Artists Promos – Pam Taylor Multimedia

Star York

“Quiet Your Mind, Open Your Heart” is a multimedia video about internationally renowned sculptress Star York.

Star York trains horses and practices Tai Qi to nurture her creativity.

Internationally renowned sculptress Star York describes her creative process to create award-winning sculptures of wildlife, Native Americans, Cowboys.

She quiets her mind and opens her heart by training her horses, doing Tai Qi meditative movements, and working in her Abiquiu, New Mexico studio.

The goal of the multimedia video “Quiet Your Mind, Open Your Heart,” was to present Star’s creative process, which was to be used as a promotional piece. The main challenge was technical. I was cutting my teeth on audio and it was the first time I was the videographer. The only solution was to go in there, make mistakes and keep learning. Fortunately Star was patient.

Another challenge was the sheer body of Star’s work. What was the best way to represent this highly prolific, creative person who has been sculpting for more than 30 years, has been highly awarded, and publicized.

The solution here was to focus not on her work—that had been done, but how she nurtures her creativity. To cover her work we scanned photos and tear sheets of her earlier work. And, I had the permission of Wendy McEahern to use her beautiful studio photographs of Star’s sculpture. It’s always a challenge to find music that can legally be used. Star suggested I contact the composer, performer Phillip John “Aarnaquq” Charette, about using one of her favorite musical pieces, “Eagle Song.” He readily gave permission.

The final challenge, which came up during editing, was whether it is possible to use the highly personal nature of a digital story for promotional purposes. During the interviews, there was an emotional transformative moment when Star revealed the personal meaning of one of her cowboy sculptures.

The rough cut of the multimedia piece was a digital story of revelation and transformation. However, this seemed much too personal for a promotional piece. The solution here was to work collaboratively to give Star what she needed to promote her artwork.

Credits

“Quiet the Mind, Open Your Heart” written, produced, filmed, and edited by Pam Taylor.

Photography © Pam Taylor Photography

Studio photography © Wendy McEahern. “Grama’s Gifts,” “Over the Top,” “Purrfect Lazy Day,” “Regal Repose,” “Rocksie,” “Roll,” “Scratch,”“Starwildlife,” “Range Duty,” “Greatest Gift,”

Additional images by Rachel Brock, Jeff Shulman, Dell Weston, and Star York.

Music: “Eagle Song” by Phillip John “Aarnaquq” Charette

Sarah’s Art

Sarah Nathan is an acupuncturist and artist. She speaks about her art with writer Bella Erakko in this brief video illustrated by her beautiful paintings. I’ve photographed Sarah and her images for many years. But, it took another appreciative artist to have her describe her art process.

David Michael Kennedy on Portraiture

Portrail of David Michael Kennedy — David Michael Kennedy

This is a spin off of a Video Boot Camp at The Santa Fe Workshops, taught by Richard Newman. At the workshop 5 participants created a group video about famous photographer David Michael Kennedy. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from David Michael Kennedy, the learning environment created by Newman, as well the creativity and enthusiasm of the team.

When I got home I really wanted to practice the techniques we had learned using the assets but with my own creative vision. I focused on the question I had asked, “How do you Connect with People?,” used the footage for that interview (shot by Christine Garceau and John Dickson), added some images of Kennedy’s work, and some B roll I shot.

Newman was very encouraging in my little endeavor and he facilitated permission from the Santa Fe Workshops, which they graciously gave. David Michael Kennedy has been very supportive. I made some some minor changes he suggested. To my delight and surprise he sent me several more images to cover “jump cuts.” In the end, David Michael Kennedy not only approved the video for my portfolio, but liked it so much he wants to put the video on his website.

Edwin Sulca

Master weaver Edwin Sulca of Ayacucho Peru creates tapestries rich in the legacy of the Andean cultural traditions.

For more than 20 years the people of Ayacucho endured the terrorism of the the Sendero Luminoso, birthed in the small mountain town, and later the government troops sent to battle the terrorists.

Sulca, wove the histories of his people in his tapestries. When we met in his hometown more than 15 years ago he just began to speak about the meanings of his tapestries, his hopes and dreams for his people, and for universal peace.

Recently I visited Sulca and interviewed him about his creativity, his work, and his life. This is a short audio clip where he is speaking about his most famous piece, “El Viento,” The Wind.

“I wish to be like the wind that runs over the continents, and drags all evils, and smashes them against the rocks. I wish to be the brother who gives his hand to the fallen one, and , strongly embraced, seeks the peace of the world.’