2008 featured artists - pg 2
"i of tx" by luke savisky - december 31, 2006
More of Last Year's Participating Artists
"The Leash: A Psychedelic Western Operatta” - The Rude Mechanicals
A western operatta in seven scenes (or so) including a mountain lion, a long-distance phone call, and a race between equal bloodhounds all tied together with a length of good rope.
Sponsored by the HBMG Foundation.
“Literature Live!” - Austin Public Library
The APL Bibliofiles, Austin's award-winning Book Cart Drill Team, bring the library to the streets in a concept piece embracing the love of books and libraries to celebrate literature and raise public awareness about the many opportunities our libraries afford our community. Literature transforms!
"Machinae Humana Carnival" - BikeZoo Austin
Human power themed carnival with giant bike puppets, performance, human powered juke box, rides and other human powered contraptions and performance pieces. Featuring the TroublePuppet Theatre, Save Our Springs Alliance Water Puppets, the Phantomagraph, Datri Bean, BikeZoo Austin (formerly known as Cycle Circus Austin), Big Chief Kevin and the Flaming Arrow Mardi Gras Indians, Out of the Loop Acrobalance troupe, games, bike decoration contest, music, art and bicycle fun for the whole family!! Also featuring valet bicycle parking by the Austin Cycling Association.
“Moonstruck by Moonlight” – Austin Chamber Ensemble
Two sopranos and a pianist perform opera arias from Puccini’s “LaBoheme” featured in Moonstruck. Additional duets and arias with Dick Hyman’s piano arrangement of “Moonglow”.
“Music of the Americas” -- Austin Vocal Arts Ensemble
Choral music performance featuring Spanish-language holiday selections, African-American spirituals and other choral music pulled from a variety of cultures, generations and styles that reflect the diversity of America.
Kenny Sheppard
"The Oziene Experience" - Kurt Schuler
Join in this high energy celebration of world rhythms engineered for dancing in the street. Be prepared toshake your stuff tothe African-Brazillian-Caribbean funk of this all-percussion band. Performance duration grooves with your vibe. www.myspace.com/oziene
“Paper Parasol Paraders”
Coming together in a show of mutual respect and support are today’s young women leaders. Their powerful voices and stomp-a-rama will have you wishing you were spinning under the spell of their umbrellas! Unified by the common goal of empowering young women for leadership roles in our community, the organizations hosting the First Night PPP’s are GENAustin, Latinitas, and SafePlace. http://www.genaustin.org, http://www.latinitasmagazine.org www.austinpowergirls.com
FEATURED EVENT
“Peace Crane Project 2008” - Theater Action Project
A city-wide initiative that uses theatre and art-making to explore the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Over 3,000 young people as well as hundreds of community members will participate. Youth and parents from Mendez and Martin Middle Schools, and Hart, Barrington, and Langford Elementary Schools, will build spectacles for the Grand Procession. In addition, students from 27 campuses will create cranes for a month long installation at City Hall, community members will be invited to create cranes at HEB on December 1st, and interactive storytelling sessions will be held during the family festival. The project culminates by sending the thousands of cranes created to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. www.theateractionproject.org
Underwritten by H-E-B
“Persian Dance is an Art” - Princesses of Persia
A unique, cultural piece that highlights the beautiful customs of Persia.
“The Phantomograph” - Museum of Ephemerata
A machine that measures the vibrations of objects and detects songs. It’s a living juke box with twirling spookiness, singing musical surprise, and puppet madness.
! Pyrotechnics !
Designed and produced by Western Enterprises
www.fireworksbywestern.com
“RoboSpinArt” and the “Pongonater” - The Robot Group
Create your own artwork using interactive robotic technology as well as rockin’ music, bright lights, joysticks, and speed control. See the great “Pongonator” robot created for MakerFaire Austin 2007.
Underwritten by Spansion
"Rockin' Grand Finale" - The Palm School Choir
The Palm School Choir made up of 5th and 6th graders from the Palm community in southeast Austin and local rock musicians perform Wilco and Flaming Lips songs. The kids will not only sing but will also put on a light show to the sounds of loud, hard rock. Gavin Tabone, Artistic Director. www.palmschoolchoir.com
"Roll-On/Roll Off" - Rebecca Ward
Sheets of color cascade down twenty-five feet from the ceiling of a loading dock and adhere to the floor, stretching twenty more feet until the rolls meet the next set of beams. Rows of hanging material create colored walls which form a maze-like structure that viewers can weave in and out of in this site-specific installation.
Project funded by 3M.
"Singing in the Spirit of Water" - Save Our Springs Alliance
Barton Springs supporters will raise their voices together to celebrate our love of the springs dressed as swimmers, animals, and spirits. A giant bike powered water goddess will lead us to Auditorium shores where we will join the Machinae Humanae Carnival.
"Seton Chalk Walk for Healing"
Grab some chalk and add your art to the pedestrian way walls of the First Street Bridge. Ilet art, ist messages and images uplift you in the New Year. Sponsored by the Seton Family of Hospitals.
"Mommy Says No!" - Asylum Street Spankers
This family friendly concert by the legendary Asylum Street pankers features songs from their award winning children's album "Mommy Says No!" With a broad stylistic range encompassing bludegrass, ragtime, blues, country, folk, pop, jazz and more, the Spankers apply their reknowned musicality and good humor to songs aobut children, childhood and being childish.
“Spring Flowers” - April Rain School of Chinese Dance
Chinese traditional and minority dances will be performed by children ages 4 – 14. Like a spring garden, dancers show different styles, costumes and music of Chinese classic and folk dance.
“Success By 6 Puppet-making Workshop” - United Way
A creative workshop to engage families in a fun, puppet-making workshop while raising awareness of the importance of early-childhood education, especially in the home. Underwritten by Texas Gas Service
“Symphonic Hollywood” - Austin Wind Symphony
Austin’s very own cinematic symphony performs memorable scores of film and television. AWS is a non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to providing education, entertainment and cultural enrichment while promoting and renewing public interest in the celebration of great music from motion pictures.
"Texas Jackalope" - Blue Genie Art
Track down this fantastic creature and prove to your friends that it exists. Great photo opportunity.
"The Jackrabbit Drought" - A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.
A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. presents an excerpt from its upcoming short film that blends animation with traditional illustration to tell a unique story of southwestern myth and horror. Lost in the Chihuahuan desert, amongst the creosote and cacti, lies a small town that's forgetting its past. But even out here, amidst the hard soil and bitter springs, some roots run deep. And one night, while a thousand tiny eyes keep watch, one man is going to uncover just how deep those roots go...Creative contributors include Ashley Arechiga, Bre Bell, Brieann Chapple, Michael Ferstenfeld, Pam Gorky, Leon Presley, Matthew "Junior" Scott, R.H. Walters, and Nathan Winant.
Trailer screens before and after each HBMG Theater performance.
"Time Mandala" - Neesha Thakkar
Translated as “circle” or “completion,” mandalas were originally used to express ideas of renewal and restoration through unpretentious, small-scale, flat designs. Stroll through the time mandala – a meditative installation of shimmering fabric walls on Auditorium Shores to celebrate the creation of a New Year.
”Transformations” - Cambiare Productions
Transformations is a multi-disciplinary, multi-media, designer driven collaboration between women artists. Largely inspired by Anne Sexton’s Transformations, each piece centers around one of her poems and uses her words to look at the idealized roles women play in our fairy tales, folklore, media, and oral history. The resulting series of short performance pieces is a diverse celebration and examination of how our society views us as women and how we perceive ourselves. Transformations is conceived and directed by Megan Reilly.
“Truckceratops” - The Caveman Collective
A new way to approach personal transportation. Leave behind the fossils of gas-guzzling and embrace the rhythm of electric propulsion. Directed by Garreth Wilcock.
“Ultimate Pulse” - Legge Lewis Legge
A suspended landscape environment fabricated from approximately 1000 – 11” diameter “flashlight” internally illuminated disks. This pulsing disk skin will hang from a temporary tensile or scaffold armature allowing visitors to pass underneath and around it. Upon completion of the project, the fabric will be dismantled and the discs will be donated to children’s shelters around Texas. www.leggelewislegge.com
“Volumen 1” - El Tule
High-energy bilingual music about history, art and culture that will have you dancing.
“Voyages” - Austin Children’s Choir
The Austin Children's Choir - under the direction of Kathleen Turner - will perform selections from their current season, collaborations with Graham Reynolds, the Carver Museum & Cultural Center, and the Grammy Award winning artists Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel. Founded in 1986, the Austin Children’s Choir is a living organization, connected to our lives – by the 150 children that combine their voices to wish you a safe and happy new year.
"The Wandering Juggler” – Andrew Alsberge
Wandering the First Night Austin foot print, Alsberge will stop and juggle flower sticks and poi in a festive costume.
“We’re Off to See the Wizard” - Ethan Azarian
An interactive life-size cityscape modeled after the colorful city of Guanajuato, Mexico. Children and families are invited to wander through the city and along the way meet the wizard, discover a chicken, find a shoe and see the big apple.
“Wings -- Loops!” - Michele Owens-Pearce and Crockett High School
Enjoy expressive shapes and stretchy loops with this diverse dance company from the Life Skills Department at Crockett High Schools. Go over, under, around and through the “loop-to-loop” obstacle course.
See Previous Work from First Night Artists
Examples from Previous First Nights Austin
Examples from First Night Boston
