30-60-90

My life as an full time entrepreneur has been built on a 30-60-90 day business plan. We have just past the official 60 day mark since leaving my corporate job. With that being said, it’s also time to pivot, just slightly. I have a few small things slated that will be announced in the next 30 days. I’m looking forward to the opportunities that I am being given here in Miami. It is so different, in a good way. I felt confident with the decision to move here, and work on Alchemist. Now I’m really understanding the ideology of autonomy and collaboration in my daily life.

Autonomy means “independence or freedom, as of the will or one’s actions.” The condition of being autonomous allows a rational individual to make an informed and un-coerced decision. Work culture contains different eco-systems. Each company works differently to explore innovation, creativity, and final product. These categories function to encourage and cultivate talent, collaboration and autonomy working together to achieve that harmony. At Alchemist I use these ideas to develop projects, balance my schedule, and explore opportunities.

The first 30 days I did analytic studies, strategy research, and business plan development. I focused with the mantra “Make and Market”, which served me well. The magic was in the plan and execution of ideas, making phone calls, writing emails, and reaching out through social media. I also moved across the state which delayed certain things I wanted to do. I lost my business planner, with the concise outline of what needed to be done. It was a very interesting month. But I made things happened, I showed up and rolled with the punches.

Over the last 30 days my focus has been on relationships, community collaboration opportunities, making small objects, and designing large scale installations. I have worked with Alex of Luma Visual to explore the beauty of technology projected onto the handmade. I have met with Prism Creative Group to explore community opportunities and developing relationships with the greater Miami market. I have been listed on the Support Local FL directory. I submitted a few small art pieces to exhibitions pending acceptation. Through these decisions on how to spend my time, I’ve been making progress towards goals for Alchemist Productions and my personal art practice. That’s probably the biggest challenge, the integration of designing a company with value and purpose while maintaining my personal practice as an artist. 

Progress is important, and so are results. Progress can be invaluable to a business plan, and heed results of goals. My business plan has been mostly outreach to the community, and the progress has been amazing. Although I want larger projects, understanding the cultural insights and desires will influence and inform my next move. Assimilating with my new community is key to creating brand statements and strategy that will deeply connect to the culture. I am looking forward to the next 30 days, the pivot, and restructure of my brands business plan to deliver an everlasting experience for my clients, and the community.

Launching: APxLV

I’m back! The last 3 weeks have been so full! Somewhere between working on this company full time, moving my entire life, and completing a small installation for collaboration with Alex of Luma Visual from Orlando, FL; Jared and I have managed to get our new home in somewhat order. We are adjusting to life in Miami and although this is one of the most important things we’ve done for and in our life thus far life doesn’t stop for us. 

The official move on July 3rd went as well as I could have expected. We had so much help from loving friends and family. We successfully moved my workshop, Jared’s production studio and all of our personal belongings over 100 miles across the state. This is the second time I’ve moved cities in 3 years and before that I was fairly stationary for 10. I am adjusting to my new space much more quickly than I had expected, which is a total blessing. That leads me to tell you all about the collaboration with Alex, a computer graphic artist and video projection mapper. 

Alex and I met in June. Jared introduced us after having a conversation with him. Jared knew right away what each of us do as artist could make magic combined. We hit it off immediately and I asked him within the first 45 minutes of talking if he would be interested in collaborating and/or going into business together. From the initial conversation we began having weekly phone calls, and shared google docs of ideas. Exchanging information from a distance. I did not completely understand his craft but I knew introducing innovative technology to my handmade sculptures would surly be interesting. Alchemist Productions x Luma Visual was born. Alex really loves the way I build forms, and currently use velvet. These are two major themes he suggested for our project. I started building hexagons and stacking them, his response was positive, so I continued making 60 of them to produce 3 columns. 

As our conversation continued he suggested a ribbon form, I knew it needed to be velvet. I mentally processed my plan of action for construction, making drawings and completed the 8” hexagons structures. Then I had to stop working and start packing. I was so excited about this project that it was extremely difficult to press the pause button, but necessary as the moving timeframe crept up on me. Then he tells me there is an annual event by Creative City Projects in Orlando called “IMMERSE”, he forwarded me the website and artist application. We are a great fit for this particular project and plot twist! The application is due July 16…TODAY, like right now. Life is funny like that. We immediately scheduled for the installation to be ready for projection this past Friday, time to hustle! 

I spent the better part of 3 days last week, painting the hexagons, texturizing and painting the backdrop, and building the ribbon form. All while having our first house guest, managing the rest of my life, and no internet. This is my happy place, this is where the magic happens. The installation was staged by the time Alex walked through the door on Friday at 4pm. Ready for him to set up his projector and computer to layer color and movement onto my forms. Until we realized we needed more space between the physical installation and the projector. So we moved the room around and the installation to a different wall. Then we had it! The right orientation for our first collaboration. 

Alex jumped right in. I admire this. He was so excited about the details of the forms, the textures I produced, and the soft nature of the whites and creams. He began drawing the silhouettes on the computer, masking out each form individually. I watched in excitement. Like I said before I really had no idea what his process took from a skill and craft standpoint, I just knew it was going to be interesting. He worked for several hours before we needed to get some sleep and be ready to have a complete collaborative installation by Saturday night for the IMMERSE submission. We were up and working bright and early yesterday morning finishing the mapping, and playing with different projection textures, color, and motion graphics. We needed it to be dark to record video and get the full effect. We took a long and necessary break, relaxing, eating, and filling out the application proposal details. 

As soon as it was dark in the room, we began sorting through footage, and images. Pairing and placing color theory, textures, and movement onto my static forms. Art magic in every way. We recorded each combination we liked, making decisions as a team. This is a beautiful experience. I’ve collaboratively worked with people in the past but not to this level. This project has pushed the art I construct further and Alex says it has done the same for him. The experimentation and exploration of my sculptural installation with his projections have collided in a way I didn’t know was possible. We completed our submission to IMMERSE last night at 11pm. We made it happen on a tight timeframe, little budget, and a lot of hard work. I’m thrilled to share this with everyone and from this experience we have conceptualized more projects for the future. Imagine with funding, more space, and some time what we can accomplish. We are officially for hire! Check out our test/submission video here!