The best skill...

"THE QUESTION" IS NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON VIDEO

"The Question" on Amazon

"KASSI" IS NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON VIDEO

"Kassi" on Amazon

The frivolous, easy A

With the heavy push towards STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education, there seems to be a need to eliminate arts education. Now this is simply from my own observation and research. But the arts, at least here in the United States, is regarded(in my opinion) as being frivolous and unnecessary. I bring this up, because it reminds me when I took Art 170 at my Alma mater, Ohio State. This course was beginning drawing. And it not only was a requirement for art majors, but it was also offered as an elective, available for non art majors.

This class was memorable, not because of the subject matter or professor, but because of two students who were not art majors. What stands out was that both of these individuals thought that Art 170 would be an easy A. From the first day of class, both of these non art students were lost. The principles, and ideas presented, totally dumbfounded the two of them. It was so difficult for these individuals to grasp line, shadow, volume, and perspective. And just as they were getting the hang of using pencil, the professor would switch to charcoal, then pastels.

Over the period of the course, I became friends with both of these student. Whenever they had trouble, I became their impromptu art tutor. As it should have been, the professor was much harder on the art students than those taking this course as an elective. The two non-art students I befriended, actually received better grades than me. I came out of the class with a B+.

By the end of the class, these two friends revealed that Art 170 was the hardest class that they had ever taken. They didn't expect how technical the principles of art would be. These two also didn't expect art class to be so labor intensive. Now, this course was five days a week, for two hours a day. In addition to almost non-stop drawing for two hours, there were a number of outside assignments that we had to complete. Along with learning the principles and working with various drawing media, we practiced extreme amounts of repetition.

I challenge everyone to take a professional art course. I'm not talking about a casual one day workshop for just a few hours. I'm talking about a class that stretches ten to fifteen weeks, for one to three hours a day, five days a week. It is important that non-artists see, not only how much goes into the learning of art, but where art is used throughout daily life. This piece may only touch upon visual arts, but all arts are vitally important to everyday life.

I hope everyone will take the time to look at everything around them. From the clothes you wear, to your computer or tablet, your car, your furniture, to every man-made material around you, someone designed it. And their training most likely started in a course like Art 170...

You can now buy or rent "Kassi"

         

                                                                                   

         You can buy or rent "Kassi" here!!!

You can rent or buy the animated short film, The Question, here!!!

You can purchase the picture book, Joe's Question, here!!!!

Kassi was selected for the Minority Filmmaker Showcase in Baltimore, Maryland

* My film, Kassi was accepted to the Minority Filmmaker Showcase, presented by Reel Independent Women. *

Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Time: 7pm - 11pm

Ticket Price: $12 General Admission and $9 Creative Alliance Members

Location: Creative Alliance at the Patterson

3134 Eastern, Avenue 

Baltimore, MD 21224

‪#‎Kassi‬ ‪#‎AnimatedFilm‬ ‪#‎Animation‬ ‪#‎Indie‬ ‪#‎IndieFilm‬ ‪#‎Art‬ ‪#‎Film‬

Online Premiere of the animated short film, Kassi

 Today is the public, "Online Premiere" of our film, Kassi... This will be screened for FREE, until Friday, April 24th. I truly hope that everyone will enjoy this film. And for those who truly like this, please spread the word....
Kassi, Animated Short Film

The first review of our newest short film, Kassi

"The Independent Critic" review of Kassi

Animation Insider interview of James Bowman

Interview of James Bowman

Taming the "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

What would it be like to live in the middle of a swamp, in a post Katrina or post apocalyptic world? What if you saw this world from the imagination/reality of a child. That's where I arrived when I opened my eyes to the film, Beast of the Southern Wild. The film opens in a celebration with the people of the "Bathtub", a community living in the middle of the Mississippi delta, inside of a levee. This community is a hodgepodge of races, cultures, the eclectic, and the strange. The narrator of this unusual story is Hushpuppy, a tough, spunky, and independent six year old girl, who is raised by her equally tough but slightly off father, Wink.

As I watched this film, I couldn't tell where realty crossed to fantasy or when fantasy reawakened again to reality. In between listening to the heartbeat of every animal she came upon, or handfishing with her father, Hushpuppy envisioned the escape of prehistoric beasts, released from melting polar ice caps. For her, the universe had to always be in balance, and the escape of these beasts represented just that. The film moved as it were visual poetry, weaving in and out of realism and the fantastic mind of a child. I wonder if adults would have the flexibility to still absorb or understand the idealism of such an imagination.

For a first time effort, director and writer Benh Zeitlin runs full blast into a visually stunning, epic, and artistic piece. It's also hard to believe that the stars of the film, Dwight Henry(Wink) , and the truly amazing Quvenzhané Wallis(Hushpuppy) were just regular people discovered in Louisiana. This film will either disappoint with its confusion, entrance you with its artistry, or leave you longing to understand its meaning. But whatever you take from this film, I hope that you would appreciate the remarkable talent of Quvenzhané Wallis, in a performance that I hope will be awarded come Oscar time.

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" Official Trailer

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Kimberly Townes - 

2) Where are you from?
- Virginia - 

3) What do you do?
- Filmmaker - 

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- I never perceived of doing anything else. Maybe I thought of being an anthropologist. But the two closely relate if you think about it. -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- I think the art scene is bursting, maybe not flourishing. Everyday a new tool is created making them abundant and cheap. There is no excuse to not create something. There is no reason to not tell your story. -

The Question

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Chris Collins -

2) Where are you from?- I grew up in New Jersey - 

3) What do you do?
- I am a freelance cinematographer based out of Hollywood - 

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- I was fortunate enough to have a great teacher in high school who taught American literature from a Budhist perspective. Having grown up in a conservative environment, that was the first time I was encouraged to explore the way other people might think about the world. Film was a natural medium for me to explore, and it didn't take long before I realized that I belong behind a camera. Now I use the camera as an excuse to experience new people, places, and things. -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- The art world is finally in a state today where anybody can potentially turn passion into a career. It wasn't always like that. The internet has given artists a platform on which to stage whatever it is they may be doing. I think filmmakers and musicians have benefited the most from this transformation, and I give thanks every day.

I would also appreciate it if one of these trailers made it in there somewhere. Thanks man!

https://vimeo.com/40320920

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Julie Dash - 

2) Where are you from?
- New York City - 

3) What do you do?
-I'm a filmmaker - 

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- When I was a teenager I was inspired by the foreign films screening at the Studio Museum in Harlem. -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- I remain, smuggling daydreams into reality. -

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Andrew Burroughs - 

2) Where are you from?
- I was born in East Orange NJ but I grew up in Plainfield NJ. - 

3) What do you do?
- I am a filmmaker/entrepreneur - 

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- My movie experiences as a kid. My father taking me to see the 1st Superman movie (blew me away) -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- I feel that the arts are in a good state. With all the new tools and technology the arts will continue to thrive -

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Mark Harris - 

2) Where are you from?
- Chicago - 

3) What do you do?
- Film Producer - 

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- Wanted to reach the people with telling the man stories I have to tell -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- The state of the art can be descrbibed in one word:dead -

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Edwin Pagán - 


2) Where are you from?
- Born in the Lower East Side of New York City in 1963 of Puerto Rican parents and subsequently raised in the South Bronx. Currently residing once again in the ever transitionally-transforming East Village. -

3) What do you do?
- Work professionally as a filmmaker, cinematographer and producer. Manage and edit an online portal (www.latinhorror.com

) dedicated to the genre of horror, particularly the work being made by Latinos across the globe. Pushing "Latin horror" to be a recognized genre in its own right. Mentor emerging filmmakers, particularly media-makers of color. -


4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- I got involved in the arts as a member of the Boys Club of America at the Hoe Avenue Clubhouse (now ) at the age of 10 when I became involved in a photography class being thought there under the mentorship of club's art director, Ernesto Lozano, who taught me to develop black and white 35mm negative film, a hobby that eventually became a professional vocation and lead the way to working in film as a lighting cameraman and cinematographer. Looking at my own South Bronx community through the lens of a camera in the 1980s allowed me to later envision the world beyond those borders in a unique and profound manner, both socially and geopolitically.


One of the six exclusive members of the prestigious SEIS DEL SUR (http://www.seisdelsur.com/

) photo collective, who are having a major retrospective of photos of the South Bronx (70s-90s) in September 2012 at Bronx Documentary Center. -


5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- The arts are at a crucial crossroads today. While the arts are experiencing substantial reductions funding in schools and community-based organizations, they are are exploding in an organic way on the streets and via the Internet where expression cannot be negated. These two intersections are inspiring the artistic community and upcoming generation of expressionists to flesh out a new visual aesthetic and language composed of a variety of art-forms and mixing them with the new tools born out of the digital technology that has become ubiquitous. I am hopeful that this moment in time is creating the grand masters of the 21st century. I'm certain of it. -

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Nicole Franklin. - 


2) Where are you from?
- I am from St. Louis, MO but I was born in Montclair, NJ while my father, Donald E. Franklin was on a journalism fellowship at Columbia University. - 


3) What do you do?
- I'm a Filmmaker and an Educator. My company is EPIPHANY Inc. and I am the Communications Instructor in the Division of Humanities at Bloomfield College (NJ). I also spent 20+ years as a daily hire news editor for all of the network news broadcasts on both the East and West Coasts and a few independent news broadcasts in Los Angeles. -

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- My love of storytelling and the lack of positive Black characters in media inspired me to pursue my creative career. I also loved the rush of emerging from the wings in costume and full makeup from my days as a dance student turned showgirl. -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- The state of the arts is strong. No matter how much funding is denied the number of artistic projects that are birthed have multiplied. Artists are unstoppable. Art is life. -

2012 3D Animation Reel of James N Bowman