Another London Hat exhibit and some questions for the readership!

[labricoleuse]

First off, i should mention that there's a very brief-run upcoming millinery exhibit in London at the Menier Gallery that looks excellent!

If any of you over in the UK have a chance to go check it out, please drop me a comment or message and let me know how it is! What with this and the Stephen Jones exhibit at the V&A, i sure wish i had planned to spend my springtime in England! :D

THE ART OF CONTEMPORARY MILLINERY
28 Apr to 2 May 2009

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, The HAT magazine is bringing together an exceptional collection of twelve designers and creators from around the world. Each designer's work could be described as wearable modern art. Be it sculptural and surreal or dark, serious and disturbing, their artistry and technical achievements are truly amazing. You can explore the work of this new generation, see firsthand the inspirational qualities of their creations and understand their enormous contribution to the world of contemporary design. Entrance is £2.50.

And, i also have a few questions for you guys, with an eye to various means of expanding the scope of topical coverage here at La Bricoleuse. I'd love to hear any and all your responses, either via comment or PM! First, the perennially-popular poll:

[Poll #1388135]

If you're one of the many readers who don't have a LiveJournal account (and thus, can't vote in the poll) please do leave a comment with your input if you like. I'm welcoming all voices here!

With respect to the addition of video content and coverage of selected topics, I'm thinking of something like, short video segments (15 minutes or less) along the lines of ThreadBanger or the Fashion Television clips or Torb & Reiner millinery tutorials up on YouTube. With respect to the addition of podcast content and coverage of selected topics, it'd be the same idea--downloadable (free) audio content on the same kinds of topics I already cover.

To that end, can anyone recommend good video editing software that's not too complex to learn, fairly intuitive, straightforward, etc? I just want to be able to do things like cuts, wipes, add in text/titles/credits. Nothing crazy fantastic.

Also I'd love recommendations of affordable video camera makes/models and audio recording equipment, similarly usable by an amateur videographer or podcaster like myself.

(With your tech and software recs, presume that i'm not completely ignorant--I worked as a DJ in college and a few years thereafter, so i've done my share of running sound through a board, albeit a simple four-channel setup. Presume though also that i have exactly no equipment to start with beyond an old iBook.)

This is all the very preliminary beginnings of a longterm plan for potential expansion of the blog...information-gathering, as it were.

Thank you all SO much for all your input, on this and in general as part of the readership overall. La Bricoleuse turns three years old this summer, and i just love what it's grown into, the feedback and dialogues and queries and brainstorms, all of it, excellent! I couldn't do it without y'all. (Or rather, i could, but it'd be the proverbial tree falling in the forest; what would be the point of writing a blog with the goal of information exchanges and artistic methodology discussions but no readership?)

Comments

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

You can get a snowball-style mic that plugs into a Mac for about $100. Easy to use & decent quality. Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) is a handy free program for audio editing (learning curve was a little steep for me, but I suck at audio), & GarageBand (which is prob. already on your Mac) is the default for recording podcasts.

I can ask T. for video recs bec. all I'm remembering now is the pro stuff (freaky expensive).

[devikat.livejournal.com]

Poll done... also I think I may have a couple vintage hats for you if you want them. I'm helping to clean out the costume storage at one of the community theaters that I've done shows with, and they're selling off a bunch of stuff, including boxes of vintage hats. I grabbed a few for my self, and grabbed a couple that seemed to be made of corn husks (but maybe straw? or raffia? I dunno) in that spiraled, braided style you were talking about... And they're actually more of a fashionable woman's cut, not plain straw hats at all.

I'll send you pictures...

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

The Menier Gallery is 5 minutes walk from my office, so I shall go up there and report!

[(Anonymous)]

My friend and fellow milliner from Barcelona Nina Pawlowsky will take part on the Hat Magazine exhibition. I'm very proud and happy for her, and she deserves it very much because she's really a great professional and very creative. I've seen the work in progress of the hat's that she's been making for the exhibition and they're amazing. They are inspired by Gaudi's architecture. I'm jealous I cannot go myself to take a look!