Multimedia Art in My Community: Kristi Ryba's Video Art, Sonja Hinrichson's Mapping Charlotte Project at Community Day, McColl Center for the Visual Arts

I thought I'd share some of the multimedia art that is going on in my area.  The McColl Center for Visual Art, in conjunction with the Arts & Science Council's Cultural Free-for-All, hosted Community Day, a day of free fun and art for everyone.  The galleries were open for tours, and the artists set up a range of exciting activities.  I've selected two of the artists-in-residence to highlight in this post.


As I wandered around the McColl Center, I came across Kristi Ryba's video art on a Mac laptop on a table in an upstairs hallway.  I was holding my video cam in one hand and my purse and umbrella in the other. I fumbled around with my video camera so I could capture the doll house dance quickly.  In the video, a woman was dancing down a street of miniature houses, and in the next scene, she was dancing inside a beautifully furnished doll house.

After taking a look at Kristi's video, I peeked into the studio.  To celebrate Community Day,  Kristi encouraged visitors to dance in front of the green screen, while she captured their movements. It was a delight to watch. For more about Kristi Ryba's work, take a look at her website at http://www.kristiryba.com.

The link below is to a video of Community Day activities, posted on Facebook. You can see some of the visitors dancing in front of Kristi's green screen around the 1:30.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=143268648690

On Community Day, Sonja Hinrichson, a multimedia artist-in-residence at  McColl Center, invited visitors to go on a mapping "treasure hunt" around Charlotte, and document their experiences.  This event was related to Sonya's current work,  Charlotte in Layers:  The Mapping Charlotte Project.  This project is collaborative video/media installation created with students of Sonja's Special Topics class, offered through UNC-Charlotte's School of Art and Architecture.   The students used video, photography, audio recordings, and interviews during the process of exploring, researching, and mapping aspects of life and history of Charlotte, North Carolina. 

The opening for the Mapping Charlotte installation will be held at the Rowe Main Arts Gallery on the UNC-C campus from 5:00-7:30 pm. The exhibition will be held from November 19th through December 10th.  Sonja will give a public lecture about the Mapping Charlotte project on Friday, November 20th, at 11:00 A.M. in Room 130 of the Rowe Arts Building.

Mapping Charlotte Links

Mapping Charlotte (Class project blog for the installation)

Syllabus (Provides a detailed description of the activities involved in the project/installation)

City Exploration Game

RELATED
McColl Center Community Day on Flickr


McColl Center for the Visual Arts Overview