Finally moving her paints out of the house!
In the new space
Yesterday, I signed my very first studio lease at the Harrison Center in downtown Indianapolis. I took my family down last night to take a look at my new creative space. I will be sharing studio #79 with local Indianapolis artist Kathryn Dart. Kathryn is also a painter working primarily in encaustics and is excited about sharing a space with my work and the occasional visits from Oscar.
Merlin's Teapot can be seen in my studio @ HCA
Come out to see my new home for my paintings at the Artist Reception and Open Studio Night, Friday, September 3, from 6-10 p.m. The HCA is family friendly, so please bring the little ones and old ones to step out and enjoy the night on the town. Please keep in mind access to the studios is downstairs and there is no elevator, although upstairs is handicap accessible there are several steps to take to get to my studio.
Harrison Center for the Arts
1505 North Delaware
Indianapolis, IN. 46202
The 48 Hour Film Festival
Filming, Photo by Curtis Ailes
On the afternoon of July 31st I ventured down to the Fountain Square District to give a bit of praise to an area I don’t usually make it out to for this column. Making an effort to view the latest contemporary art on view in our city I headed to the G.C. Murphy building where the current home of Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art can be found at 1043 Virginia Avenue. As I walked up to the building and discovered that even knowing the sign on the door stated that the IMOCA was open, I found the doors locked. My reasoning for this would be that a new show is currently being installed. Unlucky for me that I don’t pay any attention to TWITTER and rarely do I log onto Facebook, then I may have seen their post that they closed their doors this week as they prepare for “PostSecret”, the newest show to open on First Friday. But luck would have it as I walked back out to the curb the door to the Red Lion Grog House opened and we were kindly invited inside where Ejected Productions was working on The Indianapolis 48 Hour Film Project. I decided to enter the Ole’ English Pub being just a bit curious about what was taking place just inside. I have heard about The 48 Hour Film Project and finding out that this has been going on around the country for over nine years and this was one of the first times I really had a chance to see the action up close was very exciting. Taking a seat inside the Grog House, another first for me and ordering what turned out to be one of the most expensive orders of french fries I have ever paid for, but one of the cities best tastes, minus the curry sauce that accompanied the fries, I sat back and watched the production unfold.. Sitting inside one of Indiana’s first historic commercial districts and watching one of The 48 Hour Film productions take form made me appreciate even more the opportunities this city has to offer. Many do not see Indianapolis as a “Film” city, but after seeing this production take shape I believed there is a place for Indy Film Makers in Hollywood .
Wondering what on earth is The 48 Hour Film Project? Let’s see if I can shine some light on the history of the project. Mark Ruppert came up with this idea in 2001, wanting to see if not only could a film be created in 48 hours but would it be worth watching. Now over nine years later the project has exploded with more than 150 competitions having taken place around the world. My guess is he got his answer. The smallest teams have consisted of a single person to some of the more larger teams that have had over a hundred people. So why do this? The Film Project set out with a mission to not only challenge the Film Makers of our time but to promote them on a local and national level. How does it work? The 48 Hour Film Project is a crazy sleepless weekend in which the team not only makes a movie, they write, shoot, edit and score it before the pending deadline. On Friday (here in Indy 7.30.10) the team receives four elements that they must include into the film. The elements this year for the team we followed around on Saturday (7.31.10) was a genre “Buddy Film”, a character named “Cooper O’Brien a Dog Walker”, a prop “auto part”, and a line of dialogue that has to be included into the script, “What time is it?”. All of the Indianapolis teams had these same elements to work into their films. Now 48 hours seems like an impossible feat to pull off a decent film, but to add to the challenge each team has to keep the length of the production between 4-7 minutes. So the Sunday evening deadline of 7pm makes that clock tick a little louder with each movement.
Michael Bricker, Robert Scheer and Christopher Nunn came together and created Ejected Productions for this film competition. On Wednesday July 28th they did a crew and casting call so they would have some of their people in place prior to the 48 hour madness of creating the short film. Since they were not entirely sure what they were looking for in a cast member they left it rather open and then did call backs on Friday once they new what they needed. The praise to the cast and crew is that since this is a competition no one gets paid, so every one was volunteering their time for the weekend shoot. (www.ejectedproductions.com)
The winning film will compete with other 48 Hour Film Project films from around the world. On the City level the chosen winner will receive a trophy and will be screened at Filmapalooza, and the over all International Grand Prize is $3,000 along with a screening at the Cannes Film Festival.
Interested to see what Indianapolis Film Makers can do? On Saturday August 7th from 5pm-9pm at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (4000 N. Michigan Road) their will be a Premiere Screening of the films. Tickets are $10 for each screening and are available through the IMA and can be purchased in advance online or in person at the museum. With more then thirty teams in the Indianapolis area the competition will be strong and certainly worth a Saturday evening out. Ejected Production’s working title “Cool Beans” can be seen at the Toby Theater inside the IMA during the 9pm viewing. Oh and if you do make it out you get to vote for your favorite. For more information about The 48 Hour Film Project visit www.48hourfilm.com
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the August 5th, 2010 edition of the Broad Ripple Gazette
Saturday Painting
Casey & Oscar Painting (Click to enlarge)
This past Saturday Oscar was in tow for one of many painting lesson with mom while she worked on her latest painting for the annual faculty exhibition at the Indianapolis Art Center. To see the final painting, it will be on display from August 6th through October 3rd at the I.A.C. The artist reception is Friday September 10th from 6-8pm. Free and open to the public.
Painting at Indy Metro Church
Painting @ Indy Metro Church
On Sunday May 23rd I was invited by my friend Aaron Story, Pastor at Indy Metro Church to create a painting on canvas up on stage during the two services. While Aaron spoke about Bitterness and how it affected our lives I chose to create a painting of a prickly thistle to help illustrate his sermon.
I wanted to share what I created in the 45minutes on stage during the church service this weekend. Each painting is being auctioned off to the highest bidder (auction closes on 5.26.2010 at 5pm), 50% of the proceeds will go to Indy Metro Church to help support the good they do for the community. Contact Casey at caseyjoailes@hotmail.com to place your bid, please be sure to state which painting you are bidding on.
Bidding Starts at $25
Details:
Thistle #1
Thistle #1 (click to enlarge)
30×30
Acrylic on Canvas
Thistle #2
Thistle #2 (click to enlarge)
30×30
Acrylic on Canvas
20 x 20 preview
Hi, this is Casey’s defacto Studio Manager and husband, Curt. Some of you reading may know who I am, some may not. Since Casey has been so busy, I decided to help her out with a blog post.
I snapped the photo in this post last night as it was drying on the easel. She has been BUSY working on the last of the paintings for her 20 x 20 show which we will be hanging soon.
Hope to see some of you out there!
“20 x 20″ Fine Art Works by Casey Jo Ailes
“20×20″
Fine Art Works by Casey Jo Ailes
Opening Reception: March 5, 2010 6-8pm
March 1st – April 1st 2010
Join us Friday March 5, 2010 from 6-8pm for the Mad Hatter Tea Party Artist Reception.
Indianapolis based artist Ailes will be exhibiting 20 new works of paintings and photographs
created for this exhibition. Her abstract whimsical style is brought to life as each photograph
and painting displays a unique view into the life of a teapot.
For more information visit www.figarosstudio.com
Cultural Arts Gallery
IUPUI Campus Center 240
(located on the second floor)
420 University Blvd.
Indianapolis, IN. 46202
Gallery Hours: Monday-Saturday 10-7pm
Sunday 1-7pm
Male ‘ana
~ Casey Jo Ailes
“Cafe”
“Premier”
I took these photos on Saturday looking for a few ways where nature has reclaimed itself. The first one was in my backyard, and the rest were taken on Talbott Street in downtown Indianapolis.
Enjoy.
