Nerd Nite Philly

Posts Tagged ‘art’

Hey gang! Thanks for all of you that came out for our 5 Year Party! WE had a great time, and hopefully you did too.

Now, a look to the future! And by future, we mean August Nerd Nite. We have a great group of speakers– many of whom have come to Nerd Nite on a regular basis– and we’re happy to hand them the mic for the first time.

Lindsay Bates,  “Bombing, Tagging, Writing: Why Graffiti and Street Art are More than Vandalism”

A first look upon a well-contrived piece of graffiti or street art may inspire feelings of surprise, delight, and amusement, but the connection between graffiti and cultural heritage might be more difficult to perceive. Conventionally, graffiti was synonymous with vandalism, associated with a subculture that needed to be extinguished immediately. However, with the works of such artists as Basquiat, Keith Haring, Banksy, Steve Powers, and the like, graffiti began to be recognized as something more than crime – something with far more value, something that could reach beyond the walls of a gallery. Indeed, this subculture has since proliferated exponentially, and with its popularity a closer connection to heritage becomes more apparent. Though it may be a more radical and alternative way of creating heritage, its increasing recognition suggests that such cultural values are clearly demonstrated.

Bio: Lindsay Bates holds a BS in Architecture from Catholic University, and a MS in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.  She has been a graffiti and street art enthusiast since visiting Barcelona in 2005, and is especially passionate about how art can be a catalyst for change in our communities.

Nicole Donnelly, “Papermaking with a Philadelphia Invasive”

Nicole is an artist & papermaker, and for the last few years, she has been harvesting Philadelphia’s paper mulberry tree (broussonetia papyrifera) from the abandoned piers in the Delaware River. This plant probably looks familiar to you, and that’s because it’s a non-native, aggressive / invasive plant, and it grows all over the city, especially along the highways and rivers, and it can actually thrive in very poor soil (like so many of our invasive plants, a.k.a. weeds). However, this plant has been used for thousands of years to make paper, and is the traditional fiber used for paper in China, Japan & Korea (what is commonly, and mistakenly, referred to as ‘rice paper’, and in the art store is called ‘mulberry paper’). This kind of papermaking is a SUSTAINABLE practice (because the plant is perennial and regenerates the branches that are cut each season).

Bio: Nicole Donnelly is a papermaker, visual artist, and independent teacher based in Philadelphia, PA. She fell in love with handmade paper and its artistic possibilities while studying with Timothy Barrett at the University of Iowa (2008­-09), who literally wrote the book on Japanese hand papermaking. Donnelly is a co-­organizer of the Hand Papermaking Community Documentation project; the founder of paperTHINKtank, a papermaking studio in Philadelphia; a board member of The Soapbox Independent Publishing Center in West Philly; and the President of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA), 2015­-17. Her artwork is focused on the environmentally sustainable possibilities and beauty of handmade paper.

Henry Bernberg, “Mapping the Galaxy Far, Far Away: Using Raster Channelization Techniques to Build a Hyperspace Network for the Star Wars Galaxy”

Ever wondered how the Imperial Fleet gets around the Galaxy Far, Far Away while avoiding all those black holes and supernovas? Or how the Millennium Falcon could make it from Hoth to Bespin without a working hyperdrive? Learn about how the galaxy was mapped, who mapped it, and how advanced spatial analysis techniques can be applied to filling in the gaps between planetary clusters and the hyperspace lanes that connect them.

Bio: Henry is a sci-fi and mapping nerd living in Philly and specializes in geographic information systems analysis. He holds degrees in urban spatial analytics, historic preservation, architectural studies, and anthropology; has worked on archival and mapping projects projects at The Penn Museum, Azavea, and the Kansas Geological Survey; and worked on archaeological digs in Belize and Turkey.

Music by local artist Emily Mineo!

When: Wednesday, August5

What time: Doors open at 4pm. Show starts at 7:30pm

How much: $5 cover gets you admission plus happy hour specials all night

Where: Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125

Be there and be square!

Nerd Nite Philly

Greetings Nerds! We have a great line up for the 45th Nerd Nite Philly (and first of 2015!). We know you’re itching to find out what we have planned, so let’s do this:

Passenger Pigeon – The Disintegration of a Species
It doesn’t matter if we all die. – The Cure

Trying to find humor in the story of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon is akin to finding sunshine in a Cure song. Well, a good Cure song anyway. But that is what Kate Garchinsky, writer and illustrator, aims to do for Nerd Nite. Using the timeline of her own life, she will share her experience of the preventable extinction of the Passenger Pigeon in words, pictures, and depressing song lyrics–one hundred years post-mortem.

Bio: Kate Garchinsky’s first word was “bird.” Now she is a writer and illustrator of natural history for children who also likes to draw dead birds. She began working on her book, “Passenger Pigeons: Their Amazing Life and Tragic Extinction” a few years ago, inspired by her bird rehabilitation volunteer work, and a life-changing Wikipedia search. She also is currently illustrating two more non-fiction picture books for children, due out in 2016 and 2018. Kate has exhibited her Passenger Pigeon artwork at the Audubon Center at Mill Grove, and the Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. Visit Kate online at:
www.penguinart.com
twitter.com/katesnowbird
facebook.com/KateGarchinsky
instagram.com/katesnowbird
It’s better than it tastes: How a food looks affects liking for the taste of the food.

Although most people think that the flavor of a food is the primary driver of liking or disliking that food, research has shown that it is only one of many factors influencing liking. Since “the first taste is with the eyes” we have, not surprisingly, found that how a food looks has a big effect on how much we like a food. This is good news for those of us who do not cook like Marc Vetri but would like to have family and friends enjoy what we make for them.

Bio: Debra A. Zellner is currently Professor of Psychology at Montclair State University in New Jersey and on sabbatical leave at the Monell Chemical Senses Center doing a research project with the Vetri Foundation. She is the author of numerous research articles and book chapters on the liking and perception of food. Her primary interest is understanding why people like the foods they like.
Science has gone to the dogs

We all know that dogs are pretty smart and some dogs have jobs. Now dogs are going to college to become scientists! At the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, dogs are helping find lost people, identify cancer and answer the age old question, why do dogs eat grass (actually that one is still a mystery).

Bio: Dr. Cindy Otto, a veterinarian and scientist founded and directs the Penn Vet Working Dog Center to dig into the questions that “only a dog nose”. She incorporates her experience as a clinical veterinarian (specializing in both emergency medicine and sports medicine), a disaster responder working with search dogs, a research scientist and a dog trainer into the coolest job ever.

We’ll have 2 intermissions filled with music from returning band Sidewalk Atlas.

This all goes down at the famed Frankford Hall, per usual.

Wednesday, February 4
Doors open at 4pm. Show starts at 7:30pm
$5 cover gets you admission plus happy hour specials all night
Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19125

Be there and be square!

Nerd Nite Philly

Us Nerd Nite bosses–you know, the fine folks who organize the monthly celebration of nerdiness at Frankford Hall–are quite pleased with November’s line up of speakers and local entertainment. Where else in Philly are you going to learn about zombie fungus and computer hacking, meet the creators of #BrailleStreetArt, and enjoy some spoken word poetry all in one place? Well, if there is somewhere else, we imagine that liters of beer and excessively large German pretzels aren’t involved.

Without further ado, the topics at hand:

Fungal A.I. – Zombie fungus and mold logic by Samuel Bledsoe

Fungus acts in ways similar to some basic computing algorithms. The focus is on Cordyceps, a parasitic fungus that controls ants for its reproductive needs.

 
#BrailleStreetArt: Where Art and Accessibility Meet by Austin Seraphin and Sonia Petruse

Meet the creators of #BrailleStreetArt, the Philly Geek Award winning project that combines the social, political & tactile processes of art and accessibility. Sonia Petruse & Austin Seraphin will discuss the origin of the project, how their personal & professional affiliations in Philadelphia inspire them and what’s next.

 
And What the Hack? A glimpse into the dark art of computer hacking by Dylan Pierce

Ever wonder how websites get hacked? Ex-hacker and former IT Security Administrator Dylan Pierce shares a glimpse into the history and culture of hacking, from phone phreaking to modern day hacktivism and SecOps. This includes a demonstration of one of the oldest but still most frequently used attacks to compromise databases. Don’t try it at home. Actually yea, you can totally try it at home just don’t use it on someone else’s site. That’s very illegal. Just don’t do it

 
F. Omar Telan presents POEMS OF THE APOCALYPSE (including MY HEART AND OTHER TEEN AGED MELODRAMAS) with A SLIDESHOW OF DOOM and INCIDENTAL MUSIC OF DESPAIR!!! or, you know, something

More questions? Well you better just stop by and ask our illustrious presenters yourself!
The logistics:
Wednesday, November 5
Doors open at 4pm. Show starts at 7:30pm
$5 cover gets you happy hour specials all night plus admission to this fantastic night
Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19125

Be there and be square!
The Nerd Nite Philly Squad

Hey Friends, are you ready for a fantastic Nerd Nite? We know we’ve been missing all of you plus the fine beers at Frankford Hall during our hiatus. So we’re back and better than ever. The ever important logistical details:

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

doors at 7pm, show starts at 7:30pm

Frankford Hall at Frankford and Girard

$5 cover gets you a night of nerdy edutainment, plus food and drink specials.

The talks at hand are as follows:

“Love, Pixels, & Exploring Romance in Video Games” by Eric Smith

If someone were to ask you what the Greatest Love Story of All Time was, and what it was that made said story so great, what would be your answer? Chances are, you might not bring up Shadow of the Colossus or Final Fantasy VII. Which is ridiculous, because come on. In this talk, we’ll explore the oft forgotten romantic genre… of video games.

Bio: Eric Smith is the co-founder of Geekadelphia and the Philly Geek Awards, and the social media manager at Quirk Books. He’s the author of The Geek’s Guide to Dating, and his debut YA novel, Inked, is due out this Fall with Bloomsbury Spark. He’s written for The Huffington Post, Boing Boing, BuzzFeed, BookRiot, The Bygone Bureau, Geekosystem, and more. He enjoys bad movies, good books, and old fashioned cocktails. Hi Nena! <3

“When the Stars Align – The Convergence of Art & Science” by John Caperton

The Print Center’s Demetrius Oliver exhibition, Canicular, is conceived in direct response to the curator’s request for the artist to think as expansively as possible about what constitutes a print (printed work being the core of The Print Center’s mission), and reflects the artist’s longtime desire to create an installation requiring a radical shift in the typical functions of an organization and its gallery spaces. In this case, the artist essentially converted the gallery spaces into an observatory which will only be open for one hour each night (Tuesday-Saturday 7:00pm-8:00pm, weather permitting) to coincide with the rising of Sirius in the night sky. Canicular is a new video installation that will consist of a projected, live-feed from a high-power telescope focused on Sirius (the brightest star in the night sky). The video, a live-feed from a telescope mounted on the roof of the Franklin Institute, will be projected in a round structure, built within one of The Print Center’s galleries to resemble a small observatory.

Bio: John Caperton, Jensen Bryan Curator of The Print Center, curated a solo exhibition by New York City artist Demetrius Oliver entitled Canicular on view through March 22 at The Print Center. Oliver is known for creating elegant, improvisatory, site-specific installations using photography, sculpture and video to record the act of sidereal observation itself. His work draws heavily on a variety of disparate intellectual interests related to interpreting phenomena, including American transcendentalism, music of the spheres, and the history of cosmology, weaving them into spectacular, cohesive works of self-exploration and expression.

“True Love Never Dies: Victorians, Burials and the State of Amour” by Alexis Jeffcoat

The woman who left behind her heart, the ashes that were pulverized to make room for two souls; the pomp and circumstance of arctic explorer’s burial with the sad state of his lover in a pauper’s grave. These are love stories. And hate stories, too. Lust, loathing, passion, devotion; all of it follows us to the grave. Be it all-consuming, romantic or even scandalous; love does not end with death and no one was surer of that than our Victorian predecessors. Sit back, grab a drink, and snuggle up: we’re about to gossip like its 1872. The dresses were long, the love was torrid and the burials? Dramatic.

Bio: Alexis received her undergraduate degree in Psychology and European History from Temple University and her Masters in Arts & Humanities from Arcadia University. She manages marketing and programming for the Friends of Laurel Hill Cemetery, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Laurel Hill Cemetery as a historic site. As a fan of history, Alexis enjoys sharing the stories of the cemetery’s varied “residents” and no, she has not yet seen a ghost.

Plus Joey Sweeney with some sweet acoustic sounds.

See you fine Nerds there!

Hey Nerds!

First – a big thanks to everyone who came to our Halloween party.  We had a blast, and we hope you guys did too.  And you certainly did not disappoint in the costume contests.  From some extreme nerds to Mary Poppins to Bunnicula to Doc, Marty, and a Flux Capacitor, we were amazed by your talents all evening long.  Mad props.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming with a smorgasbord of nerd goodness.  Details:

Wednesday, November 6, 2013
doors at 7:00, show at 7:30 sharp
Frankford Hall at Frankford and Girard, 2 blocks from the Girard St blue line stop
$5 cover gets you a night of nerdy fun, plus food and drink specials

The lectures at hand:

“How the Universe is Trying to Kill You” by John Bochanski

While the night sky looks peaceful and serene, it is anything but. Near and far, the universe is full of hazards that pose a threat to all life on Earth.  We’ll take a look at a few, and look at some ways that astronomers are trying to identify the most eminent threats. While I can’t tell you when and where the next threat might strike, I can tell you that Bruce Willis and nuclear bomb is not the way to go.

Bio: John Bochanski is an astronomer and visiting professor at Haverford College.  John is also a blogger for Sky and Telescope magazine and volunteers for the Philadelphia Science Festival.  Hailing from South Jersey, John graduated from Villanova and got his Ph.D. in Seattle from the University of Washington.  After that, he worked at MIT and Penn State, before coming back to Philly.  When not contemplating the mysteries of the Universe, John can be found watching the game, or out on a run around town.

“Jeffro Kilpatrick: Bury My Bones in Ink” by Jeffro Kilpatrick

Kilpatrick will discuss how he uses art and cartooning in all ends of his life, from his career to charity to social circles to wooing the love of his life. He will show examples of his work referencing geeky pop culture, his fascination with Philly and Fishtown, and his obsession with the world’s maudlin, rambling, nocturnal creatures.

Bio: Jeffro Kilpatrick is a Philly cartoonist, born and raised in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia. He is a co-founder of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society (www.phillytoon.org) and a proud member of the Meathaus Comics Collective (www.meathaus.com). He spends his days and weekends teaching art to Philly middle school students, and his nights hunched over the same drawing table he had when he was a kid.