08 September 2010

Pecha Kucha Night SLO: A Cultural Petri Dish of Conversation

Details:
Pecha Kucha Night San Luis Obispo Volume 12

• When: Friday September 10, 2010
:: Doors open: 7:00 pm
:: Presentations begin: 8:20 pm

• Where: Steynberg Gallery, 1531 Monterey St. SLO
:: $3 donation at the door.
:: Wine and beer will be available for purchase

Presenters for PKN Vol_12 are:
:: Tod Rafferty_Maintenance and the Zen of Motorcycle Art. Tod has lived 32 years in the county, following relocation from Topanga Canyon, Mill Valley, Atlanta and Avon, Ohio respectively. His journalism career included staff gigs at Cycle News, Big Bike and Cycle Guide and freelance work for Cycle World, Motorcyclist and Motorcycle Classics magazines. He’s the author of several books on Harley-Davidson, Indian, Ducati and “The Encyclopedia of American Motorcycles.” He edited The Achievers, Central California’s Engineering Pioneers, in 2004. Rafferty lives in San Luis Obispo with his wife Bronwyn, the Principal at Oakley School in Santa Maria.

:: Kristina Gill_Paleoethnobotany. Kristina is an archaeologist and graduate student at UC Santa Barbara. Her Ph.D. research in California archaeology is focused on how prehistoric people used plants for food, tools, medicine and rituals among complex hunter-gatherer-fishers. Her research area includes Santa Cruz Island in the Santa Barbara Channel, and also extends into the interior Chumash region where rock art has the potential to elucidate some ritual uses of plants. Paleoethnobotanical studies, combined with traditional archaeological research can provide a more complete picture of past lifeways, and changes in human interaction with our environment over time.

:: Marcie Hawthorne_Muralist. Marcie is a San Luis Obispo artist who has been working as a muralist, gardening/natural history book illustrator and plein aire painter for thirty years. She has earned an academic degree in biology from Duke University, a fine arts degree from California College of Arts and Crafts, and has also received additional training in medical and biological illustration at Duke Medical School. Marcie has combined a love of nature and art in a unique way with her residential and public art mural painting. An example of her recent work is the Saber-Toothed Cat mural at the San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum. www.marciehawthorne.com

:: Russell Swanagon_Storyteller_“Breaking and Entering: An interpretation of Jack and the Bean Stalk.” Russell is a professional storyteller and educator. He is a lecturer in the Liberal Studies department at Cal Poly and at Brandman University. Russell received his Master’s Degree from East Tennessee State University in Storytelling with an emphasis in applications in education. He serves as an artist-in-residence, performs thematic programs for schools and special events and facilitates workshops in the applications of storytelling in education and organizations. He believes that the folktales are not good because they are old; they are old because they are good.

:: Mark Velasquez_Photographer. Mark received his BFA from Cornish College in Seattle in 2000. Since then he has traveled with his camera through Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, and most of the continental United States spreading his unique sense of humor and creative energy. Today he can be found anywhere on the West Coast, camera in hand, mind reeling. www.markvelasquez.com

:: Duane Heil_Building Innovator. As President of Vitruvian, Duane Heil has designed and implemented the systems that make the Vitruvian processes unique and uncommonly efficient. A third generation builder in California, Duane had the opportunity to apprentice with essentially every trade. This training was rounded off with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Business Pre Law (emphasis Civil Engineering) from Arizona State University. He has successfully managed the DW August Company, general contractors, for 20 years, building many very high-end custom and spec homes, as well as commercial and retail structures. Duane is passionate about building the most energy and cost effective buildings with state-of-the-art methods and materials.

:: BK Richard_Octagon Barn Center_Land Conservancy. BK Richard grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania and moved around the United States for college. He enjoyed a thirty-year career in the aerospace industry, working in systems engineering and project management. After retirement and moving to San Luis Obispo in 2003, he joined the board of the Land Conservancy and has been active working on land use policy and the Octagon Barn Center Project. He has also worked on energy issues and solutions by co-teaching a course at Cal Poly and through a County advisory board. He maintains an informal website of photographs from the County and from travel at www.bishoppeakgroup.net

:: Cynthia Meyer_artist paired with Tim Jackson_musician
A San Luis Obispo local, Cynthia Meyer loves old houses, rusty bicycles and perfectly worn-in sneakers; all the old friends from her childhood in Central California. Painting in oils, she pushes the colors of her subjects until every painting feels like late afternoon in summer, her favorite time. www.cynthiameyerart.com

Born and raised on the Central Coast of California, acoustic artist Tim Jackson opens new doors into the realm of the new millennium style of folk music. Tim has been voted “Best Male Vocalist” in the California New Times Reader’s Poll. He has also received the Fine Arts, Music, and Entertainment’s “Best Male Vocalist of the Year” award. No stranger to the larger than life world of rock, Tim has performed for audiences all over the nation, opening for such prominent artists as Dwight Yoakam, former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, Roger McGuinn, and the Neville Brothers. Tim’s style is undeniably timeless and genuine. www.TimJackson.net