Dell'Arte International Photos

Here are some pics of Dell'Arte International, Blue Lake CA.

This is the Main Office, where they have an indoor theatre and an outdoor theatre behind the building.  They also have a couple rehearsal rooms/studios, and all the admin offices here.

This is another view of the main building.

This is one of the studios we hold most of the workshop classes in.  It is at the Riverside campus, which is a few blocks away from the main building.

This is another studio at the Riverside campus - everybody loves the red bouncy floor!

Blue Lake, California

Here are some pics of quaint little Blue Lake, CA.

This is the type of housing we live in.  

This is the Blue Lake Museum. I haven't been yet, but I plan on swinging by on Sunday - it's only open in the afternoons on Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

These poppies are all over the place right now.

This is one of the walking paths by the river.

The Mad River.

Another view of the Mad River and the bridge leading to the hatchery.

Dell'Arte International at Blue Lake CA

Blue Lake is a beautiful small town (only around 1000 people) situated right next to the Mad River.  There's not much here other than Dell'Arte International - a cafe, post office, bar, laundromat, a bed & breakfast, and a small industrial park.  However, the surrounding natural beauty makes up for the tininess.  I don't think I could ever live here, but it makes for a great artistic getaway! 

I've already wrapped up the first of two workshops here at Dell'Arte.  The first workshop was entitled, "Grand Guignol: Theatre of Terror and Laughter." Here's the description from their website:

Once the most popular entertainment in Europe, Grand Guignol is an exciting theatre form that begat current thriller and horror films. Rarely taught, this “theatre of laughter and terror” explores our fascination with the macabre, playing with the violation of society’s taboos. Grand Guignol is wildly physical, intensely psychological, and filled with gruesome special effects.

We spent mornings focusing on the physical performance style, and afternoons working on original scripts and the special effects.  I don't have any pics from the gruesomeness yet, but my workshop-mates assured me they'd send some images as soon as they arrived back home (I forgot my camera card reader in Florida!).  I'll be sure to post any pics as soon as I get them.

 

On Saturday they had a fun evening where the company presented a lifetime achievement award to Rene Auberjonois, who's done tons of projects on screen and stage, but most notably in my opinion, he played the voice of the french chef in The Little Mermaid!  He was a very humble and personable man, and it was great fun to dance to a live band with all the hippies after the presentation of the award!  It reminded me of many different events back in Bemidji MN...

Updated website!

Check it out - I've finally updated my website to better reflect my work right now. You'll find all my latest projects in the gallery, and the whole thing has been streamlined to load faster.

Let me know if you have any questions/concerns/difficulties/issues (I hope not, but if you do, please let me know so I can fix it ASAP!)

Enjoy! - ellenmueller.com

Skepticism Book

For my final project in my "Against Interpretation" class this summer, I created a little book along the lines of "The Idiot's Guide to..." series.  The book is entitled, "Skepticism, A Simpleton's Guide to an Unduly-Optimistic World."  It's very tongue-in-cheek, and has some fun original illustrations.  Feel free to check it out at my Lulu shop.

Florida Consortium of Art Schools 2009 Juried Exhibition

Fun news: Some of my work from "The System" has been included in this year's Florida Consortium of Art Schools 2009 Juried Exhibition, which will be held at FSU Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee FL. This year's juror was Libby Lumpkin, a noted essayist, critic, curator and educator. Most people recognize her as the author of Deep Design: Nine Little Art Histories.

The show runs July 6-September 20, 2009. So if you're in Tallahassee, be sure to swing by and check it out! And if you can't make it to Tallahassee, the exhibition catalog (pictured here) is available online.

Pictured: Front of the FloCAS 2009 Juried Exhibition Catalog

Grant Progress

It's time for an update on that grant I first mentioned last December (Fanaticism, Sustainability, & America).  It's been a long bumpy road, but we finally have a survey up online for USF students (sorry we couldn't open it up to people beyond the USF campus - I was really bummed we had to restrict our sample population so much!).  

The other people on my grant team developed the survey and will use it's results to write a paper.  Meanwhile, I'll be taking the results and using them as source material for a performance piece.  The two workshops I'm attending at Dell'Arte International are also partially funded by this grant and will contribute to my research for this performance piece.  

I've already started some visual research by compiling the first 10 pages of Google image search's results on the three key words: Fanaticism, Sustainability, & America.  All the images have been printed out and collaged together for a quick reference on my studio wall.

 

Full collection of images

 

Detail shot

Detail Shot

Photos from evaluTEC project

   
Check out these photos from the evaluTEC project back in April (I know, I know, I've taken far too long to post these!). The accompanying "First Monthly Report" booklet is now available online at my Etsy page. Enjoy!

Upcoming Panel Drawings

I've set to work on a new set of panel drawings, and I'm very excited about them.  I've been at grad school for a year, and have not done a single drawing since I arrived (aside from some illustrations in my various booklets), so I'm feeling like it's about time!  

They look very blank and intimidating right now, but I have some ideas flowing, and I know they are going to relate in some way to the grant subject matter (Fanaticism, Sustainability, & America).  The panels are all primed and ready to go, so I just have to get to work developing the compositions to go on them.  8 new works!  Woot!