goat is eating from and the jug he’s using for the milk are a shape consistent with the archeologically record of the period.

Manoah is dressed on a robe, typical of the period, as depicted in Egyptian reliefs of battle of Kadesh for the Hapiru (Hebrew) people. He and his wife have blue accessories, as each if the clans of Israel have a colour (and gem stone) that is linked to them- for tribe on Dan the colour is blue

Each clan also has an icon that represents them (i.e. the ‘lion’ of Judah) Dan’s icon is a Snake- thus Manoah has a gold snake bracelet. In my graphic novel I plan to run certain themes throughout the book. One is the appearance of the characters, I decided to make all men and woman in each clan to look like their patriarch, (Judah, Rueben, gad etc.) in this case, Danites (in my comic) have tall slim faces, tend towards baldness and the men have a small thin goatee beards.

The trees in the background of all these images are the type of trees that grow in Zorah today (so I guess they were there then too.)

Zorah is Hebrew for Hornet so I have a little hornet flying by as well as one might assume that if the place is called Hornets as there are Hornets in the area. The type of hornet is an oriental
hornet, with yellow stripe tail and dark orangey body

Panel 2 = Manoah’s wife possessing the same long thin face, wearing blue, and carrying a basket of ripe figs. Figs are harvested in Israel in the month of September, I am basing the events in September as the baby prophesied is Samson, Samson mean Sun, or Sunny. So a possibility that he was born in the Summer (maybe June) 9 months earlier is September - obviously this is all conjecture but the is no information to the contrary.

The little goat is there for fun, and also to foreshadow the kid scarified later in this chapter (a goat less than 1 yr old due to Levitical law)

Panel 3 = The Angel of the Lord is depicted as a human in a robe, his face is concealed, the depiction is a match for the image of the messenger/ Jesus in Rev 1 (white hair, gold sash…) , ascribing this appearance as a Christophony but in a slightly subtle way. The appearance is ‘mundane’ as Manoah doesn’t even realise the angel of the Lord is not a man. When he is transfigured at the end of the verse we will see his divine nature.

Speech is green in a green bubble as the green/teal colour represents things that are of the Spirit or in spirit form, for example in the Balaam’s donkey tail the angel who is invisible would be drawn in green/teal and slightly see through, but when the angel appears to Balaam it would be in full colour with black lines.

The woman drops the fruit is shock.

Panel 4 = The angel hovers up in a sort of manifested power, the wind blows, and the background world bends around him as his presence sort of warps reality (causing her to say later he was awesome, but not define why) Again he speaks in green.

The perspective has the angel pointing at the ‘camera’ this is intended to bring a more immediate action but also subconsciously put ‘you’ (the reader) in the place of the woman being prophesied over.

The narration leads us to a new scene

Panel 5 = The woman exclaims to Manoah what happened, as the text does not flow very well in English I split it into a string of small statement, to give the impression she’s in shock just blurting out exclamations. He looks confused and surprised possibly a little annoyed,.

He is decanting the milk inside, he is illuminated by an oil burning lantern (unseen) hence the orange light

Their home is depicted as a Bedouin tent for several reasons; the text refers to this area as the Camp of Dan. Also, in archaeology, bible sceptic state that there was no settlement of Israel in Canaan at this time as very little archaeological evidence can be found (i.e. buildings) but obviously as they were mostly tent dwellers of course there is no record.

Panel 6 = The ‘camera’ zooms in to get a more personal feel, The woman speaks intimately to Manoah, she tells him the prophesy, and he wells up with emotion and has a look of amazed astonishment.

Panel 7 = Manoah falls to his knees and prays, tears streaming (tears or happiness, relief, hope etc) his wife equally moved, cuddles into him and supports him as he prays. His prayer is a request so I’ve depicted him sort of pleading to God.

In the background you can see an urn and jug which is again linked archeologically to this period.

At the food of the panel i conclude the scene with the statement ‘God heard Manoah’. This is actually the start of the following verse but i use it to bookend this scene, and lead in the next scene which happens another day.

Remember Us

Another old track

No explicit Christian content. Although influenced by observing breakdown in a Christian marriage.

Hence: “remember us complete” and “teach us how to love”

Written in first year, Recorded in final year, Remastered last year.

Intermission

A reflection after a busy shift at work.

I had forgotten I was on stage. The lights had obscured all but this brightly lit enclosure,  forces pushing and pulling me into action, the present drama all there was.

Intermission.

I remember. Improv over now, I walk to a chair in the wings, memories of the outside life floating to the surface;  lumpen things chained to corks, breaking the surface of the calming water.

Another.

Who is out there? My eyes have yet to adjust. I remember a conversation, a pain, a feeling. On the stage when that’s all there seemed to be, these ‘wings’ abandoned. It means more to me now than it did then. There was purpose.

Theme. Story.

I feel the presence from beyond the lights, I know the Author is watching. He has called this intermission, I remember that now; I am under his care. About this story, he cares deeply, I remember that too.

I kneel before him, the character he has created for the story, but more, now a friend of the great Author. He has allowed me to know that there is more than the story, shadow is given substance. What kind of writer could do such a thing? Here now: in the puzzlement of the character who has assumed being held up by his own conscious activity. A stab of defiant pride.

But no.

I bow, enjoying the enjoyment I feel as I let him be Author now. That is the answer. A strange connection, between author and character.  Another thought breaks surface. What if he has written himself into the story? I remember.
He is still writing.

What if I forget?

I know I will, soon the heat and the brightness, and the waters once again disturbed, for the story still requires me. He will uphold me. He will not forget, and he will remind me. He will call intermission, once again he will lead me, and I will remember.

dontjustsurvive

Don't just survive in Leeds, love it and experience all it has to offer.

Many thousands of people, Christian and non, move to Leeds every single year to paticipate in what I like to call, the “university challenge”. There has always been an epic battle between studying, socialising, exploring your indepence, maturing and developing in readiness for the rest of life which, if you’re flying solo is going to be tough.

A few have noticed the need to support new and old students in the city and as a result dontjustsurvive.co.uk has been birthed.

The site development has been an exciting, challenging and an emotional one. That is to say there have been a few tense hours in the office while some disobedient code has been causing trouble, but I’m happy to report the final product has certainly been worth the sweat and (almost) tears. Though the site has only been live 1 week, we’re already starting to discuss the next steps which leaves me excited.

I encourage you if you’re a student or not to take a look, leave some feedback in the comments and aswer this one question…
Question — In what way(s) would you like to see the site develop to further accomodate and reach it’s goals (see below).

Here’s some information about dontjustsurvive.co.uk:
What exactly is dontjustsurvive.co.uk?

dontjustsurvive.co.uk is a website designed to help students in our city to:
— Not just survive university with a remnant of their faith - but thrive!
— Find a local church and get stuck in - learn and love Jesus! 
— Connect with Christian Unions or missional organisations operating on their higher education campus - make Him known!
— Have a relevant and up to date city resource - The Survival Guide

Why have this resource?
With so many new experiences and opportunities it is vitally important that students are connected to Missional organisations on campus and plugged into the local church as soon as possible so they can make the most of the incredible opportunity university can be.

dontjustsurvive.co.uk aims to help make that connection quicker and more effective.

How does it work?
dontjustsurvive.co.uk allows churches and missional organisations operating on higher education campuses to communicate who they are and what is going happening all on one site. It provides a facility to update information whenever required.

For 2009/10 the site will work with a flier available for students and churches to give out and use to help people make the links they need.

The site has been developed as a collaboration between the Christian Unions, the Christian Union Advisory Board and Chris Mason from Mosaic Church working with David Sorley & Matt Jones from WE_ARE_BOXHEAD ⁄ ™a design studio based in Leeds.

How can you get inolved?
Our aim is that every Christian Union, on-campus missional organisation, and church in Leeds will be represented on the site.

We want to build a huge resource of articles relevant to leeds (bus service information, interesting places see, what to do when the parents visit, the best gig venues and so on) that will be represented in the survival guide.

——————————————————————

If you would like to help make a difference to the student population in Leeds by writing a survival guide article, suggest an article topic or recommend a church or missional on-campus organisation, then please contact us at hello@dontjustsurvive.co.uk

Red

An abstract Video produced as a mini collaboration

I collaborated with Benjamin McAvoy on this film as a way to promote his Music Composition business to ad/production agencies. The film was also an opportunity to produce a concept film to which there where no set criteria.

The film is of four parts. Each section is layered on top of the first (but with a slight time delay) to create a sense of depth and slightly unnatural movement. The film is also designed to play as a loop for live projection. 

To Build a Home

The combination of composition, direction and difficult subject matter brings me close to tears everytime I watch this film...

The film is a combination of two tracks by Cinematic Orchestra, the video directed by Up The Resolution; a london based production company. An interview with the directors can be found here.

As David Knight from Promo News writes “It’s a beautiful, sedate 12-minute short film for two tracks, To Build A Home and Breathe, which chronicles the final hours of a dying woman with her devoted, loving husband”.

The reason I’ve posted this video up (other than the fact it’s an amazing short film) is that its a great example of narrative storytelling, collaboration and acheivement… 

Realising an idea/concept/dream into an end product rarely comes cheap; whether it’s time, money (or both) there is generally financial expense and risk involved in producing a personal or commercial, low budget piece of work.  If you feel like you have a creative talent/gifting or are a creative professional this can be a constant source of frustration and stress – we all have bills to pay and are also probably over committed in our personal/church lives too.

So… What to do? Easy…Collaborate! 

I see a huge number of talented individuals who are part of Mosaic (and beyond) but there doesn’t seem to be enough collaboration. Lets get some bands formed. Photographers working with Designers, Film makers collaborating with sound designers and musicians, writers working with web developers etc etc. The God given talent is there and he’s put us together in community but we are not going to see any major breakthrough unless we get together, start bashing ideas around and start making stuff.

So for the next couple of months the criteria for posting stuff up on this creative arts showcase is that it has to have a collaborative element and I for one am looking forward to seeing the results.