The show, “Expanded Abstraction” includes 6 different ambient animated visual works, presented by the Center for Visual Music, a nonprofit film archive dedicated to visual music, experimental animation and avant-garde media.

Here are a couple of stills from my animation work in Generation 244:

Weaving Light

So Many Galaxies

I’ve been working with Electric Sheep for many years as a fractal designer, and also I designed their Sheep Logo. This short Documentary Video has a great interview with Electric Sheep creator Scott Draves, and includes a few samples from the collection as well.

Congrats to shepherds Scott Draves, Chris Ursitti, Coppercat, and everyone involved with Electric Sheep!

More info,about Electric Sheep Generation 244:
Video: Highlights of Electric Sheep Generation 244
Generation 244 Archive
Generation 244, organized by Artist (I’m listed under the handle “llamamama”)

More info about the show, from the Center for Visual Music site:

CVM is pleased to present Expanded Abstraction, a new 3-screen program at LA County Museum of Art through January 2012. On view evenings on three HD screens at the Renzo Piano-designed Stark Bar in LACMA’s central plaza.

Expanded Abstraction
A program from Center for Visual Music
Curated by Cindy Keefer
Featuring Scott Draves and The Electric Sheep’s Generation 244 (2010)
Robert Seidel, vellum: slices from a virtual sculpture (2009)
Christina McPhee, Bird of Paradise (2011)
Baerbel Neubauer, Water Ambiences (2011)
Charles Dockum, Mobilcolor Projector Performance (1969), a film in 3 movements reformatted for 3 screens.
Maura McDonnell, Silk Chroma, silent version (2010)

On view:
Mon, Th, Fri, Sat 8 – 11 pm
Tues, Thurs 9:30 – 11 pm
Daily 10:30am – noon (starting July 31)
Museum is closed Wednesday.

Program can be viewed from public seating in the central plaza (behind Chris Burden’s Urban Light sculpture), and in the Stark Bar. Museum admission not required.

I totally had fun making this tutorial, and I’m so pleased that Instructables has chosen to feature it! Thanks to editor Laura Khalil, aka zazenergy, for including Fire Skirt in the ebook!

I created the original dress in 2001, mostly so I’d be visible at night-time parties, (ie. to avoid getting lost and prevent dangerous encounters with Art Cars at Burning Man Festival…), I showed the project at fashion shows and art shows for a few years, and then created the tutorial in 2007 so that others may also be fashionably illuminated at night events.

The Fire Skirt tutorial also earned a brief mention in Best of Instructables, Volume I, and I’m delighted to see they’ve also featured it on the Instructables homepage today! Thanks guys!

Check out the ebook and make something glow!

Fire Skirt! as seen in ELLE Argentina, ELLE DECOR Italia, and The Best of Instructables :)
The awesome photo is by Joel Crisp, and the lovely model on the left is Mary Elisa.

I’ll admit I had the easy part: Jeremy Richardson aka Coppercat is doing live audio production, solving 2 Rubik’s cubes, herding cats, and shooting the video footage.

I’m drawing spontaneously, in charcoal, which is good and messy, and allows for drawing high-contrast images quickly without a lot of pressure and repetition. In my decorative animal drawings, I like to incorporate deco styles from all over the world. This one has a celtic-florentine flavor: I particularly enjoyed detailing the knot-work in the cats’ tails!

The Astronomy Beadwork series has already received positive reviews from NASA astronomers, and contributed to a NASA podcast; I’m happy to know I can contribute further, albeit in a very small way, to the future of Space and Flight research.

In addition to having an amazing facility where they make fantastic flying vessels, the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center also offers tours and educational programs.

Their vision is quite lovely:

“To fly what others only imagine.”

Latitude 45 North Necklace - Distance measured in Beads

Each string of beads shows a “slice” of the world,
crossing through a diverse selection of terrain and civilizations.

Distances are roughly proportional,
with each bead representing approximately 50 miles / 80.5 kilometers
of Great Circle distance.

Water, Land, and Cities are marked on the necklace,
creating a wearable map:
a bare-bones geolocation device built with stone-age technology.*

Northern Hemisphere Necklace Series - Distance measured in Beads - Latitudes 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 North

Water is represented by shiny deep blue glass beads.

Land is a combination of frosted green glass,
in spring green and evergreen shades,
with natural stone beads marking the mountains
and changes in elevation.

Cities are marked with shiny dichroic glass beads:
this necklace includes densely-populated cities
on or near each Latitude.

A magnetic clasp snaps the necklace together at Longitude 180,
the International Date Line over the Pacific Ocean.

*Not for use in actual Land or Sea Navigation.

This necklace series was extremely fun to research: so easy to wander off and get lost in the details of maps, terrain, civilizations, and geographical information. Super thanks to Moses Wolfenstein, Ph.D. for advice & brainstorming on this project!

WOOT WOOT! I couldn’t be more stoked! My Solar System Necklace design was featured in MAKE: magazine’s Best of MAKE: 2010!

There are some amazing projects in the Best of MAKE: 2010 collection, including a knitted skeleton, bendy-straw shrimp, and illuminated fashion projects!

Thanks to the fantastically talented Becky Stern for the mention!

Solar System Necklace - each bead is 20 Million Miles

Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune are all known for being surrounded by wild lovely storms of Moons, ranging from rock to ice in composition, from tiny and irregular to large and round in shape, occasionally colliding in their orbits! (Jupiter has 63 known Moons, Saturn has 62, and Neptune has 13… it’s quite a party out there…)

In the Moons & Planets necklace series, the nearest Moons of each planet are represented in Moonstone, Agate, and Glass, with each Moon’s distance from the Planet measured proportionally in beads. (1 bead = 10,000 kilometers on the Moons of Saturn necklace, for example).

Check out the Moons & Planets Necklace Series, available here:
Moons of Saturn Necklace
Moons of Jupiter Necklace
Moons of Neptune Necklace

Moons of Saturn Necklace:

Moons of Neptune Necklace:

Moons of Jupiter Necklace:

In addition to contributing to a NASA educational project, this conversation with Astronomer Jane Houston Jones inspired a new addition to the Solar System Necklace series: a beaded Comet Pendant in Moonstone and Agate. In anticipation of Comet 103 P Hartley 2 (“Hartley 2″ for short), Jones requested a beaded Comet that could be moved around on the necklace according to the Comet’s position in our Solar System.

Check out the Comet Pendant Design here:
Comet Pendant – Re-positionable – Moonstone and Agate

Check out Jane’s awesome Astronomy blogs:
Jane Houston Jones at NASA
Jane Houston Jones – personal Astronomy blog

Check out the Podcast Here from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
What’s Up October 2010? – Jet Propulsion Laboratory News

Comet Pendant – Re-positionable – Moonstone and Agate,
shown here on a Solar System Necklace.

The six-strand beaded Atmospheric Strata Necklace design demonstrates the Atmospheric Strata and various objects and phenomena that one might encounter in the Atmosphere, such as Clouds (shell), Meteors (garnet), Satellites (copper & hematite), and the Aurora Borealis (fluorite).

It is my hope that this design will inspire thoughts of the complex and delicate relationship between the Earth and Atmosphere.

The strands of the necklace encircle the wearer in the same order that the Atmospheric Strata surround the Earth; from the center of the necklace, you are given the perspective of Earth, seeing the Atmospheric Strata radiate outward into Space.

Check out Rachel Hobson’s Craftzine posting here:
Craftzine: Laura Cesari’s Atmospheric Strata Necklace

Find out more & purchase the necklace at the Chain of Being shop:
Atmospheric Strata Necklace

“I’m eleven (11) yrs. old, & dad bought this for mom. I assembled it by myself with help from dad on making the clasp and getting the right number of black beads. (Dad wanted to help so I let him count beads for me ;-) I found this fun and not too difficult. It looks really good on mom, you have to double loop it so it’s not too long though. “

Solar System Necklace Kits have now shipped to various locations around the globe: It’s delightfully mind-boggling to think about how each kit represents an individual person’s experience of visualizing the Universe!