Carson Schafer

MFA Jazz Drums ('19)

A Drum Solo Visualized

Hello, I am a Jazz Drums MFA ALUM (’19). My goal with this submission has been to find a way to make visuals that clearly represent what drummers practice –moving around the kit and using multiple limbs at once to create music. I wondered if there was a way to visualize this. I then realized that learning some basic coding could help me reach this goal!

I have placed drum triggers and piezo mics on my hi hat, ride cymbal, toms, snare drum and bass drum. I created a patch in MAX/MSP that parses the amplitude information received by each trigger. From there, it is instantly routed into a coding software called Processing where real-time visuals are created. The effect is seeing what you hear in an abstract but clearly understandable way. Thank you for checking it out! -Carson

Usha Venkat

Radical Practice Radical Practice is a series of podcast conversations between CalArts Graphic Design Program alumnae and current students. Each episode features an alumna with a distinct professional practice, including BFAs and MFAs whose endeavors range from cultural to corporate and from singular enterprises to ambitious ideas. We’ll discuss how they have defined success for […]

Matthew Pagoaga

Parallel Self Embraced “Parallel Self Embraced is an upcoming interactive light art installation to be installed at Burning Man 2021. Parallel Self Embraced presents two panels with human figures outlined in their center. Radial lines extend outward from the figures and beckon as doorways for entry. Entering the piece trips a variety of sensors and […]

Aashray Harishankar

Flight “Flight” is a 2019 concept album mirroring the timeline of human life, from birth until death and beyond. Each song, lyrically and sonically, represents a different time period, but all are reflections of life as a whole. Beginning with “Liftoff/Zephyr”, we rise into a period of birth and infancy, of wonder and innocence, carrying […]

Fallon Williams

Originally located on the back wall of the MOD, IRIS was a 3-dimensional automated aperture that opened to about 17-ft in diameter to reveal a lit cyclorama in its opening. For the Virtual Campus, we will be modeling the iris in 3D software, then using lighting software to create various lighting looks. Christian Mejia (MFA2, […]

Carla Lopez

Water as a cleansing, invigorating, distortional, and transitional space. Motel pools as portals. Coloring and Layout Assistance – Lula Ochoa and Emily Malone My Swimmers – Lula Ochoa, Audrey Bandrowski, James Holsten, and Arius Ziaee Additional Camera Work – Savannah Perry Music by 11ai – www.ilai.link Thank you to the Calarts Risograph Printing Techs, especially […]

Joanna Keler

DEEP INSIDE “CalArts. A game-changer in the education of professional artists. CalArts. Grounded in openness, experimentation, critical engagement, and creative freedom. CalArts. Transform ourselves, each other, and the world. Let’s go, stranger I’ll show you CalArts. From outside to inside. To all our concerns, frustration, and alienation. To all what will always stay in counselor’s […]

Emiliano Aguirre

Tsar's Special Delivery Many years ago (a score or so) in an alternate America full of pastel colors, a state-sanctioned courier delivers a small jar of caviar.