Elisa Shoenberger
The portfolio and oral history project of a Chicago based Freelancer
It’s up! I’m so excited that I can share my Vocalo piece with you all. Check it out here: https://soundcloud.com/vocalo/three-artists-three-projects-one-chicago-by-elisa-shoenberger
As I’ve mentioned previously, it features three artists I’ve interviewed for the project: Nora Moore Lloyd, Carron Little, and Meida Teresa McNeal. It’s a taste of the amazing work that they do!
I hope you will enjoy!
Hello all! It’s been a busy few weeks. This past weekend, I completed interview 55 at the Zhou B Art Center! I’m coming close to the end of the interviewing stage of the project. Only a few more interviews before I’m ready to start the second half of the project: the transcribing and editing of all of the interviews. I’m getting pumped!
I also finished my 8 minute piece for Vocalo. What a process that was! I really learned so much, everything from how to get good tape to how to write for radio. I’m so happy that I had this opportunity. I think my final piece came out well and I can’t wait to share it with you all. I’m not sure when that will be exactly, but I’ll definitely post a link to it when I’m able to share it. I also can’t wait to work on my next audio piece!
Sculpture outside Zhou B Art Center
That’s all the news right now!
So I'm coming up to the final week of the Vocalo Storytelling workshop. The final piece is due next Wednesday, March 2nd! I've learned so much in these past five weeks!
I've finished my second round of interviews with everyone. I've got all the secondary tape I'm going to need. Right now, I'm working on finalizing my script for my voiceover. And then mixing it all together. TIme is of the essence.
I've learned new ways of thinking about sound. There's the interviews themselves, which are critical. But I should also think about getting sound from someone showing me some work or asking them to show their favorite tool for their artwork. It helps set the scene!
So I'm going to be off the radar for the next week and a half as I finish this project.
Until then!
This week marked the fourth class of the Vocalo Storytelling Workshop. The theme of the workshop is philanthropy, but it's beyond the notion of financial contributions. We are looking at how individuals or groups contribute to society in many ways. I've been working on an eight minute piece focusing on three artists whose work has dealt with communities. The first artist is Nora Moore Lloyd, a photographer who has worked to document elders and other members of Native American tribes in the US. The second is Carron Little, co-founder of the public performance art series Out of Site. And the third is Meida Teresa McNeal, co-founder of Honey Pot Performance. Together, I'll talk about how each person's work interacts and fosters community.
I've learned a great deal of important things about getting good tape for the radio. THere's a big difference between oral history tape and radio tape. One of the books on oral histories says that while you want to make sure when you are clear that you are recording with the person you are interviewing, you should position the tape so they don't see it. But you want to make sure you can still see it, so you can make sure it is still recording. Radio is much more upfront and close with this. You should wear your earphones into the recorder and position the recorder close in front of them. Very different. I've also learned to think about what non-verbal noises that you can get, like the sound of someone showing photos, or showing a camera. Very neat. I've also learned that editing tape with music in the background is hard. If you make cuts, the music may not align in the cuts and it will sound weird.
In the past three weeks, I've been working to collect additional audio for the radio piece. I've meet with two of the artists already and will be meeting the third artist this week. It's helped me get better sounding tape and also to hone in on the part of their work that I'll be talking about. I've also been helped by Out of Site who has let me use the audio they've collected. I've also gotten permission from Ballenarca, one of the performance art groups from last year, to use the music from their amazing puppet whale piece. (Check out more here: http://www.ballenarca.com).
Ballenarca, Out of Site 2015
Lots of hard work ahead! I can't wait to make the final piece available to you all!
So very exciting news for the project: I was accepted into the six week Vocalo Storytelling Workshop! What an honor and an opportunity! I'm two classes into the workshop. For the next four weeks, I'll be working on creating my own audio piece based on interviews for this project. This is truly an exciting and thrilling opportunity. I wish to thank Maria Gaspar, artist and oral history participant, for recommending that I apply for the project.
As many of you know, I have always wanted to use the incredible audio that I have collected in the course of this project but I know that I know nothing when it comes to sound editing. This class will hopefully teach me how to craft and edit an audio story, which is simply magnificent. It's also possible that my piece will be good enough for the radio.
So if I'm a little quiet over the next four weeks, it's because I'm working hard on this project (along with other very important personal things). Whatever happens, I should have a piece that I can share with you all in the next few months!
That's all for now!