I feel like I finally did something important.  Something bigger and beyond anything I have done before. Yes, I have been making art my whole life and many works; paintings, digital art, sculptures and videos, caused people joy & happiness.. this is nice, I love this.. but those works don’t actually help save lives or influence positive global change or directly help contribute to healing the world, Tikkun Olam in Hebrew.

Well, actually I do feel my other work is important too.. but in a different way. Museum engagement, using social media to mentor teens & teach art history, and creating innovative digital art IS really important and our world is a much better place for it!!! But I somehow feel different, this time, because I used all these components together to address the idea of using art history for social change.. in this video I use 14th century Jewish art history, during the Black Plague, to address cultural intolerance, social violence, genocide through a feminist perspective. I use the ‘marginalized of the marginalized’ in this story to confront issues that are relevant today.

In this video, I share a story of the Erfurt Ring, its history and other objects that relate to the 14th century bride and recovered treasure. I propose the idea of a strong feminine game character and offer an opportunity for the future development of a Digitally Immersive Engagement Experience. I would like to use it as an Introductory Video for a future Kickstarter Campaign to produce a Game for Change experience for museums, audiences, and people who wish to learn more.. Learning more and sharing (two vital actions in most social media sites) helps contribute to healing the world too!!

#DrawArt images created for One Day Artist Residency  

I recently enjoyed participating in a One Day Artist Residency. A progressive and new program by Adam Reed Rozan, Director of Audience Engagement at  Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts.

New mobile technology is how I conducted the entire Artist Residency – by using digital media, the museums’s online resources, social media and new innovations in audience engagement. Please read more about how I used mobile and digital technology along with new media innovations with #DrawArt. 

The highlight of audience engagement was that I included a link each time I shared an image for others to Watch it Live on a #DrawArt Digital Sketchbook that I created just for the One Day Residency which indefinitely extends the audience’s experience with the ability to watch video playbacks of the drawings and the opportunity to learn more about each work, see the original art and link back to the museum online.

Optimus Prime is Jewish

Many of you have been working hard this Summer in museums, traveling with your families or even getting married.  I have been exploring the world of computers, games and cosplay.  Did I really write that? Yes, cosplay. I went to an Annual Sci-Fi Games Convention called CONvergence in Minneapolis. I dressed up as a back-up dancer in my favorite childhood cartoon The Jetsons..the episode with Jet-Screamer singing EEP-OPP-ORK-AHAH (means I love you). My computer scientist friend Clement Shimizu (from AAM2012) designed a headband with dual video monitors playing the song!

Please read more about how I attend this crazy Sci-Fi Games Convention. I compare my experience to other museum conferences I’ve attended in the past and explore the beginning of the development a Strong Feminine Game Character for a 14th Century woman in Erfurt, Germany who must evade angry mobs, flagellants and disease to gather and hide Jewish ritual objects, including the Jewish Communal Wedding Ring, part of the Erfurt Treasure Trove.