With summer winding down (must resist inclusion of "where does the time go?" trope ...), I wanted to mention a few things about the various Floating Shape Workshop projects that have taken place the past few months.

- The Cincinnati Film Society was kind enough to publish an article that overviews FSW's (past and present) happenings this summer. Thanks, CFS! Speaking of our latest collaborative film, it was recently submitted it to an international youth animation festival. Fingers crossed.

- At the end of July, we did something brand new: hosted a workshop in which we created a collaborative short film, completely live. FSW was set up at 5th annual Good People Festival in Covington, Kentucky (we were there last year making flipbooks & zoetropes) alongside our pals at Robot Inside. I animated a short introduction and then had a live set up with a camera, animation rostrum and basic supplies. Then, each child/family who passed through while at the festival had the opportunity to add to the film by creating their own short scene (via either a simple cutout animation or filming a flipbook). It was an experiment in the truest sense of the word, but I was pretty proud of how the final result came out. I would estimate that about 25-30 children added to it in some way (pics and video below).

- Finally, our last workshop of the summer will be this Sunday, as will be hanging out with the Mini Microcinema during the annual "Second Sunday on Main" celebration in Over-the-Rhine. This is a free flipbook workshop for children. The previously scheduled workshop on August 15th at Westwood's "Wooden Hill" is currently being rescheduled for a future date.

Made this tour poster for the Essex Green ... the tour kicked off last night in Montreal. The brand new record "Hardly Electronic" (their first since 2006) is an absolute stunner! Can't wait for the Cincinnati show in October.

I spent all of last week helping to make a collaborative animated film with 6 young children. Floating Shape Workshop hosted a week-long animation summer camp at Robot Inside. It was a great time, with each young animator collaboratively contributing to writing & storyboarding (14 pages!) pieces of the plot, as well as individually creating & animating the characters/backgrounds. The film is titled "Sammy Stingray and the Digestive System". It is about our protagonist stingray who learns about the digestive system in school, before being swallowed by a shark and managing to swim his way out with that knowledge. 

Below is the video and some pictures from the workshop. Thank you to my pal Tara Heilman and her always welcoming & comfortable Robot Inside workshop space for hosting us! Getting to do these kinds of longer format workshops with more attention to detail (five sessions in 3-hour blocks) is simply fantastic.

I was fortune enough to get to create poster for the Mini Microcinema and their screenings/programming this summer (hence the sun centerpiece filming with a Super 8 camera). As I wrote about last year, the MM is a wonderful small cinema space that screens independent and experimental films of all varieties, including plenty of animation.

Even five years ago, it would have seemed impossible to imagine that anywhere in Cincinnati would show things Zagreb Film and Latin American animation showcases, the works of Sally Cruikshank, or the annual "Animation Show of Shows" shorts showcase. These extend beyond just your typical arthouse theater and show the true emphasis on all sorts of experimental film and animation as an artform. These are an animation junkie's dream come true, and the types of screenings you would previously only see in major city markets. And at that, the Mini is a nonprofit organization and every screening is free of charge. With that in mind, I highly recommend purchasing a membership to help support them. Oh, and when you buy a membership, you receive a large (18x 24") high quality poster of your choosing ... either mine here, or one of several by other local artists.

Here is the full schedule of Floating Shape Workshops events this summer! For further/detailed info on the individual workshops, click the FSW tab above. As always, each event is a little different (as such, costs also vary ... some free, some require registration).

This month (July), we are excited to be hosting a week-long summer camp at Robot Inside (coming up in just a few weeks, and space is almost full!). Each attendee will be making their own animated film over the course of the week. We will also be returning to the Good People Festival over in Covington, Kentucky for the second straight year. This year, we have a fun & collaborative, live animation project planned for anyone who comes by.

In August, FSW will host a flipbook workshop with the Mini Microcinema as part of the annual Over-the-Rhine "Second Sunday on Main" celebration. Our last workshop of the summer will be at Wooden Hill, located in Westwood.