Cracking The Code

I had a text from my Uncle the other night, saying that he heard me on the radio. Yeah, it's a new age... 

Time to replace magnifying glass with smartphone?...
“Art Critic,” Norman Rockwell, 1955.
Norman Rockwell Museum Collections.
©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN

The occasion was an interview I gave to WAMC, the Albany, NY, NPR affiliate, about local museums' use of technology. It was a perfect time to again highlight our new exhibition, Norman Rockwell: Happily Ever After, which offers visitors the chance to use their phones/tablets to access enhanced content related to the artwork (including my videotaped interviews). This is made possible through QR code links, which really seem to be everywhere nowadays... Sarah was just commenting how she found them on grapes recently in the grocery store. Seriously... grapes?

Anyway, it's an interesting radio segment− you also get to hear a couple of the model interviews I have conducted at the Museum over the years. 

Like the recent Wall Street Journal article, I was interested to hear what other organizations are initiating in terms of technology. The delightfully rural Hancock Shaker Village has even begun installing computer kiosks and renting iPads. I think it must be more of a challenge to preserve the authenticity of a historic site, while bringing in modern tools to assist and engage visitors. Ultimately, it requires good design− it seems pretty obvious when organizations are falling over themselves to bring out the latest technological fad, without any real benefit to the original content.

So what have I been up to this Saturday morning (besides this quick blog post)? Kicking back and enjoying a book. Happy to report that no QR code is required.

Related Links:

"Local Museums Embracing Technology," WAMC Radio, August 15, 2013

"Historical Sites Welcome Kids Who Love to Text," Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2013

Great Scots

Jeremy with the "invisible band" (left to right: Neil Primrose,
Andy Dunlop, and Fran Healy. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

One of my favorite bands, Travis has a new LP coming out next week. Where You Stand is the seventh studio album for the Scottish quartet, due out here in the States on Tuesday, August 20. Rolling Stone is currently providing an advance streaming of the album on their website, and I gave it a full listen during my extremely rainy ride to work this morning (perhaps appropriate for the band known for their hit, "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?"). As the magazine points out, Travis' talent for creating big melodies remains intact!

I had a chance to interview Travis in Boston back in 2007, and enjoyed talking with them about their songwriting process (yeah, I should post the full interview online... I know). There is a hint of melancholy in their music, which I have always found attractive. On this new album, I also sense a new maturity... the songs breathe a little easier than on their last effort. Solid musicianship rings throughout.

One of the highlights is the song, "Moving," which has been getting some airplay on our local station WEXT. According to a video documenting the recording of the album, lead singer Fran Healy actually dove into the ocean near their studio to get the proper "adrenaline" to hit the high notes for the chorus (there's a funny clip where he runs right back up to lay down his vocals following his "polar bear" outing). Check out the song and it's very cool video (the visual effects were created during actual filming- not post- using film clips projected on to the band members' breath!). 

Return to form? Looking forward to it!



Related Links:

www.travisonline.com

"Travis' Big Melodies Intact on 'Where You Stand' - Album Premiere," Rolling Stone, August 12, 2013

Travis- "Berkshire Soundstage" preview (interview with Jeremy), YouTube

Made in America

Norman Rockwell Museum video interview with illustrator Wendell Minor.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon starting work on a new video project: a short documentary for our upcoming exhibition on illustrator Wendell Minor. Known for his many acclaimed children's books, Minor's art touches on his love of history and the environment. Wendell Minor's America will showcase original artworks, artifacts, and references from such picture books as Look to the Stars (by astronaut Buzz Aldrin); Abraham Lincoln Comes Home; and America the Beautiful. 

Wendell Minor's studio. Photo by Jeremy Clowe
for Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Along with Norman Rockwell Museum's Chief Curator Stephanie Plunkett, I traveled to Minor's home in Washington, Connecticut, to conduct the interview. I was lucky to once again borrow a Sony NXCAM HXR-NX5U to do the filming. We set up the interview in Minor's studio, which he shares with his wife/collaborator Florence, and it went well. The artist has a decent amount of light coming through the window near his workspace, which hopefully served us well. I used a reflector to warm up some of the background.

During our visit, I found myself appreciating the Minors' decorative sense− sort of a mix between Southwestern and Eastern U.S. This was actually my second visit to the couple's home− the first was back in 2004 when I interviewed Wendell Minor at length for my documentary Drawing Inspiration: Norman Rockwell in Stockbridge (Rockwell was a strong influence on the artist).

Wendell Minor's America opens November 9 at Norman Rockwell Museum. I'll have more details on the exhibition and video in the coming months. In the meantime, here is a promo video that the artist put together for the exhibition, which gives you an idea of his work: 



Related Link:

Wendell Minor's website

Spokesmanship

"Hey girl..." doing my best Ryan Gosling
to impress you. Photo by Ben Garver
for The Berkshire Eagle. All rights reserved.

Ok, it must be pretty evident by now that in addition to writing/video producing, one of my main duties at Norman Rockwell Museum is spokespersoning (Not a word? Should be). Honestly, it's something like performing... and storytelling. I am proud of what I have accomplished in this regard over the past decade, and today comes my second appearance in The Wall Street Journal. 

Norman Rockwell Museum is included in a feature about historic sites/museums utilizing new media/technology to attract new audiences; I was interviewed at length last week about our digital initiatives, and they use a quote in today's paper about our new exhibition, Norman Rockwell: Happily Ever After. This new experiment involves visitors using their smartphones or tablets to access content available through QR codes placed near the paintings. In addition to Rockwell's reference photos, the model videos mentioned in the article were created by me—some are quite old... recorded not long after I started at the Museum in 2001. As you may know, I have been involved with other technological initiatives during my time at the Museum, including exhibition videos, an interactive timeline and Google Art Project, but this is the first effort involving gallery material accessible by portable devices. Anyway, it's a cool idea... we'll see how it pans out. It's also interesting to read about the technological efforts and concerns from other venues listed in the article. On top of that, they use one of my photos on the newspaper's front page (reproduced here)!

Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Of course I wish I had more time to create videos, but there is something rewarding about acting as a spokesperson... makes all those public speaking classes pay off. It's also interesting to see how often I am misquoted or my name is misspelled/mispronounced (eh, that's "Clowe," rhymes with "the show")... you have to let it roll off your back, I guess... ultimately, it is all about promoting the venue and work. 

On that note, here is another interview I gave to The Berkshire Eagle a few weeks back for an article about low-cost opportunities at the area's cultural organizations. Perhaps the best quote in the article comes from my wife's cousin Vicki, who has been a long-time member of the Museum (I actually met her years before meeting Sarah!): "I've been to other museums in different states and countries, and a lot of them are stuffy. The Norman Rockwell Museum isn't like that -- everyone is friendly. They take a personal interest in you." 

Well-said.

Grab a chair! Representing the Museum and Norman Rockwell in the
artist's studio. Photo by Ben Garver for The Berkshire Eagle.
All rights reserved.

Related Links:

"Historic Sites Welcome Kids Who Love to Text," The Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2013

"Norman Rockwell Museum: Where 'everybody is friendly," Berkshire Eagle, June 25, 2013