Early in the project, people and their personal stories became obviously fascinating. A short “I work in ___ and live in ___” would result in a five-deep email conversation with an interesting person I wouldn’t have interacted with otherwise. So when number #102 had to go to someone with “Historian” in their email sig, I had to know more.
As the Count High progesses onwards, and as the numbers come floating back, the ideas that people come up with are always surprising and interesting to note. One large section of contributions are the “I could never have made anything that good” artworks.
Of those, and including every other, there are strange recurring themes which continue to pop up in the art works. I’ve shown some of the pieces so far (and will continue to do so) but for the most part, entries have been kept hidden - except when the artist publicly displays their piece elsewhere, which is, of course, always welcome. The point I’m hoping to eventually make is, for the most part the artworks have been created individually, with no input from myself. These individual creations, made by artists all over the world, they all connect in strange and unexpected ways.
The Count High project is failing. There are not enough numbers going out. Not nearly enough. That means I am doing things wrong. Waiting for momentum to build has not worked, in fact, the opposite happened. In the first week, more numbers went out than over the last month. There has been a drastic drop in requests and something needs to be done about it.
I have some ideas, but they are a small fraction of the ideas which could be thought. Give me ideas, post in the comments, email in - everything needs to be done to make this a success, so even if you think “He’ll never go for this idea” send it in anyway because I’ll do it. I’ll post to that art forum, I’ll write to that radio show. In case you’re wondering, I did write to David Attenborough.
So you tell me. What’s your idea?
As mentioned earlier, the digital art community 3D Commune has really pulled together and come up with a lot of numbers. I don’t know why. Other communities have sprung up and died off, leaving just a handful of contributions to remember them by. For a while I thought the modelling community (as in real models) would take over as the leader in online contributors, but they went the way of others. Perhaps another community could eclipse the 3D Commune? For now, they seem the solid leader and I spoke with a few more just recently.
Anita Scripter (Contributor 190) began as a doctors assistant doing angiograms, which she went on to do for twenty years. “I was living back at my parents house, not working,” she says “when the dr my mother worked for hired me and taught me to do angiograms.” A process which involves “[taking] photographs with special Zeiss cameras and after injecting fluorescein dye into a vein. I taught myself the film developing and took over that part of the job too.”
Across the Internet, as people become more aware of the Count High project, topics are springing up on messageboards of all shapes and sizes. There is a topic on a site for passionate readers (BookCrossing.com). There is a topic at a penpal forum - where people sign up to write snail-mail letters to eachother (xpostcardx.proboards49.com)! And a neat write-up over here which seems to be a site about how to self publish books. These are a random sampling, and there are more. None so far has been as passionate as the 3D Commune. I spoke with some of the contributors from there just recently.
Firstly, Mark Feemster (Contributor 174) is co-moderator of the Bryce and Cinema4d forums and Galleries. “3DCommune is basically a gathering place for artists of all types. We gather and discuss works in progress, post our art and tutorials, share ideas and help each other solve problems we may be having beating our computers and particular programs into submission.” Mark works as a waiter “for the money” and when not riding mountain bikes or playing disc golf, he is a graphic artist “I specialize in Architectural Visualization. Art is my love and my hobby,” not more than his son, who he says “is my greatest creation!”
Tihomir (Contributor 187) is a graphic designer which he says “involves a lot of nerves sometimes.” A fan of “collecting various stuff,” graphic design was a natural progression for him, as “computers have always be my interest from when I was little kid.” At 31, Tihomir likes to dream big, with his goal of one day to “get a job in big studio and earn some decent money!”
Mike Mahoney (Contributor 188) is “a 57 year old Journeyman Cement Mason and I have been a member of the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association for 30 years.” He got into that through an early start in construction “when I was young and too dumb to know any better. Actually it has been a pretty good living that engenders a good deal of pride in ones craftsmanship when you build something that will most likely remain standing for the rest of your life.” The years of hard physical labour, and trying to “keep up with the new generation of young and dumb” have taken a toll. “I’m really looking forward to the day that I can hang up my trowels, but that day is still a ways off, if I live that long.”
To find out where Chumley will sail, who met the Oracle and my thoughts on double numbers, click to read the rest of the article below.