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People|Things

@peoplethingsproject

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A video series profiling creatives as they do their creative work in their creative spaces. Produced by @eyelumworks

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People | Things - EP18: Paul Swartwood

Paul Swartwood
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‘When I come into the studio, I have the most beautiful park to walk into. It’s always quiet and you can hear the nature coming down the hill as you walk into the park. It’s a really serene place to be in the mornings. So I’m very lucky that I get to have a studio that is so inviting to come into.

My name is Paul Swartwood. I’m the resident artist for glass blowing in Glen Echo Park here in Maryland. I’m the owner and operator of Glen Echo Glassworks and I run all the day within the studio whether it be teaching, scheduling, blowing glass or having others come in to work with me and make glass.

Glassblowing is a fantastically entertaining process for me all the way through from beginning to end, is engaging physically, it’s engaging mentally, challenging in every dimension you can imagine. I love that focus. It brings you to a point of clarity with the material that you can anticipate and take it to the next level.

There’s a lot of different ways to interpret work and as a craftsman I tend to focus on the technical aspects of work. It’s hard for me to dwell on my work too much. I tend to move on to the next project pretty quickly so I can keep myself fresh and take on a wide variety of projects. I learn from my work as much as I can and I try to decide how to make my it better next time, what I could have done better while not beating myself up and realizing that I’m still doing just fine with it.

It’s getting in the oven and I’m still learning.’
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@glen_echo_glass
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Music 📻 by @too_many_projects
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#creative #creatives #creativework #process #documentary #series #bts #production #acreativedc #acreativemoco @panasonic @lumixusa @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #gh6 #mavicpro2 #goprohero11 #glass #glassblowing #glassblowingstudio #glassblowingtools #loveglassblowing #glassart #bestofglass # by @peoplethingsproject

Alex + Olmsted
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‘We create stories and we use techniques such as illusion, puppetry and physical comedy to engage audiences. The work that we make is a theatrical production that we create from the ground up.

Hi, I’m Alex and I’ll Olmsted and together we are Alex and Olmsted. We’re based out of Takoma Park Maryland and we make original theatrical productions that involve puppetry and physical comedy.

Creativity is the catalyst for human expression. Creativity is looking at things metaphorically or seeing an inanimate object and imagining that it has a soul and that you can empathize with that. I think creativity is vital for our audiences to engage the creative parts of their brain to see something that’s abstracted like a string and hands interacting with that string and no words. I would say creativity is the burning point of life. It’s the space between people and relationships and how we relate to one another and how we create space together and create feelings. We love pouring that creative energy into stories and creating theatre.

In real life we are two puppeteers, in love, who make shows about love. It’s meta upon meta where there really isn’t, there’s the thinnest veil, a whisper of a veil, it’s incredible personal, it’s inseparable, the art from the artist.’
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@alexandolmsted
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Music 📻 by @too_many_projects
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With special thanks to the Arts + Humanities Council of Montgomery County for helping to fund the production of this episode. We received a grant to help with this episode and the next 3 profiling the resident artists of Glen Echo Park. We appreciate their support in helping this series continue moving forward.
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#creative #creatives #creativespace #creativework #process #documentary #series #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumixusa @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #gh6 #mavicpro2 #goprohero11 #puppet #puppets #puppeteer #theatre #puppetshow #puppettheatre #marionette #jimhensonfoundation by @peoplethingsproject

Emon Surakitkoson
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‘For my work, i like to just stick with a certain palette which is black and white. I think I choose that because I love to explore more about the process of making them. You can see it’s really simple and then you look closer. Either you can see the detail of the brushstroke and the movement of the hand or you can see the layer or the crackle or the texture, and that it’s a little more interesting, just like when you get to know the person. When you go closer they have more to say, the personality a little bit shows off.

My name is Emon Surakitkoson and I’m a Thai-born artist based in Washington, D.C.

Everyday is a good day for me as long as I can create something.’
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@emonsurakitkoson
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Music 📻 by:
@too_many_projects
@_in_circles_
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#creative #creatives #creativespace #creativework #process #documentary #series #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumixusa @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #paint #painting #monochrome #brush #brushwork #pattern #blackink by @peoplethingsproject

People | Things - EP15: Rosa Leff

Rosa Leff
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‘I start from original photos that I’ve taken in my hometown, traveling all over the world, and I turn them into intricate, detailed paper cuts. So they’re quite literally big pieces of paper with lots and lots of holes in them. Think of a doily or a paper snowflake. But all of my cuts are made by hand using an X-Acto knife.

I’m Rosa Leff, I live in Baltimore and I am a paper cutter.

At this point I think I’m best known for my Urban Landscapes. And those are really special to me because I started doing them when I moved away from Philadelphia. I started feeling really homesick so I started going through old pictures that I had of Philadelphia cutting them. I was getting drawn to a lot of crumbling bricks and the gum on the sidewalks and the grittier things, the power lines. My focus really became those small things that could be any city.

I print out my images pretty much as they are and then I tape them onto a piece of paper. And then I just take my Excel Blades and I use this weird little Fiskars craft knife that wraps around your finger like a ring pop. And I just start cutting away, mostly at the light areas, but again, doing a lot of reversing of the positive and negative in order to make sure that I’m able to keep all the sections that I want.

The best part is the big reveal moment where I lift off the printed photo that I’ve been using as my stencil layer and that’s the first time I really get to see what’s underneath.

When I paper cut I’m not really interested in doing a lot of the traditional folk art motifs. What I really love to do is these Urban Landscapes because that’s how I grew up and where I came from and the thing that matters to me.

I put my own voice in my paper cuts by documenting my lifestyle.’
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@rosaleff
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Music 📻 by @too_many_projects
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#creative #creatives #creativework #process #documentary #series #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumixusa @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #xacto #fiskars #folkart #papercutting #paper #papercrafts #crafts #xactoblade #excelblades @xactobrand @excelblades by @peoplethingsproject

People | Things - EP14: Sarah Jamison

Sarah Jamison
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‘I’ve always known that I wanted to pursue the arts, really my whole life. And so, being an artist is a trajectory I’ve felt I’ve always been on.

The work that I’m doing I think of as almost a museum for the things we value, the things we don’t. Sort of an earnest look at who we are as a culture.

My name is Sarah Jamison and I live in Washington DC.

I’m using traditional fine arts materials, primarily colored pencils, ink, gouache, marker and paint pen to create works that are equally as sterile and referential as the internet to the internet but also have the art historical context and traditional practice as what we think of as traditional fine arts media.

I do really love a long process, so have such an appreciation for the meditative aspects of the work.

When you’ve never thought of anything else for yourself, and this is all I’ve ever wanted to do, it’s never lost on me, feeling gratitude that I get to do it, that I get to create it, and that people appreciate it and interface with it.’
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@sarahjanejamison
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Music 📻 by @too_many_projects
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#creative #creatives #creativework #process #documentary #series #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumix @lumixusa @nikonusa @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #d850 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #coloredpencil #drawing #fineart #photorealism #internet #patience by @peoplethingsproject

Tom Longobardi
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‘I do this work and I create things because I feel like it’s an outlet. I need an outlet for something. I like the satisfaction of saying I can’t buy this and I spend hours and hours and look at this thing that I have created. To me it’s normal, but a lot of people see that and they’re like whoa I wish I could do that. And I’m like, why can’t you do that? Just fucking Google it and look on YouTube. It’s just be willing to make the mistakes, spend the time and do it again, and do it again until you get it.

Lately I started fabricating motorcycles and customizing and I really like that because there’s so many different facets to it. A lot of people end up subletting certain things but I like to learn each step of the process and really dissect it and take the time to learn the mistakes.

In the past when I was doing music and stuff like that my mind could go elsewhere. I could be doing my taxes in my head and my hands are doing something and that’s fine, no ones gonna die if I mess up. If I’m welding or using an angle grinder and my mind’s going somewhere else I could lose a finger or go to the hospital. So you have to really focus and I think that’s nice. An element of danger is good.

To me fun is like…..I’d rather be in my garage doing my thing and creating something and that’s rewarding. Spending all this time in my head and being alone in the garage, honestly, it’s the place I like to be.’
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@too_many_projects
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Music 📻 by @_in_circles_
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Cover photo 📸 by @srooeintan
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Filmed Pre-Covid
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#creative #creatives #creativework #creativespace #documentary #series #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumix @djiglobal @nikonusa @gopro #gh5 #d850 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #metal #fabrication #motorcyclecustomization #motorcycle #selftaught #diy #diylife #welding #whatcanthedo by @peoplethingsproject

Tyler Butler
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‘I was raised right here on the farm, working since I could walk, talking the customers, really enjoying the farming experience from day1. I went off to college, studied horticulture and crop production and really enjoyed science and during college I worked inside a lab and throughout my time there I just saw myself looking out the window just saying, I gotta get outside. So after college I realized it was time for me to come back to the business and really start the next chapter of my life, and that’s growing this business.

My name is Tyler Butler, 3rd generation farmer at Butler’s Orchard in Germantown, MD. As general manager my job is to make sure that the day to day operations run smoothly while also communicating in all the ways necessary. Whether it’s the farm market, our pick your own fields, or our agriculture/farming aspect. All 3 of those pieces have to work altogether for us to have a very successful operation.

I’ve grown up living on the farm, working alongside my grandmother, my grandfather, my uncle, my aunt, my cousin, my brother, my sister, my dad, my mom, I mean, it’s a family affair and people don’t realize that. I care about the people that work here, I care about creating a legacy for my family. And thinking about that is where I get choked up, thinking about my family, my little daughter. Like I said, there’s no better job and I think having emotion is the most important part of loving what you do, and I’m fortunate enough to really love what I do.’
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@butlersorchard
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Music by @_in_circles_ and @too_many_projects
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Filmed Pre-Covid
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#creative #creatives #creativework #creativespace #documentary #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumix @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #farmer #farming #farminglife #farmersofinstagram #tractor #fields #flowers #crops #mocoagreserve #montgomerycountymd #butlersorchard #amazingoffices by @peoplethingsproject

Shelly Airey
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‘I started out as a rhythmic gymnast and at 15 my gymnastics career is kind of done. What do I do with all of these skills that I’ve trained? And I found performing. So I started with a lot of flexibility performing which then turned into contortion. Before I knew it I started doing stilt walking and ribbon dancing and then I started to learn aerial silks and aerial hoop and then my real passion started developing into hand balancing.

My name is Shelly Airey and I am a professional circus acrobat and I’m also a flexibility and handstand coach.

Depending on what events I have coming up my training will vary. I often will train with my personal trainer, we do weight lifting stuff at a local gym. I try to train 5 days a week just to keep up my strength and then I train flexibility probably 3 or 4 times a week. It’s just super time consuming so I’ll probably work on that for an hour and I often will tie that in with my hand balancing training.

When I’m performing I don’t necessarily have to think so much about the skills that I’m doing. So that’s actually kind of my opportunity to just go through the movements and enjoy the interactions, or the reactions from the audience.

I eat, sleep, and breath my performance and coaching. I truly love training and pushing my body to its limit and discovering where those limits are. I’m fortunate enough to wake up everyday looking forward to what lies ahead.’
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@shellyflex
@shellyflexathletics
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Music by @_in_circles_
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Filmed Pre-Covid
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#creative #creatives #creativework #creativespace #documentary #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumix @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #contortionist #contortionistsofinstagram #handstand #handstandcoach #training #coaching #performingarts #aerialsilks #creativemoco by @peoplethingsproject

Scott Laudati
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‘I started writing when I was 14 or 15. I was always in a band but we could never keep the band together. I figured pretty early on that I would have to get good at something where I only needed to rely on myself. So I was always the lyric writer in bands and I figured that I should just extend that and make a body of work that I could stand behind. My name is Scott Laudati. I live in Brooklyn, New York. I call myself a writer. I write poetry, short stories and novels.

I spend probably 3 or 4 hours a day walking around the city looking at the waterfront or crossing bridges. By the time I get home, I’ve seen enough nutty things and had enough things and had enough existential crises to sit down for six or seven hours and just get something out and then work on it and work on it. It’s usually always terrible, it’s discouraging and then I have to quit for a couple of hours and come back. But by 11 o’clock every night it usually starts flowing.

Juggling all the different kinds of writing is pretty easy because when I am tired, which is almost always, I write poems. But if I get a good nights sleep finally then I can sit down for 20 hours and work on a novel and blast out 80 pages that I’ll then edit for six months.

Writing is tough because the rewards are few and far between. But nothing feels better than getting a letter back in the mail saying we get thousands of submissions every month and we picked your piece. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing that and it’s a great reward because it’s not like anything else where it’s an instant gratification. It’s months and months of sitting alone with yourself and wondering if what you’re doing has any meaning and every now and then it’s validated and it makes the whole thing worthwhile. I create the work that I do to make sense of this life is because otherwise it doesn’t make any sense.'
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@scottlaudati
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Music by @too_many_projects
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Filmed Pre-Covid
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#creatives #creativework #creativespace #documentary #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumix @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #writer #poet #author #brooklyn #newyork #walkingandwriting #openmic #wanderin by @peoplethingsproject

Matt Corrado
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‘Most of the work that I do is what I would consider visual art, either rooted in painting or illustration or graphic design work. Mostly creating graphics and illustrations inspired by my youth which is driven by a lot of skateboarding, hip hop, graffiti, comic books and things that initially inspired my love for art and creating when I was younger. My name is Matt Corrado and I’m a visual artist and designer.

It really enables me to work on a lot of different creative outlets at the same time which is really always kind of been the way that I like to work and allows me to kind of feel like I’m expressing all the different kinds of creative juices that I have going on inside. For me I actually really enjoy going back and forth between different mediums. So I really like the balance of being out on a project using my hands, climbing on ladders, being really tactile and in the environment you know there’s traffic, there might be construction or there might be rain, all these different elements that affect the work and I really enjoy that.

Painting murals, designing logos and branding and working on digital media stuff and working with a team of other creatives so there’s so many different things that makes it super interesting that there’s never really a dull moment. The most fun projects are always the ones that I’m a little bit nervous about or the projects I’ve never done before but I say yes to. For me, it’s just important to keep pushing and to keep trying to be better and not get stagnant and learning and keep being curious and keep putting yourself out there because you never really know what opportunities might come next.’
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@mattcorradoart
@brightlightmedia
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Music by @too_many_projects
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Filmed Pre-Covid
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#creatives #creativework #creativespace #documentary #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumix @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #muralist #murals #painting #artist #designer #graffiti #hiphop #comicbooks #designlife #studiolife #graphicdesign #diy by @peoplethingsproject

Tiffany Workman
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‘I have trained in dance since I was 3 years old. I knew my plan was either to travel with a company around the world or own a dance studio. My name is Tiffany Workman. I am the owner and director of Impact Performing Arts. My job at Impact is to instruct my students in several different classes such as modern, ballet, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop. We train in technique, we run, we do free weights and cardio to get ready for competition season.

My process for choreographing pieces for my team is very different from several other teachers and instructors. I always try to make sure that it is a group effort, not just me doing all the choreography. I like them to have a day or input in the pieces as well. I also like to choreograph on the spot when they come in because they give me the energy and drive to make the best piece I can because of their passion and love for dance. I make sure that I take classes and I train to learn the new moves to make sure that I can give them the new moves and choreography they see on tv.

I feel creativity is very important in my line of work. I just want to make sure that I am keeping my students very engaged, very excited when they come in each day for their lessons and classes and company rehearsals. I try to think of new moves, new choreography, moves that they have never done before or have seen on tv. I want to try and make sure I can give 100% to all my classes, all my company rehearsals, all my instructors, the parents here. I try to give everybody the same amount of love and appreciation and dedication so that everybody feels that they have had a great day and great environment at the studio. And once that has been accomplished I go home extremely happy. The importance of my job in my personal life is everything to me.’
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@tnnaz25
@impact_danceworx
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Music by @too_many_projects
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Filmed Pre-Covid
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#creatives #creativework #documentary #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumix @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #dance #dancetraining #training #choreography #choreographer #dancelife by @peoplethingsproject

Brian Bell
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‘I got started doing this work, it’s a family tradition for us, started with my grandfather, went to my father, to my brother and now to me. Me and my father, my brother, my friends, my girlfriend, my son, we all enjoy just working on cars and trying to figure out new tricks to make the car last. My name’s Brian Bell. I drive and build derby cars.

First you gotta find the cars and then you gotta find the right car. From the past you know what you’re looking for and what you’re not looking for. And then you gotta strip them to how the rules go by the derbies. Each derby is different, some of them allow you to weld and some of them you don’t. When the car arrives you remove all your plastics, your windows, your door panels, seats, remove all the wiring out of under the hood of the car, cut a hole in the hood so if the car catches on fire they can put it out, and strap your doors and your battery down in your seat and truck and hood.

The main challenges of my work is going out there and not making enemies for one. Number two, I mean it would be picking and choosing your shots at what you take and what you receive. I used to get nervous, I don’t do that anymore. I got over that after I got hit by a car. It’s very addictive so if you don’t make it and accomplish what place you think you should have made it definitely stays with you for a couple of days after you watch your videos and see what you did or what you didn’t do right. The fun part I guess is the adrenaline rush when you go out, get ready to get in your car and go out there and get the first hit. It’s all fun after that.’
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@bbell_1985
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Thank you to @mocofair for allowing us to film at the derby.
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Music by @too_many_projects
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#creatives #creativework #documentary #bts #production #acreativedc @panasonic @lumix @djiglobal @gopro #gh5 #mavicpro2 #goprohero7 #cars #demolitionderby #rebuild #enhance #reuse #recycle #moco #mocofair #carcarnage #upclose by @peoplethingsproject