October 25, 2006

First Response

The project has been up for 9 days now and there is a great flow of interest and response. The two organizations that I plan on sending proceeds from the sale of the posters and books both wrote beautiful messages of praise. It makes me feel really happy. They are Karen Kern and Steve Sweet. I emailed various arts organizations Arts Council of New Orelans before leaving stating my project objectives and asked if I could meet them. Karen quickly responded with invites to meet at a party of artist friends in the French Quarter. Then she introduced me to Steve Sweet of Historic New Orleans Collection. Steve invited me to see a current exhibition on a monday that they were closed. It was a personal tour of an amazing show of artifacts from Katrina "CITY OF HOPE". Very impressive presentation of work.

My conversaton with Steve Sweet covered media and the web. He wanted to create a Wiki for New Orleans but did not have the resourses to start one. He believed it was an important opportunity for the Re-Development of the city. I was able to contact a colleague of mine at RIT, Amit Ray who does research on WIKI's. He emailed Jimbo Wales at Wikipedia and asked if they can create a WikiCommunity for New Orleans. Within the hour, the answer was yes. Soon they will launch the web site. This alone made me feel really well.

I am curious where this project is going to go. It is important to remember, IT IS NOT OVER. It is only out of the news. My hope is that DRIVE PROJECT :: NEW ORLEANS helps its viewers understand this american city needs them.

Posted by driveproject at 03:51 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

October 15, 2006

The Silent Launch

October 14th was my target date to go live with the new project.

The date was self prescribe, it was my mothers birthday. It was my way of saying "HEY, Look what I made". Something a bit different than the images I would draw for the refridgerator or returning home covered with mud after building "nothing". I hope she is proud of where I am after 35 years.

There are still a few minor things to resolve. One is a preloader for the images and the external files. Pretty important in order to enhance the experience and there will be a comment section.

SHOUT OUTS!!!!

KEN SLATER
I want to let you know that the majority of the programming was completed by a recent graduate of the RIT Graphic Design program, Ken Slater. Ken has given the project %1,000. I a very grateful for his committment to the project. Without him, ya'll would not be seeing this thing until January 2007. Also, Ken was hired last week by Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Boulder, CO. It is a great position. I wish him the best of luck and hope he gets there before next friday.

ROBIN CASS
Robin is my girlfriend. She has taken great care of me in the duration of the project. She has helped me keep focus and dedication in seeing this thing through. Her effort has been in the capacity of engineer of the Roof top photo box conversion, nutritionist, travel planner, dog sitter, spiritual advisor...

NIKON PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
I pitched the project to them and asked if I could "borrow" equiptment. They recognized my committment and the possilbities of the the project. I am grateful for their support and consideration. I hope they are proud of my achievement.

Posted by driveproject at 01:22 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

October 12, 2006

Drive Project Lulu Book

I have been working on this book for sometime. All the images are from the 5 days I spent in New Orleans. There are spreads that represent a minute of my drive are round various neighborhoods. Each Neighborhood has 2 spreads, 12 images on left and a detail of one on the right.
There are 48 pages plus the cover. Full color. 7.5 x 7.5 inches.
I am really excited about the final product.

+++BUY DRIVE PROJECT BOOK HERE +++

The book is $18.00
Proceeds from the sales go to:
Arts council of New Orleans
and
Historic New Orleans Collection

I hope you get one.

Posted by driveproject at 07:37 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)