the todd v canvas

National Children’s Day at A Time to Dance Studio

cityart — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:04:58 +0000

So my friends Amanda and Bobby from the A Time to Dance Studio, who work with, teach, and generally love to be around kids, decided it would be cool to create a special day to celebrate kids at their studio, and they called it National Children’s Day. I don’t know how official the title really is, but they made a great space for kids today! Free Pizza! Prizes! Moonwalk! They had dancing demonstrations, and make and take kids areas, loud music, and of course Bobby was showing off his street dancing skills. It was a blast! I was so happy that they invited me down to be a part of the party. I created this 30″ x 40″ fun painting of a boy and girl dancing, in about an hour and a half. I really wasn’t sure what I was going to paint while I was there, but I knew I wanted it to be fun! I hope you like it!

Thanks again Amanda and Bobby! I’ll see you again next year!

Peace out, much love.

Man, I love ping pong!

cityart — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 21:32:01 +0000

It’s been a long time since I played ping pong in my parents basement. I remember, nostalgically, hanging out with the neighbors and playing away rainy days at the table tennis court. Simple, clean, fun! No controller, no tv, no subscription to an online service… Heck, when I was a kid we didn’t even know what online was.

Well, lately we have been playing pong again. Some of my friends and I have dragged a ping pong table into an art gallery and resurrected the love for ping pong. So simple anyone can play, but once you get rolling, it’s gets competitive as any other game. After hours of playing, plenty of sweating, and a little beer, there is a room full of people smiling, laughing and connecting over a tiny, almost weightless, plastic ball.

I love ping pong….

Peace out, much love!
t

This weekend is The Canton Palace International Film Festival

cityart — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:21:02 +0000

We have over 100 films from both local and international independent filmmaker and
FREE Workshops: Doc Screenwriting; DSLR Camera Demo; Small Format Film Production; Heirloom Media; Acting; Production Sound
LIVE Music: Friday – John Cohen; Sunday – The Hi Hopes
You can see up to 27 films for only $6 on Saturday and Sunday morning to afternoon
Here is the schedule overview for you to look at and please go-online to our website at: http://www.cantonpalacefilmfestival.com/ Hope to see you there!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7: 5:30 – 10 PM

5:30 – 7:00 Opening Reception

Guest Artist: page 2
7:30 – 8:00 – Richard Myers – film talk
8:00 – 10:00 – Film: Marjory’s Diary

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8: 11 am – 10 PM

Student Film Blocks
11:00 – 11:55 — SFB 1: Kent State
12:10 – 1:55 — SFB 2: Malone University
2:10 – 3:15 — SFB 3: Cal Arts Animation
3:30 – 5:25 — SFB 4: Cal Arts Film Program
5:40 – 7:30 — SFB 5: Columbia U (NYC)

Guest Artist:
8:00 – 9:30 – John Cohen — 3 films:
The High Lonesome Sound (1963)
The End of an Old Song (1972)
Roscoe Holcomb: from Daisy Kentucky
9:30 – 10:00 – LIVE music with Brady’s Run

SATURDAY, OCT. 9: 11 am – Midnight

Viewing Block 1
11 am – 11:40 – Cal Arts Animation
11:50 – 12:55 — Best of UK Super 8 Fest
1:05 – 1:45 — 3 Super 8 Experimental Films

Viewing Block 2
2:00 – 3:35 — Narrative Shorts
3:45 – 5:00 — Documentary Shorts

Guest Artist:
5:15 – 6:30 – Josh Gippin – The Bubba Briefs

6:45 – 7:45 Documentary Filmmakers Panel — FREE

Guest Artist:
8:00 – 10:00 Mari-Lynn Evans Coal Country

Viewing Block 3
10:10 – Midnight — Suspense /Thrillers

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10: 11 am – 9 PM

Viewing Block 1
11 am – 11:35 — Animation
11:45 – 1:00 — Best of Hungary Super 8 Fest
1:10 – 2:15 — 2 Super 8mm Documentaries

Guest Artists:
2:30 – 3:50 — Here Come The Hi Hopes‚
3:50 – 4:30 LIVE music: The Hi Hopes

Viewing Block 2
4:45 – 5:40 — Short Narrative Films
5:50 – 6:45 — International Shorts
2 Spotlight films: Dusshera – India
Adeem – Lebanon
Guest Artist:
7:00 – 9:00 — Ted Sikora – Hero Tomorrow

Viewing Blocks and Guest Artist Events – $6
John Cohen Event – $10
Students Film Blocks – $4 Student Discount – $2
WORKSHOPS – FREE!

Opportunity for sculptors

cityart — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:15:36 +0000

News of an opportunity for sculptors has come my way. This comes from Bonnie Kubilus of Highland High School in Medina county (Granger Twp). She is looking for a sculptor to work with the students next May in constructing several outdoor pieces (there are some good places she has in mind). She is at the stage of preparing a grant request to some locally based funding prospects and would want to work with an area sculptor in doing that. The district has suffered a string of tragic events in the past year and she wants to develop a project that involves the students with a theme of resiliency and hope to counter some of that negativity before they end their school year. In addition to offering the chance to contribute to young lives, a participating sculptor would gain visibility with a very appreciative audience. This opportunity may be shared broadly in the Akron arts community and I encourage you to pass it on also. Interested sculptors should e-mail her at BKUBILUS@highlandschools.org

Brand new music video coming soon from Zach!

cityart — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:17:50 +0000

Last Monday night, Erin and I got to work on a brand new music video for local celeb/musician Zach. This video will be very unique in my opinion. You see, its a combination Live performance video mixed with a production video all shot in one evening! The great folks over at the Josaphat Arts Hall in Cleveland invited Zach to come out and shoot a video in their space, and what an amazing space it is! Its an old church converted into a beautiful arts space. To see more check them out at http://www.josaphatartshall.com.

Anyway, great space, and to top it off, they brought volunteers to light all these candle around Zach to create this wonderful space of warmth that fits so well with Zach’s new song Surround Me. The next thing that made it so cool was that Zach does not yet have a studio recording of this track, so due to the awesome acoustics in the hall, he was sure he could just perform it live, if we could capture the audio. And let me tell you, it was amazing. The final piece of this puzzle was to have this video be more than just a performance video that you see all over YouTube. We wanted this to have the feel of a production video with a little bit of story too. I am really excited about this project, and I can’t wait to complete the edit. In the meantime, I have a short teaser to whet your appetite! Check out this video from the shoot! http://www.vimeo.com/15569402

Thank you Zach. Thank you Alenka, and all the wonderful volunteers who lit all those candles!

Stay tuned! Peace out.
t

Todays necktie for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

cityart — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:00:33 +0000

Today I will be sporting a bright pink tie in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month, as suggested by my facebook friend Chris Strong.

KJ playing out at a crazy mancave!

cityart — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 21:17:57 +0000

So KJ has been telling me about this backyard ‘Saloon that these guys built just for parties and listening to live music at home. Its about the craziest man cave I have ever seen! She was thinking that maybe she’d like to do a photo and/or video shoot in the space. Now that I have seen it, I agree! You’d have to pay thousands to build a set to look like this place! And they just have it as they’re personal clubhouse. I love it. If you, or anybody else you know, have a space like this, please let me know. We are always on the lookout for cool locations for shoots. Its always better when they are pre-built like this one.

Peace out!

KJ playing out at a crazy mancave!

Originally uploaded by toddv

Brand New from the todd v studio

cityart — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 11:17:49 +0000

So this is something I’ve been wanting to try for a while now… I wanted to create some paintings that were pure motion and flow similar to the feeling of Asian character “shodo” painting. It’s also a painting created with restraint, in that I limited myself to two strokes of the brush, and a palate of only three colors. Finished with a free flowing splatter. I think I really like these, and need to experiment further.

What do you think?

Much love,
todd

Very Short Stories

cityart — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:40:15 +0000

So, I was just turned on to this guy on twitter @veryshortstory and it’s a fascinating new development for our short attention span world. Apparently it’s an example of a brand new form of writing called flash fiction. Flash fiction is a form of writing akin to brainstorming. Writers test out new material writing very short stories of just a paragraph or a sentence. This guy has gone to the extreme of writing short stories that fit into a tweet! That’s a story of 160 characters or less!!! And the crazy part is they’re good! It’s sort of haiku meets limerick meets short story. Seems like fun… I want to give it a try:

Suddenly the bed felt warmer, like a warm embrace as I noticed the pressure in my bladder was now gone.

Let’s hear your flash fiction!

Much love, peace out
todd

At work… rockin’ the tie!

cityart — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:03:15 +0000

So, I was on a photo shoot yesterday, and I got a phone call. during the call, my subject, India, grabbed my camera and started shooting me! I just thought this was a cool image with a real cinematic feel. ‘Hey man, nice shot!” India. She’s actually got a real eye for photography herself, so its a lot of fun shooting her as the subject. Next week, we are doing an over the top glam shoot. Stay tuned for images and video! By the way… here’s todays tie: