art

Game Design and Interactive Media Lecture Series

Today, January 18, at 1:30pm there will be a lecture in the Raytheon Amphitheater (240 Egan) by Ed Fries. Ed Fries is awesome because he is co-creator of the Xbox, the creator of “Halo 2600” for the Atari 2600, founder of FingerPrints, and is a former Microsoft Vice President of Game Publishing. This event is open to both students and professionals in the area and should be an amazing talk with Mr. Fries. If you are interested in game design, interactive media, animation, or if you have just played on an Xbox before you should attend! Also, this lecture is part of an ongoing event series by the Creative Industries Program and College of Arts called the 2011 Game Design and Interactive Media Lecture Series. Keep an eye out for more terrific events like this in the future! UPDATE, 5:10pm, 1/18/11: Unfortunately, this event was cancelled due to bad weather. Hopefully it will be rescheduled. Check the lecture series’ website for further updates.

Shades of Greatness: The Art of Negro League Baseball

In gallery 360, an travelling art exhibit on the Negro League baseball teams of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s is currently on display. The display, titled “Shades of Greatness,” is a combination of oils, mixed media, photography and sculpture. The works highlight the importance of the Negro Leagues in African American culture. This exhibit may be considered a larger extension of the small display that can be seen on the first floor of the library. (See the blog post on that display here). The exhibit has been up since May 17th and will close on July 23rd. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 10am to 7pm. If you would like to schedule a group tour with LSCC, please contact LSCC@neu.edu or call 617-373-5845.

Boston GreenFest 2009

If you’re looking for something fun (and free!) to do this weekend, go check out Boston GreenFest 2009 at City Hall Plaza, right outside the Government Center T stop. This event runs from 10 AM to 10 PM August 21st and 22nd with a kickoff concert tonight from 5 to 10. Over the next two days there will be screenings of the films “The Greening of Southie”, “Fresh”, “Out of Balance: ExxonMobil’s Impact on Climate Change”, and “Flow: The Film”. There will be speakers and workshops covering everything from green cars to eco-games to the Charles River. You can also walk around and check out the art gallery, exhibits and listen to some live music. This looks like a really fun event with something for everyone. I’m planning to attend on Saturday so maybe I’ll see you there.

Barcodes in art & design

I came upon this really cool blog post at Dark Roasted Blend, a site devoted to “weird & wonderful things”. Well this is pretty wonderful. Usually when you see barcodes, you think of consumerism and mass-produced objects that lack individual character, so this post refreshing for me personally. The cute barcode designs at the beginning are distinctly Japanese, and they actually ended up being used on packaging for grocery items. When you scroll down to the designs created by Art Lebedev, a Russian design studio, the barcode is translated into several arrangements with different objects with a long, vertical structure such as icicles and kebab skewers. Further down are examples of the barcode being used on as large a scale as the facade of a building and just below is it being used on a small scale as composite of barcodes to create a photorealistic work.

The MFA: A Great Getaway

In the midst of classes coming to an end, I’ve found myself with a lot of unexpected (but fantastic) free time. At first, I did the usual things- watching T.V., playing addicting games online, and even a weak attempt at playing Xbox, but none seemed to quite capture the awesomeness of the “free-ness” of free time. I took a walk over to the MFA (out of complete desperation) and suddenly found what I was looking for- inspiration. I didn’t realize this, but the MFA is FREE to NU students- at any time! And by the way, the newest exhibition, British Prints, is fantastic, especially if you have an interest in screen-printing. After my MFA visit, I headed over to an art supply store and spent the rest of my weekend painting away. I feel like I’ve tapped into creativity I never knew I had. To top everything off, I checked out a few books on my favorite artists from Snell, so that I have inspiration with me at home. In other words, take a trip out to the MFA the next chance you have some free time, you may learn something about yourself you never knew existed.