Antarctic Underwater Freeze Ray

Check out this amazing video from the BBC about underwater brinicles that freeze everything they touch!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15835017

LASER Artist Talk, Monday Jan 9, 2012

I'll be speaking about my polar music projects, both Antarctic and Arctic, this coming Monday at the Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendevous (LASER) in San Francicso. Come by for a fun and interesting evening of presentations and conversations, plus snacks!

Monday January 9, 2012
6:30 - 9 pm

Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER)
The University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton Street
Berman Hall
San Francisco, CA 94117

Admission is free but limited. Please RSVP to p@scaruffi.com

More details and schedule: http://www.leonardo.info/isast/events.html#LASER-Jan12

Instrument Demo Today

This evening I'll be demonstrating my Antarctic Instruments at KALW's live storytelling event. One of the stories in the live Crosscurrents show will be about my Antarctic music. Plus I'll have CDs and photos for sale.


Saturday December 3, 6-9 pm, FREE!
Polish Club

3040 22nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

Join KALW for its final 70th anniversary event, in conjunction with the Mission Arts and Performance Project! This special evening will feature oral storytellers, radio producers, and musicians performing on the theme of "Beginnings and Endings." We'll also be bringing you an episode of KALW's "Crosscurrents" LIVE, with audience participation!

Performers include:

Glynn Washington (radio producer and host, NPR's "Snap Judgment")
Nikki Silva (radio producer, The Kitchen Sisters)
John Reichmuth (improv artist, Kasper Hauser Comedy Troupe)
Jon Mooallem (writer, New York Times Magazine)
Casey Miner (radio producer, KALW)
Julie Caine (radio producer, KALW)
Martina Castro (radio producer, KALW)
Ben Trefny (radio producer, KALW)
Ali Budner (radio producer and artist, KALW)

With music by Quinn Deveaux and Meklit Hadero.

North to the Arctic!

In just a few weeks Oona Stern and I will be heading north to create a series of site-specific art installations in the Arctic. We'll journey to Spitsbergen and participate in the Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency Program, exploring the region aboard a traditionally-rigged tall ship, alongside 20-or-so other artists, scientists and educators.

During the expedition Oona and I will develop Adfreeze Project, a series of artworks that combine sound and form to respond to our location each day. At each site a material or feature will be selected as a focus for visual and aural interactions. Natural patterns, evidence of changes in ecological systems, and other environmental events are of special interest to us.

On land, local materials such as stones, sand, driftwood, shells, ice, water, bones and vegetation will be manipulated to draw attention to an aspect of the site. These materials will also be played as musical instruments in compositions and improvisations that translate the site's physical forms into musical gestures. On the ship elements such as sea spray, waves, wind and snow, as well as sounds from the ship herself, will be shaped and recorded. Drawings, rubbings and other mark-making processes will create visual records, echoing the visual data collection of early explorers. Site characteristics and interventions will also be documented with video and photography. At each location, activities will leave no lasting impact on the site.

Post-residency, we will produce a series of multi-media portraits of the Arctic, designed for exhibition in galleries, educational institutions and online venues. I will also develop musical performances that can be played within, or in conjunction with, our art exhibitions. In these concerts I will perform solo on amplified natural objects from Spitsbergen in combination with edited field recordings made during our expedition. The first Adfreeze Project exhibition and performance will take place in Tromsø, Norway, in late October on our way back from Spitsbergen.

We'll be posting updates online as we travel through this land of polar bears and glaciers. Follow our Arctic adventures on the Adfreeze Project blog.

You can help support the project by purchasing special limited edition or subscription artworks, or by making a tax-deductible donation in any amount through our fiscal sponsor, the New York Foundation for the Arts.

KALW Radio Interview

I recently spoke in depth with KALW's Martina Castro about my Antarctic music. Check out her radio feature about my work, which aired earlier this week on Crosscurrents from KALW News: The Audiophiles: Finding Music in the Sounds of Antarctica.

Australia Bound - Kickstarter

In a little over a month Ann and I will be heading to Canberra, Australia to perform four of my compositions in a festival of Antarctic music at the Australian National University. I need your support to make this concert the very best it can be and have set up a Kickstarter project to raise the needed funds.

Ann and I are offering some very cool (pardon the pun!) rewards for contributors. These include field recordings, archival prints of photos from Antarctica, and your own musical instrument or composition. I am also producing a SPECIAL LIMITED-EDITION CD for donors only. This CD contains recordings of my first three Antarctic compositions (these will not be available elsewhere until the project is released it's entirety in 2012), and previously unreleased Antarctic field recordings. Plus each CD comes with a one-of-kind handmade cover.

Please consider donating and/or spreading the word. Thank you! Your support really makes a difference and is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
Cheryl

Brash Ice Video

Here is a short portrait of brash ice that Oona Stern and I created with audio, video and photos from our adventures at Palmer Station.

brash ice from oona stern + cheryl leonard on Vimeo.

Please use good quality speakers or headphones when listening so you can hear all the low bass sounds.