#also 'you manifested it' could truly only be podcast or tour right?

[dandp]

AHHH I JUST FINISHED THE VIDEO WHAT IS THAT!!!!

[craigwinslow]

2020: 🌘 Perpetual Pause

Every year, I enjoy making this animated map portraying my movement as a display of energy and progress through the year. Compared to a wildly active 2019, this year strikes a much heavier tone.

Ironically, the mantra I set for 2020 focused on slowing down, but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Cancelled, postponed, delayed. Like many other people, the majority of my work for 2020 was filed into one of these categories. 

That said, I’ve been fortunate to continue work remotely, having spent most of the year getting frugal, and looking forward to whenever this ends. Aside from two camping trips, and one trip to the coast, I’ve been in Portland ever since May. 

Everything considered, I strangely accomplished what I meant to do in 2020. Hunkering down led to developing a solid daily routine— a far cry from my typical pace the past few years, but one that has helped manifest normalcy and structure. It became a year to truly slow down, realign, unlearn, and reassess. The best way I can describe this year is a 9-month weird dreamscape living in perpetual pause.

Here’s what I ended up doing in 2020:

Brilliant! Jackpot (Postponed)

Right after the Tim Burton exhibit launched, The Neon Museum and I knew we wanted to follow up with a brand new, drastically bigger, better version of Brilliant! called Jackpot. The plan was to install in April, so I was fully immersed in Brilliant! Jackpot the first three months of 2020—creating the most exciting, diverse, and nostalgic version of this exhibit. Everything was ready to install in March, and then the COVID-19 shutdowns began. We remotely installed the original version of Brilliant! while we put an indefinite hold on Jackpot.

This is when everything flipped sideways.

Lockdown in Los Angeles

The biggest positive of this year? It brought my partner and I much closer together. Looking back, I can’t believe we flew to Hawaii in February, but I’m so glad we did. Early March I flew down to LA, and cancelled my return flight. Jessica and I had only been dating for a few months, and suddenly found ourselves moved in together, during the start of a pandemic. It was either going to work out, or it wasn’t. 

Fortunately for us, it really worked. I lived down in LA for two months, during which Jessica lost her job due to the pandemic, and we ended up advancing rough plans for her to move up to Portland. On May 1st, we made the 15-hr drive from Los Angeles to Portland, and only stopped 3 times for gas (and one time for In-N-Out). 

XR Talk Interview 

I was very thankful to join Paul and Spencer on this podcast shortly after the world drastically changed due to COVID-19 shutdowns. This conversation happened as my focus turned from in-person projections to safe and distanced artwork and the ways I could take advantage of virtual mediums to bring people together. Watch here

Lockdown Letterheads

The first-ever virtual Letterheads! I previously attended Letterheads in Tokyo and London, which were wonderful experiences in their own right, but Lockdown Letterheads was special. A virtual meet-up with 24 hours of programming that any sign painter and guilder from around the world could attend! Sam Roberts, who has organized Letterheads in the past, asked me to co-host with several other Letterheads Alumni. I also led a presentation about Light Capsules, ghost signs, and shared some of Dr. Ken Jones' work.

The Wild VR Interview

I had a fantastic conversation with the team behind The Wild, a product instrumental in creating the Tim Burton exhibition at The Neon Museum in late 2019. This case study focused on my process of implementing immersive team collaboration in VR to build the exhibit from across the world before installation—an ideal tool for 2020. Read it here.

The Neon Museum 360 Virtual Tour

We had an opportunity to create a virtual tour of the boneyard thanks to global virtualization due to the pandemic. For the first time, the museum could give anyone across the world access to experience the museum. I built and shipped a Matterport kit, then worked remotely with Steve Siwinski of The Neon Museum to execute a full scan of the main boneyard. Working with their archival team, we created over 120 informational hot spots so virtual visitors could view historical photos and information about each sign along the way.

Pre-Visualization in Ventuz - under NDA

A continuation of a secret ongoing client project, due to launch to the public next year. I've been part of a team working on real time graphics and a new playback platform for a large scale integration. The creation of a custom pre-visualization environment led into the production phase of this long-term project.

Rise Up, Show Up, Unite

A call to action in support of the Biden/Harris campaign, started by Jessica Hiche and Adé Hogue. I created this 3-dimensional looping graphic in a day, first designing in illustrator, animating and modeling in Blender 3D, then exporting from Premiere. It was inspiring to see so many other creatives using different mediums come together and express their support using the same prompt. You can see more at riseupshowupunite.vote.

Intel Creator Spotlight

It's always exciting to dive back into a previous project with newfound hindsight and experience. For this artist spotlight with Intel, I discussed my concept design and creative direction for the pre-game intro with the Trail Blazers for NBA Playoffs 2018. 

Thanks to Intel for the opportunity and the editors at Art of Visuals for making magic out of the interview, b-roll, and behind-the-scenes footage we provided. Filming this in the middle of a pandemic was an interesting— but not impossible—challenge! Intel dropped off a lighting kit, and my partner, Jessica, filmed everything in 4K using her commercial photography gear.

This home studio structure ended up being advantageous for the next project...

Adobe MAX 2020 - Behind the Light, with Takuma Nakata, Sponsored by Intel

Dare I say... the most exciting thing that happened this year?! The opportunity to have a keynote spot at Adobe MAX, a conference I attended many times over the years, was quite an honor. I got to have a conversion with fellow Adobe Residency Alumni, Takuma Nakata, about where our work intersects and how light, design, and art inspire us. We wanted to push the limits of a typical virtual video interview by recording 3D point clouds simultaneously that Takuma combined together in a nature-driven point cloud backdrop. It created a very interesting and exciting way to bring us together from Portland and Kyoto in a virtual space.

ATypI 2020 All Over Conference - Light Capsules and Lettering, Projection Mapping with Craig Winslow 

Another virtual conference I spoke at this summer. I dove deep into the process behind Light Capsules with a live demonstration and discussed the next iteration of the project.

Concept: Beacon

As a result of my interview with XR Talk, HELO, a global talent agency, reached out with an opportunity to pitch a project bid. This led to some exciting creative conceptual design work for a potential client.

Concept: Telescope Tree

Another conceptual design worth sharing for a project bid that was brought to me through HELO. Sketches and 3D modeling came together quickly for this concept, which was pitched as "an artistic interpretation of a holiday display."

Vivid Coffee

For the past 5 years, I have led design at Vivid Coffee, creating everything from branding and packaging to merchandise. 

Vivid recently moved into a gorgeous cafe space in downtown Burlington, Vermont. We’ve been busy creating menu boards, exterior signage, neon art, as well as dozens of new roast labels, and a expansion into Snapchilled Coffee. I also helped design a mug with art by Keenan Bouchard to benefit Honduras after the Santa Barbara region was devastated by multiple hurricanes. 

The list of exciting things to come in 2021 is long, as I continue to help with creative aspects to building out the new cafe.

‘Glow’ with Hueman

Dr. Mabrie and his team reached out after seeing the Lightform AR Mural I created with Gemma O'Brien for Lightform. They proposed a collaboration with Oakland-based artist Allison "Hueman" Torneros on a brand new mural for their Union Square office in San Francisco. 

Hueman painted this entirely in B&W and the rest of the color was added with light. I worked closely with Hueman to brainstorm and define direction, responding to her vision as the artist to create all custom content to augment her work as a living, projection artwork. 

Perhaps the most '2020' feat was creating this work entirely remotely. With help from Dr. Mabrie's team to get measurements, I built the office in 3D, and used Disguise One to show an example of the final installation. After printing a scaled-down version of the mural, I built a mirrored set-up in my home studio in Portland, for testing and perfecting the animations in person. Once the mural was painted and placed, a local installer mounted the projector, and I utilized beta cloud tools in Lightform Creator to scan, deploy content, and publish updates remotely.

Representation with HELO

After a few conceptual design bids for projects, HELO and I started to discuss what official representation would look like. They were excited about my approach, and the cleverness of my previous projects. I’m pleased to share that I officially signed on with them as my EU and US representation! Excited to see what projects we collaborate on together next year, as I set goals for dream clients and projects.

2021

I’m proud to have done so well this year, despite... 2020. My growing focus on 3D pre-visualization really thrived in this new virtual world. 

I’ll admit, it’s hard to look forward to 2021. It’s going to begin the same way 2020 ended, but I remain hopeful that by summer or fall things will get moving again. Until then, I’ll continue to focus on working remotely, finding new projects, and expanding creative outputs.

An ideal 2021 for me is one where I get to see family and friends. I’m also turning my attention to my dear project Light Capsules in multiple ways: the first permanent Light Capsule installation, an augmented reality iOS app as an extension of the project and a platform for future AR capsules, alongside new projection installations.

It’s also safe to say we’ll finally see the new Brilliant! Jackpot in 2021, whenever it’s safe to bring our talented team from around the country to beautiful Las Vegas.

My mantra for 2021: Be healthy, stay inspired.

It’s a hope I share not only for myself, but for everyone else. It’s been one brutal hell of a year. —Craig

[theparaminds]

It’s common for music to be associated, at a base level, to emotion. While true that sound attaches to the idea, it is a step further to explore spirituality, and therefore the life’s intricacies as a whole, through vibrations. This is exactly the new step Umi is introducing to the listening world, building spaces of introspection as well as understanding. 

While young, she uses her life and surroundings to explain much of what doesn't seem to have an answer. Her sounds are beautifully simplistic, yet deeply resonating with every note as they fill the mind with endless memories. In truth, her music makes us nostalgic for things to come. 

With each passing day, her own personal knowledge and self connections become larger and stronger, more honest and hopeful. Ultimately, putting it towards a positive energy rare within music, but one so deeply appreciated. Umi is, in a sense, creating the musical embodiment of love, fear, defeat, laughter, and truly, the human experience.

Our first question as always, how’s your day going and how have you been? 

My day’s been going great! I’m on the plane right now headed to New York. I’ve been doing amazing, life is beautiful! 


To take it to the start, when did you originally find yourself caught by the idea of pursuing music? Who or what around you pushed you onto the path you’re currently on?

I feel like I’ve always wanted to be a musician, I literally couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’ve been writing songs since I was 4 and remember putting on little concerts for my mom and sisters. I don’t think one moment or event pushed me to do music, but growing up in a musical household and having friends who did music definitely encouraged me to pursue my passion. 

Artistically, who were the artists that you found yourself drawing from, and how do you contrast those early influences to the ones you hold now?

I’ve been really inspired by artists like SZA, Frank Ocean, Jhene Aiko, and Benny Sings and found a lot of inspiration in their lyricism. I would say in the past I was more inspired by genres of music (R&B, gospel, alternative, pop) rather than a specific artist, which is why I feel I was able to understand and develop my own sound. But finding inspiration in artists over the past few years has helped me to improve the way I write from a lyrical standpoint.

Do you find the roots that you grew up from helped shape who you are as an artist?

I definitely think so! I grew up in a very musical household so creating music became second nature to me. My mom was a pianist, my dad played the drums, my aunt is a blues singer, and literally, everyone else in my family sings or plays an instrument. There was always music playing in my house and because I’m both Black and Japanese, I grew up listening to lots of different types of music (from gospel to R&B to Japanese pop to Korean music). I think that’s what has allowed me to come up with the melodies that I do now and to feel comfortable making different types of music. I also grew up in Seattle. It rains there ALL THE TIME. I think the gloomy weather and all the nature might also be where certain aspects of my sound subconsciously developed from. 


Beyond artists, you also have an interesting passion for astrology and similar forms of personal spirituality. Where would you say this came from and how has it lent itself to your music and understanding of yourself?

I’m not an expert on astrology so I can’t claim to that passion yet, but I am very passionate about spirituality. My mom has always been very spiritual but she never pushed her ideas onto me; I think she always knew it was something for me to discover on my own. I remember right before I moved to LA, I stumbled across this random YouTube video on the Law of Attraction (I definitely think the universe wanted me to watch it). That video shifted the way I saw the world. Since then, I’ve just been constantly reading, writing, meditating, and listening in order to learn more about my own spirituality. Spirituality to me is all about enhancing your self-awareness and understanding the power of your mind! Everything is energy, and whatever frequency your vibrate at reflects the people and circumstances that are attracted to you. When I began to understand this, my life changed! 

To those who may not understand or question reasons to practice these forms of spiritually, what would be your message and answer to their confusion? 

I think a lot of people stop themselves from being happy and truly fulfilled by holding onto learned ways of thinking. I think society teaches us that life is supposed to be hard and sad and full of discontent and so people become identified with this mindset. We think that happiness is difficult so we attract difficult situations, bad people, and unfortunate circumstances into our life. It’s a cycle. Happiness and belief in abundance is innate, you can see that in the way babies look at the world, they don’t fear anything! Life is limitless. Spirituality — or enhanced/deeper self-awareness — allows you to reconnect with this innate understanding you may have lost through living in an unconscious society. When you realize that life is meant to be happy, and easy and fun you attract happy people, positive circumstances, and abundance back into your life. Through practices like meditation, self-reflection etc you realize what traumas in your life may have caused you to hold negative beliefs of the world. This then gives you the power to release your past, let go of your perceived sense of self, and reconnect with the real essence of you! It’s beautiful! I know it’s the reason my music finally started to grow. Literally, every single affirmation I say to myself comes true now. I’m so powerful!  

As well, you’re fantastically vocal about the current political and social situations that matter most to you, even expressing them musically with songs like Dear Donald Trump. Do you hope to continue using your music and artistry as a vehicle for change and why, for you, is it essential to remain expressive as a youth through such turbulent times? 

Yes, as my platform begins to grow, my voice will only grow louder. It’s so important for me to use this opportunity to shed light on various social issues and stand up for what I believe in. I want to become an advocate for change especially for issues regarding woman of color, police brutality, reproductive rights, and immigration. I’m still constantly learning myself, so I hope as I get older and have more resources, I can find even better ways to enact change both through music and outside of music. 

You’ve said yourself that it’s been a really positive past year for you, in all facets of life, but if you could pinpoint one memory which sticks out above the rest, which would it be and what is its significance?

There have been so many fulfilling memories this year (so many happy tears!) but the one that sticks out to me the most is when my video “Remember Me” hit 1 million views. It was such a surreal moment for me. I’ve made so many videos in the past that I hoped would reach a million views and every time it didn’t I would get discouraged. When this happened, it all made sense. I realized that nothing in the past was supposed to gain the views that “Remember Me” did. It was confirmation to me that everything was happening exactly the way it was meant to be, when it was meant to be. More than anything, I was just really proud of myself and deeply grateful for all the people who helped me get to where I am. 


As we stand at the beginning of a, hopefully, positive new year, what goals and plans do you hold? What projects or ideas do you hope to work on or execute? 

1. Release more music! Release a few projects! 2. Release more music videos3. Collaborate with more artists 4. Go on tour! See the world! And headline my own tour! 5. Perform at some festivals 6. Self-direct my own music video 7. Meditate more, read more, share love, express more gratitude 8. LOVE MYSELF! 9. Start weight lifting, or boxing.

Recently, you began to explore collaboration more with songs like Lullaby. Is this an experience you hope to continue pursuing? And, if you could collaborate with one living or dead artist, who would it be?

I have lots of exciting collaborations in the works right now that I’m excited to release! And I can’t wait to continue to collaborate with more artists. My dream is to collaborate with SZA and Jhene Aiko one day! I’ll manifest it. 


If you could recommend one movie, book or show to everyone reading this currently, which would it be?

I think everyone in the world should read “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle and listen to the podcast series Oprah did with him about the book! It changed the way I see the world! Also, listen to Oprah’s "Super Soul Sunday" podcast. It’s such a great way to challenge your mind and shift your perspective about life. Also, watch the movie “Mr. Nobody” it still has me thinking about the concept of time and life. 


Do you have anyone or anything to shoutout or promote? The floor is yours!


Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @whoisumi, check out my website whoisumi.com, and stream my music on all streaming platforms!! I have lots of new music on the way.