The Adytum | Full Feature Film on Vimeo

THE ADYTUM | Created by Lexi Bass from Lexi Bass on Vimeo.

The full film is now on Vimeo.com, but dont forget to watch and vote for it in June at the www.cultureunplugged.com "We Speak, Here" online film festival.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me make The Adytum: Joey Crane, Megh Zahrndt, Jason Zahrndt, Tony Feltner, Ermir Bejo, Colleen Bertsch, Andrew Bergmann, Eloise Boisjoli, Adam Zahller, Zach Thomas, Yvonne Freckmann, Leah Fowler, Jessica Strong, and Jordan Waller.

Nebraska III: A Haiku

Scanning the road for
My lost button, and I swear
The winter steals them

The Best of Nebraska... In My Opinion.

I may not have the terminal master's degree in art, but dammit I have a master's degree and I got a job in academia... and that's how I finally was able to purchase a proper camera. So for this I must thank Nebraska.

Here's to the best things about Nebraska:

My apartment's giant window:

And Nebraskan Skies.

An Elegy

It would have been a

Gemini - It would have been

If I'd only known.

Embarking on a new journey... in Iowa.

I began by writing a loose outline of 5 dreams I had about birds. You might call this a screenplay and you might just call it an outline. Either way, my cohort, Josh Fiedler and I began making it this weekend.

On the off-chance that a nearby bird-handler and breeder might not think I was crazy, I ventured an email to Ted Golka of Double T Farm in Glenwood, IA - a mere 1.5 hours from my recent home in Lincoln, NE (I've been in Nebraska a year as of this week!). What I got after a few days was a response from his wife Janice about my request for collaboration. They did say it was a request they'd never gotten before, but didn't think I was crazy. Josh and I went down to meet them.

We found a great spot to make the scene I wanted, and I agreed to make them a promotional video of their bird release in return for allowing me to film my strange dream with their white pigeons.

After much work with the help of This YouTube Video and my darling Dimitri Titov, I built a camera dolly, loaded it up and headed to Iowa. 

Without giving too much away, here is the time-lapse shot of sunrise at the farm on August 10, 2013 - the precursor to the end of the film.

Time Lapse at Double T Farm, Glenwood Iowa - "How Bluebirds Are Born" from Lexi Bass on Vimeo.

Excerpt from upcoming film, "How Bluebirds Are Born" by Lexi Bass. Photography: Josh Fiedler. Filmed at Double T Farm in Glenwood, Iowa with help from Ted and Janice Golka.

I have much more work to do, but I have good feelings about this film. I'm getting better at making true friends all the time - which to me is the real skill of filmmaking.

Cinemagraph Test - Preparing for Mordancage

Once again, I have been asked how to make an animated .gif by a faculty member who will assign a class project in this medium. This time, it's my own fault because I suggested a "Cinemagraph" instead, which is basically a .gif made from video edited in Photoshop (shudder). This clip of me preparing for a morning of Mordancage processing was the only clip I had that would work for a Cinemagraph test. The result is as as ridiculous as one might imagine. 

Prepare to be unnecessarily captivated.

Decompose: Mordançage Prints

Well they're done.

Show opens September 6 at the Burkholder Project and Josh and I are in the framing phase. The colors will continue to shift but here's the work right now in it's full glory. Some are really astounding. I love this process because there's so much magic. There's control, yet chaos. And the print will continue to change over time.  Lots of variables.

Ultimately the Digital images don't do justice to the actual work which has metallic undertones from the silver and copper processing.

It's definitely going to be a show to see - one I will be proud of. A toast to our forefathers! To John Pierre Sudre! To Mordançage!