Vishyals By Johnny Dumps

[vishyaldumps]

Enchanted Forrest 2015

8-16-15

     I sit in the back of my seatless van at the famous Black Oak Ranch in northern California. It’s hot and the air is steamed with smoke from the nearby forrest fires. I’m here to setup an art installation during the Enchanted Forrest Festival. In it’s fifth year, its a small high-vibrational festival that aims to create a supportive container to find a deeper connection with oneself and the community here.

     My art install partner Barry is at giggle yoga with his beautiful brunette girlfriend Lauren from Baltimore. Barry designed the artwork on the 16ft tall laser cut Obelisk along with the identical surrounding obelisks that hold my projectors. We call it The Obelisk Project.

    Last night we set up our interactive, 3D mapped, mystic obelisks. Barry told me this morning that he witnessed three young girls form a circle around one of the obelisks and give it a big hug. The little ones mother told them not to touch the tower, but the little girls exclaimed, “But we are giving it a hug!” That moment plus my observations of many who came and laughed and giggled brought myself joy knowing that it made an impact on others.

     We blessed our intentions to help heal the earth and it’s oceans into the crystals and orgonite that lay in and around the obelisks. Possibly if it brings joy to those who interact with The Obelisk Project that joy will spread outward. I think joy in everyones heart can help create the actions to move towards the healing of the earth and its oceans.

    I am not a perfect person, or even a better person because of what I have co-created. My decisions and intentions in this universe has led me here. It’s a struggle to stay positive and to keep that way all day everyday.

    Although if I focus my good intentions into this project for just a few moments, The Obelisk Project can hold that good intention then channel it on to those who cross its path.

May today bring healing thoughts, forgiveness, and a blast of love from my heart.

“Carry on my wayward sons (& daughter) They’ll be peace when we are gone.” - Kerry Livgren

8-17-15

    It’s Sunday morning. I’m chilling in the warm main bowl at the Enchanted Forrest Festival. I’m on an old flower sofa pushed aside into the shade. Rolando and I just burned one and the wailing Jimmi Hendrix guitar sounds feel perfect on my ears.

    It’s a different Sunday morning at a festival for me. Normally by now I would have drank close to a case of beer, a few bottles of champagne with my friends, and a dozen or so swigs of any quality hard liquor concoction that I could put down my gullet.

    That style of party drinking continued but it was swapped for a six pack of fizzy water, a few fine drinks from Skinny Kitty Tea House & Elixor, and a dozen gulps of any fine non-alcoholic smoothie that came near my face hole.This goes to show you that we can still be creatures of habit, have fun dancing and not feel hung over after staying up until 4am.

    From my last pen stroke 5 minutes ago I saw a smiling mother with her child walk by in perfect harmony. Soon after a small meeting between Roman and I commenced. He commented about the importance of blessing up the herb we smoke. Because why not? We are participating in these mind altering actions but are we mindless when we do them? These actions should have a good intention because they enable oneself to go into a meditative state to focus and discover something new. They can carve out different areas of the mind that can be utilized to create new ideas that will better the world.

8-18-15

    It’s Monday morning and the Enchanted Forrest Energy is in its last hours. I’m sitting by the art project that brought me here and I find myself asking. What was it all for? Many times in life asking what it’s all for is scary. It’s the unknown ahead. The mass abyss. But if we have a true understanding of the universe and how we are one with it, the unknown of the future can bring a smile to your face. Because it’s the daily actions that make up tomorrow. If your daily actions match up to the change you want then the equation of life will have the results you are looking for.

    So with all the good intentions Barry and I put into this project to build. Cut by cut, screw by screw, megalithic yard by megalithic yard. We take it down in the same manner as though we put a child to bed for the night. We continue to ease and nourish it because they’ll be another morning. But sleep is necessary. The festival is ending, so the project must come down, as life is to death and the seasons of life. There are breaks in the song but the song will continue somehow some way forever and ever.

    As I take off the first panel a person casts a familiar shadow on me. Its a good friend that i first met and saw two months ago in Oregon. Karl said it best about his struggles. “Why are we here? It’s the people I love and being around the people you love is the reason for being here.” To have the reason to gather again as a tribe and make new connections and to be around the people you love is always a good reason to keep coming back.

[vishyaldumps]

ARTISTS ARE A VJ'S BEST FRIEND: CREATING CUSTOM CONTENT

I remember one of the first things that attracted me to VJ'ing was working with video and creating something new that has never been seen.  But where do you start? Anyone can visit Youtube or Vimeo to download or pirate videos. Some of us are lucky enough to whip out a credit card and we can go to Motionloops or Resolume and purchase a pack of licensed files.  Others may prefer to run down to the movie rental store and sample DVD's which legally we're really not supposed to do. Basically that's how VJ's get content. So how do we set ourselfs apart when all the other VJ's have access to the same libraries? You create custom content.  Whether you come from the school of "Team VJ's." For example V Squared Labs where there's a performer, animator, engineer and computer programer that collaborate. Or you come from the school of an "Individual VJ." Where you gather your own material. You build the stage. You perform with the content you envision. What ever school your from, and maybe there's one I'm leaving out. It's imperative to have content that no one else has. That way you can develop a unique style that the audience will recognize you by.  About a year into VJ'ing I still had not made any original content. I went to Symbiosis Festival in Pyramid Lake and I saw for the first time the community that I wanted to perform for and be apart of. I took a photo while I was there at the Harlen Grubber lecture on sacred geometry.  When I got home I turned it into a visual. I did this by adding an effect to the photo. Saved it once. Then slightly changed the photo again with the same effect. Saved it again. Then did this several hundred times. I did this until my one image and turned into 300 slightly different correlating images to make an animation.  That fall I met Rolando Barron who paints and draws and goes by FreeRolando. He is apart of Camp Question Mark and you can see his artwork showcased at the Burning Man Camp Question Mark stage.  His art is basically thee art that embodies Camp Question Marks style. He was painting next to me at a gig and showed me an art piece of his and asked. "Can you turn this into a video?" I was like, "Yeah!" So I took out my phone to take a photo of his art and dropped into the program I use to show him a quick demo. He saw the potential and it blew his mind to see his art in a different form. I was excited too. I had just made two videos at that point and I didn't consider myself an artist. It was in that moment I went from feeling like a pion sampling and steeling someone else's artwork and it changed. I was actually co-creating something new with a brilliant artist who respected what I was doing.   We left the show saying,  "Lets link up, lets do this, lets make something!" It didn't take Rolando and I very long to get the project going. It just really came together. We had a finished animation two months after we first met. We wanted to showcase it online so we decided to put it to music. So without really thinking I put the video to a mellow track of an artist that I'd never met or seen live before. Rolando was like, "No, no, no. Let's put it to a track to an artist we know." So he had the Genie supply the music that he could showcase along with Rolando's art turned into something totally new and I got a new video to add to my bank of visuals. It was a win win situation for everybody.  With the addition of Rolando's art on video it changed the way the community could see his art work. It's now more than him painting live. His canvas now transcended to the digital realm with just a push of a button. His artwork is seen changing with the music on stage. It's Boom! It's in your face.  There are certain attributes that are important to me about shows.  There's the music that people are dancing too. The projections are being cued up with the music which in-turn brings everyone psycologically closer together. It's in the moment when the whole room has the same mind set that something almost indescribable happens. There's this feeling of synchronicity of everything. The visuals are aligning with the music. The audiences senses are open to there surroundings. The artists and musicians are letting go to the flow of the moment. It's why I love VJ'ing. You get this kind of high off the crowd and the music when everything is in sync. It's something I'm always chasing. It's bliss. You can't beat it.  Seeing someone's artwork apart of that brings so much joy. You know Rolando loves it and that brings joy to me and the community. I use his artwork at every show. It's a staple in my VJ sets. It's not my original creation but i furthered it along and his artwork has become apart of my style.  We showcased the visuals at Emissions Festival last year and it went perfect.  So we kept making them. Burning Man…you should see some of the photos. (I'll post some in this blog.) It was just ridiculous how they turned out live. Rolando's black and white art being projected onto a white stage. You really didn't know where the stage was ending and Rolando's art was starting. It was crazy. FreeRolando's art projected at Camp ? Burning Man 2013 Photo By Kenny Hoff FreeRolando's art projected at Camp ? Burning Man 2013 Photo By Kenny Hoff All in all we've done five full videos to music and three small looping files. Below you can see two of his art pieces we'll be turning into visuals by the time festival season starts.   FreeRolando FreeRolando Another exciting thing is that I'll be working with two other artists this spring. One is my co-worker and someone I consider to be one of my greatest friends. Jesse Rather. He's an amazing photographer. His photos have been showcased at San Francisco Decompression from Burning Man the last three years. He started as a film photographer and just has breath taking photos from Nepal, Central America, and the Lost Coast here in Humboldt.  He was selected in a contest last year through Grounded Media Network and was able to attend any festival he really wanted to. You should see his photos from What The Festival, The Bounce, Burning Man and Northern Nights Music Festival from last year. We'll be using his HDR photographs like the one below to create new visuals.  Humboldt County beach in Trinidad, CA Photo By Jesse Rather The other artist I'll be working with the spring is Barry Moran. He's apart of the Geometrix clothing team and goes by Luminary Optix. We actually already started working on a piece that was showcased at the Liquid Stranger show in February. It's his Galactic Tiger piece. Barry is very talented good all around guy. He's a digital artist, he can build, he can carve, he can create optical clothing and night lights. You name it he can do it. This guy could build you house if you needed him to. Very excited for what's to come.  Galactic Tiger By Luminary Optix So keep on the lookout this spring. I'll be making all new original visuals with FreeRolando, Jesse Rather Photography, and Luminary Optix.  Really can't wait to share it with the world.  Peace, Vishyal Dumps    Example of FreeRolandos Art animated.  Music By Hypha

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BUILDING A 3D MAPPED STAGE: PARTS 1, 2 AND 3