iCarabout.com

I was so excited to see that Yahoo! did a feature story about one of my favorite people in Cleveland, George Vlosich — the Etch A Sketch guy!

You’ve heard of him, right? You know, he posted the video of himself Etch A Sketch-ing LeBron James on youtube! (Which now has over 2 MILLION views, by the way!)

This is a dude I’ve known for a long time and is a good friend of my family.  He was a student of my father’s at Cleveland Institute of Art, and then was hired to work with my Dad in the creative department of Wyse Advertising.  He used to show us his sketches when I’d visit Wyse, but it’s so nice now to see how his phenomenal (and just plain FUN) talent is out in the public eye!  Not only that, but he is also drawing positive attention to our great city and the amazing arts and culture incubator that is Cleveland, Ohio.

He’s also been featured on other nationally known shows and platforms, like Oprah! (I’m seriously jealous — I want to meet Oprah!) But he is honestly just an all around nice, down-to-earth guy who loves his family and his city. Might I add that he’s damn talented at his job too…you know, that one at Wyse!

Did I mention that he also started a GV Art + Design with his brother, a creative boutique specializing in original artwork, design — and awesome T-SHIRTS!! I’m sure you’ve seen the shirts around that say “CLEVE LAND THAT I LOVE” or “The Wait of the City”.  It doesn’t stop there. They also sell posters, magnets and greeting cards with George’s Etch A Sketches on them and even original songs for download written by his father!

GV Art + Design | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com

Check out more at http://www.gvetchedintime.com/

GV Art + Design | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com

I could go on and on, but I’ll share the article with you all because I love it!!

By Diane DiPiero, Associated Content

George Vlosich III | Picture from Yahoo! | iCarabout.com

Once upon a time, before portable DVD players and the Nintendo DS, a 10-year-old boy was handed an Etch A Sketch to keep himself busy on a five-and-a-half-hour road trip from Cleveland to Washington, D.C.

Not satisfied with sketching geometric shapes or stick figures, he made a picture of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Long after that trip, George Vlosich III is still producing highly intricate images on the Etch A Sketch. His detailed creations keep coming with each turn of the silver knobs. The red plastic box has become a vibrant frame for the artist’s breathtaking creations. Young Vlosich stumbled upon a unique means of artistic expression that would one day land him on “Oprah” and have him sketching everyone from LeBron James to President Obama.

Early years

After realizing his Etch A Sketch talents, Vlosich entered monthly contests sponsored by the Ohio manufacturer of the toy.He usually won.

Slightly suspicious, Ohio Art sent a representative to Vlosich’s Cleveland home to see if he was really the artist making all of these creations. When the company saw that he was legit, Ohio Art started to send Vlosich an Etch A Sketch toy every month so he could work on new creations.

The company also put some of his most detailed and impressive etches on a country-wide museum tour.

The son of an artist, Vlosich recalls watching Saturday-morning cartoons with his father and recreating on the Etch A Sketch the figures he saw on TV. From there, he moved on to sports figures. He fondly remembers making a sketch of Lawrence Taylor, former football player for the New York Giants and now a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“The Giants were at (the) Browns training camp, and I got to meet Lawrence Taylor and show him the sketch,” Vlosich says. He also sketched baseball players such as Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles, and got to meet them as well.

Child at heart

Many children outgrow a toy as their interests change, but Vlosich never abandoned the Etch A Sketch.

Instead, he perfected his drawings, spending “hundreds of thousands of hours,” in his estimation, turning knobs to just the right degree to create shadow effects that heightened the lifelike qualities of his work.

These days, Vlosich is a painter, a graphic designer and an art director for Wyse Advertising, a Cleveland-based agency. He and his brother, Greg, an artist in his own right, have created a line of graphic apparel celebrating their hometown. The “Cleve Land That I Love” T-shirt has been a big seller, according to Vlosich.

“We’re very pro-Cleveland, and we want to support the community, says Vlosich, 31, who is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art.

The king

The Etch A Sketch is still a big part of his life.

Dubbed the “Etch A Sketch King” for his detailed creations, Vlosich appeared on “Oprah” last February, showing the queen of daytime TV his own royal abilities. Currently, his work can be seen at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Etch A Sketch through August 1.

As fun as using the Etch A Sketch is for Vlosich, he doesn’t take on every project tossed his way. That’s because over the years he has developed an involved system that he follows every time he picks up the toy.

First, Vlosich shakes a new Etch A Sketch to make sure it will produce the crisp lines he needs. If an Etch A Sketch doesn’t pass the shake test, he doesn’t use it.

Rather than just start with turning the knobs to begin a new creation, Vlosich initially draws an image in his sketchbook. Only when he is comfortable that the image will reproduce well on the Etch A Sketch does Vlosich get to work.

He spends about 70-80 hours on one sketch. That’s because any time he doesn’t quite get a line right or doesn’t think an image looks like the original, he starts over. After doing the line work first, Vlosich moves on to shading, which he says is the easiest but also the most time-consuming part of a project. A single line might be traced over 20 to 30 times to give it the right thickness.

When he’s finally finished, Vlosich makes his sketch permanent by removing the aluminum powder and stylus from inside the Etch A Sketch. Once those are out, the sketch on the screen cannot be erased. Vlosich says he has shipped completed Etch A Sketches across the country and the images have always remained intact.

So many places

In January of 2009, Vlosich returned to Washington, D.C., this time to see his Etch A Sketch image of Barack Obama stand beside more traditional portraits of the newly sworn-in president.

“The Etch A Sketch has taken me so many places I never thought I’d be,” says Vlosich, who is working on a piece celebrating several cities around the country. He hopes to do some charity pieces in the near future, including one that would thank the U.S. military for its service.

The Etch A Sketch may be considered a toy, but when it gets in the hands of Vlosich, it becomes anything but child’s play.

Content provided by Associated Content from Yahoo!

One of my very favorite creative minds and visionaries  in the CLE is Danielle DeBoe and she’s at it again with this year’s “Made in the 216″.

Danielle owns and operates a fabulous boutique in the Gordon Square Arts District called Room Service, and is constantly involved in and provoking forward-moving creative thinking in Cleveland.  She was also a speaker at Cleveland’s TEDXCLE event.

Personally, she’s inspired me to never give up on my dreams and passions and to pursue them courageously and diligently. That’s why I’m so proud to help get the word out about the upcoming “Made in the 216″ (not that she really needs it, haha).

Here’s the scoop:

Made in the 216 | Cleveland, Gordon Square | iCarabout

Made in the 216 | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com

How cute is the “love boat” flier?!

Now, I could regurgitate everything on these promotional fliers to you here, but I figure you probably would just look at them. But I also know the type is pretty small on here, so here’s some deets:

June 11: 4-10PM special MIDNIGHT showing of “Out of Place” at Capitol Theater (as seen at Cleveland International Film Festival)

June 12: 11-10PM with AFTER PARTY at the Happy Dog – it’s also Discover Gordon Square Arts District Day!

-60 CLE based designers

-Shopping including: apparel, furniture, jewelry, candles, kids, art, stationary, etc!

-DJ’s and bands all weekend (Over 7!!)

-Food from independent Cleveland caterers!

http://madeinthe216.com

Danielle has really out-done herself this year, which I think is going to be a trend for the years to come. For those of you who didn’t go last year,  GET THERE THIS YEAR! There’s going to be more EVERYTHING – music/shopping/art/films/food/beer all from the LAND!

I’d like to end this post on this inspirational line: “Made in the 216 was designed and created by Danielle DeBoe to prove the viability of Cleveland as a place in which to base your creative endeavor.” <–gives me goosebumps just reading it! GO CLE!

I know I’ve been blogging about the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest A LOT, but I love it — SO SHOOOSH YOUR MOUTH! Just kidding.

Anyways, there have been some changes since I last posted about WMC.  The festival was going to be held at the Go Media studio but, some fire and safety codes have made that impossible.  Although it’s a bummer, I’m sure everyone would rather be safe than sorry.  Plus, if you want to keep having this awesome event yearly, it’s better to stay on the city’s “good-side”.

After lots of searching and options, WMC Fest will be held at the Parish Hall and Church in the Gordon Square Arts District!

Parish Hall and Church

6205 Detroit Ave.

Cleveland, OH 44102

Jeff Finley, WMC Fest Founder, couldn’t have said it better:  ”It’s actually a much better area for the festival because there are many cool businesses, coffee shops and restaurants right there.”  Here’s a great little video explaining why they had to change the venue and why they’re even more excited now.

In other fun news, Weapons of Mass Creation have had a photo contest going for a while now with Positively Cleveland that ends this coming Tuesday (May 11th)! You have until then to enter a photo of yourself and friends with a creative sign that says, “See you at WMC”. The more creative, the better!

Here’s what you can win:

Grand Prize: THE ULTIMATE WMC CLEVELAND VIP EXPERIENCE

1. 6 VIP/Backstage Passes to WMC Fest, so you and your friends can enjoy the ultimate VIP experience.
2. 6 WMC Gift Bags with shirt, poster, buttons, and other goodies donated by our talented WMC Guests.
3. 2 tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
4. 4 tickets to Cleveland Indians game on 5/19 or 6/8 (great seats behind home plate!)
   -
   Not only do you get to see every band, film, artist, and speaker at Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, you’ll also be granted access to the 3rd floor VIP level where all the bands, artists, and filmmakers hang out. Pretty sweet deal for you and 5 friends!

And to make the deal even sweeter, we teamed up with Positively Cleveland to give you Tribe and Rock Hall tickets!

Second Place: The WMC Cleveland Experience

1. 4 Weekend Passes to WMC Fest
2. 4 WMC Gift Bags with shirt, poster, buttons, and other goodies donated by our talented WMC Guests.
3. 2 tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
4. 2 tickets to Cleveland Indians game on 5/19 or 6/8 (great seats behind home plate!)
   -
   You and 3 friends get to see every band, film, artist, and speaker at Weapons of Mass Creation Fest. And to make the deal even sweeter, we teamed up with Positively Cleveland to give you Tribe and Rock Hall tickets!

Third Place: WMC Cle Fun Pack

1. 2 Weekend Passes to WMC Fest
2. 2 WMC Gift Bags with shirt, poster, buttons, and other goodies donated by our talented WMC Guests.
3. 2 tickets to Cleveland Indians game on 5/19 or 6/8 (great seats behind home plate!)
   -
   You and a friend get to see every band, film, artist, and speaker at Weapons of Mass Creation Fest. And to make the deal even sweeter, we teamed up with Positively Cleveland to give you Tribe tickets!

For more information on the WMC Fest and to see the 2o10 Art/Design/Music/Film line-up, go to http://www.wmcfest.com/#

I know that a lot of you have already heard rumors about this Cleveland-version-of-SXSW-sorta-thing going on, but did you know that our help is needed?

This project called “Weapons of Mass Creation” is like a DIY version of the SXSW (South by Southwest) event that went down in Austin, TX last month. (If you were on twitter, you probably saw the numerous #SXSW’s all over the place) It’s a bunch of interactive, film and music festivals around the downtown Austin area, in case you didn’t know.

WMC Fest | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com

Anyways, WMC Fest (Weapon’s of Mass Creation) is the brain-child of Jeff Finley, a local Cleveland artist, designer and part owner of Go Media. Thanks to Jeff’s initiative, he turned the question: “Why couldn’t we do something like this in Cleveland?” into an amazing ALMOST reality.

Why do I say almost? Well, there are only 7 days left to donate money to raise $2,500 so that WMC Fest can actually happen. This money will go to performer expenses, like travel, etc.  Let’s just be real here – if you want cool performers, artists, entertainment, etc., it’s going to cost just a little bit of money.  The good news is that Jeff only needs like $500 more dollars to reach the $2,500 mark! BUT, if he doesn’t make it, the money will go back. That would be a major bummer, especially since it’s only $500 more to go!

Here’s a link to the project page to donate today.  Remember, there’s only 7 days left! What’s also cool is that you get rewards for certain levels of donation.  You can also donate $1, which is also great. Every dollar counts!

By the way, there is a TON more information about what WMC Fest is all about, what they’re using the money for and Jeff Finley’s story on the project page. Trust me, I really just wanted to share the facts but I encourage you to read up on it.  IF we raise the money in time and get this amazing festival, it will be a phenomenal experience and opportunity for us to share Cleveland’s tremendous creative talent.

Let’s make Weapons of Mass Creation happen!

Donate: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jefffinley/weapons-of-mass-creation-fest

As the film festival reviews trickle in from the winners of the iCarabout CIFF contest, I’ll be posting them here for everyone to read! This first one is from Mike Butz (@mikebutz) about the film he saw on the last day of the Cleveland International Film Festival.  Here’s what he had to say about “Headhunter”:

There are two sides of loneliness — one that breaks you down and one that makes you stronger.”

Spoken by one of the movie’s main characters — the patriarchal leader of Denmark’s largest shipping and oil company — that quote seemed to embody the main theme behind “Headhunter,” the film my friend Kyle and I saw at the Cleveland International Film Festival using the vouchers I won from Cara and her blog, iCarabout.com.

The main character, Martin Vinge, is a professional headhunter who’s the best in his field for finding new CEOs for companies. He’s called upon by the aforementioned oil and shipping leader, N.F. Sieger, who’s aging and in poor health and doesn’t feel like his son, Daniel Sieger, has what it takes to be CEO when he’s gone. Vinge soon gets caught in the middle of a power struggle between father and son regarding the future of the company.

In the background, Vinge must deal with his son’s illnesses, which requires the kind of specialized services that only his work with the Siegers can pay for. Throughout the course of the movie, that adoption process for Vinge’s son plays out. Vinge encouraged his ex-wife’s new husband to officially adopt the young boy, though he softens on that as the film progresses. The relationship between Vinge and his son running parallel to the relationship between the Siegers makes for an interesting comparison in the film.

The loneliness each character feels seems to define them and their relationships with others.

All in all, I was very pleased with the Danish film. I always feel like seeing a film at the festival is a hit-or-miss proposition since I never know much more about it outside of what’s written in the festival program. In this case, what caught my eye was that Vinge was listed as a hard-hitting journalist — and journalism is the field in which I work. And while it turned out that journalism played only a secondary role in this film, I was still very satisfied with it.

It was filled with suspense. Sometimes I fall into the trap of trying to predict what will happen next in a film, and to the credit of “Headhunter,” I was unable to do so. Even when I thought I had a certain twist or turn figured out, the movie bluffed and took things in a different direction.

The biggest drawback for me was the ending. Or rather, the very ending. The suspense lasted throughout, but once everything came to a close, there was this sort of too-good-to-be-true endings in which all the major players got what they were after throughout the film. So I spent about 90 minutes hanging on through all the ups, down, gains and losses these characters endured only to have everything wrap up nice and tidy in the last 10 minutes. That didn’t ruin the film for me, but it was a bit of a let down.

As for the festival itself, the atmosphere was, well, festive. I saw the film on Sunday, March 28 — the final day of the festival. In fact, the whole experience started with a little self-induced panic on Saturday because I hadn’t yet exchanged my vouchers for tickets. And by that point, I expected most every film would be on stand-by. Thankfully, “Headhunter” still had tickets available.

Cleveland International Film Festival | Mike Butz | Cleveland, OH

I got to the theater about 30 minutes before the start time and only had about 20 people or so ahead of me in line. As I waited, I overheard several conversations about what films others had seen and enjoyed. A popular one seemed to be “Bananas.” Others talked about what films they were still planning to see later that evening, while yet others spoke of film festivals past.

Also, I saw the 1:45 showing, which was at a time when many Cavs fans were walking through Tower City on their way to The Q to see Zydrunas Ilgauskas play his first home game since returning to the team following being traded a month ago. So between the festival goers and Cavs fans, there was a certain energy in Tower City. Once inside and seated in the theater, our audience gave a nice round of applause once the volunteer announced, “Let’s start another round.”

Indeed. I wish I could’ve been at the festival for more rounds of films, but as it turned out, seeing “Headhunter” on the final day of the festival was my only trip this year. That had more to do with my schedule, not the festival — which remains accessible to me and my fellow Clevelanders. In fact, I’m already looking forward to next year.