---
type: salon
number: 30
title: Sahar Moussavi & Skywaterr
date_recorded: 2021-11-09
date_published: 2021-11-11
video_id: t0JhtlP3olQ
url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ"
duration_seconds: 6762
moderator: Davonte Bradley
speakers:
  - name: Sahar Moussavi
    country: Tehran, Iran
    start: 205
  - name: Göksu Ilgaz Koçakcıgil AKA Skywaterr
    country: San Francisco CA USA
    start: 2721
transcript_source: whisper-large-v3
languages: ["en"]
---

## Davonte Bradley [00:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2s)

Welcome, welcome everyone to the Techspressionism Virtual Salon here on November 9th, 2021. I am your host, Davonte Bradley. Joining me are Colin Goldberg, who has coined the term Techspressionism, and a wonderful panel of guests, many newcomers, or a couple of newcomers, and our two presenters for this afternoon, or evening, wherever you're zooming in from. We have Sahar, and we have Skywater, who I'm not entirely sure she... Oh, no, no, no, she's here.

And yeah, should be shaping up to be, you know, one of our classic salons. On general format, if you're not familiar, is first of all, we have our two presenters, first presenter will present their presentation, usually spans about 30 to 45 minutes or so, upper limit 45 minutes with Q&A, and then second presenter will present with their presentation, and again, a Q&A session, and then after that, it's kind of a pretty loose discussion up until, you know, the end of the salon. A lot of times people like to have announcements or, you know, share a little bit of news if we have time about what's going on in their salon, and then after that, we get to get you on the air, and we can get you on the air. So I don't know... We're just also really happy to have you on the air.

So that's like a could be the end of the event, so that's what it is. So that's like a little bit of a different kind of talk. And then we're going to have the last two questions to our finalists, and then we're going to have the last two questions to our finalists, and then we're going to have the last two questions to our finalists, and then we're going to have the last two questions to our finalists, and then we're going to have the last two questions to our finalists, and then we're going to have the last two questions to our finalists, if you want to speak them till the end presentation we get to the q a session and with that I know that sahar is ready to go and I know that you know she's in a bit of a different time zone than us so it's a bit late where she is so I think we can go ahead and get started unless there is anything else that needs to be said colin

## Colin Goldberg [02:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=135s)

Do you have anything yeah I just wanted to add that you know in the last couple of salons we've been sort of starting this new tradition of after the recording ends at four eastern whoever wants to stick around can stick around for sort of like you know like a planning session or I don't know what you want to call it but if anyone you know is interested in jumping in and doing some stuff for the group I know someone recently had taken over renata recently took over Instagram curator role and really appreciate that and like any of that kind of stuff really helps this whole you know thing keep going and be self-sustaining and also anyone who's you know got any sort of new initiatives that they want to bring up or talk about you know that's kind of a good form a good time to do it because you know we're all kind of gathered here already but that section is not recorded so I just wanted to put that out there all

## Davonte Bradley [03:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=198s)

Right well thank you colin for that and I think without further ado sahar I think you have the floor okay

## Sahar Moussavi [03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=206s)

Thank you can you hear me yep we sure can I share my screen first yes do you see my screen yep

## Unattributed [03:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=221s)

Got it okay

## Sahar Moussavi [03:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=223s)

Hello everyone I'm Sahar Moussavi I'm from tehran iran and I want to thank the expression expressionism for giving me this opportunity and also I want to thank dear negin and patrick who introduced me to this amazing community so you're all amazing artists and I have learned a lot from all of you so I'm going to start my presentation my major was industrial design and I studied at university of tehran faculty of fine arts I became familiar with computer graphic during those days and started working with adobe Photoshop and 3d studio max and autodesk corel draw freehand lots of softwares so I just want you to show a selection of my works so you become familiar with it with my background. So when I was a SILA student, I started working in an advertising and marketing firm. And these are some of my graphic designs.

## Unattributed [05:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=305s)

I used

## Sahar Moussavi [05:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=311s)

Freehand. Actually, I, you know, I drew that tree and then I used software to develop it and I made the boxes in 3D Studio Max to present to my, to present for presentation. And I used CorelDRAW, freehand, Photoshop and 3D Studio Max. I was a beginner those days in 3D Studio Max. And then I continued my career as an interior designer and I used 3D visualization to present my work to the customers or to the company I was working for. I usually work with 3D Studio Max and V-Ray as a render engine, which is very popular in architecture and interior designs. So I wanted to show you a little bit of my work. I want to show you a selection of my renders, 3D renders.

I design several home and commercial interiors in 3D.

## Unattributed [06:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=396s)

If I'm fast, just tell me.

## Sahar Moussavi [06:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=397s)

I can't go. So I took a break from work and I shifted to classic arts. I started reading art books again and art history and started drawing with simple tools like pen, pencil. And my idea was to use very simple tools to express myself. And I usually, I usually, I went back to, you know, the basic elements of fine arts like lines, dots. But I here like the lines and I started drawing lines and creating some pieces that you can see. I will show you some, some of them here.

Actually, it was the beginning of the pandemic. We did lots of things during those days. Well, I use, I usually use a pen or marker or pencil on paper or cardboard. This one is pen on cardboard. I really like this one. It's my favorite. I like the texture. It's also pen on cardboard. This one is acrylic marker and acrylic paint or paint on cardboard.

I did some collages with whatever I had at home. It was actually the first lockdown. So, and then Negin suggested me. Actually, she actually introduced expressionism to me and suggested that I make some digital artworks. And actually she was my mentor in this path. So I don't know why at the beginning I was avoiding my digital skills and I wanted to use simple apps on my phone. So I started actually with my drawings and use apps on my phone to digitalize them. So these are my first pieces when I joined to expressionism.

I use the drawing that is so earlier. And then I started using photos on my phone and working on them with a, different applications such as pics art and bleach and other simple apps on my phone. And I, these are my first series with my photos. And then I went back to 3D Cinemax and Photoshop and started collaging. And so I use some photos I have taken and my drawings. And then I started using my drawing. And then I started using some 3D renders and for this piece that we can see. And actually it was displayed in our exhibition, We Don't Fall.

After that, during summer, some really sad events happened here in our country. And climate change was, is always my concern. And due to climate change, our country is facing a serious water crisis. So in some Southern provinces of Iran, people didn't have water for two weeks and really sad events happened. And I was so sad and wanted to express my, my feelings through this artwork. So actually this art, I started glitch in this point. And I use actually photos of water, like raindrops and lake, and the lake that was near my parents' house. And I use lots of symbols to express my sadness or anger and other feelings.

Well, I use some symbols that I don't want to talk about them, but you are all artists and we can get it. So I use them to express my sadness. After a while, I, I found, you know, an archive of photos that I took around 2014, which I had used the long exposure technique and at night. And I use those photos in a series of mixed media, abstract series.

I have a selection of my photos, which I took in during around 2014. And I started working on them. And this is my first piece. I showed this piece was storied by expressionism. I think twice. So I'm starting with this one. I think I like really about digital art is that there is no limits. And lots of you have mentioned that before in previous salons, you can change the color. There is no limits and I really like it.

In this series, actually, I use dark black background. Based on those photos on the light photos. And well, my concept was based on a poem, which says after a long dark night will come dawn. So I use some forms. I made the forms in 3d studio max, and then collage it in Photoshop with the background. And I use bright color for colorful objects in front of a dark background, dark black background.

## Unattributed [13:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=798s)

And. I'm showing some of them. Continue the same technique.

## Sahar Moussavi [13:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=813s)

I glitched the photos and combine it with some forms in 3d studio max. I made, I really liked that making those forms introduced to the max. It's like I'm making a sculpture sculpture. And then. I'm putting it inside a nice, I don't know, different environment. I haven't posted some of these on my Instagram, but I'm showing it to you now.

The same technique I used. I made a form in 3d studio max. I, I, used the lights, the lights photos itself. And then the glitch of the light. I'm going to show you some of them because I continued the technique and made a series of works, which I think I posted some

## Unattributed [14:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=873s)

On Instagram. So.

## Sahar Moussavi [14:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=883s)

So I used, I'm using actual different apps and engines. And for these pieces, I use sometimes 3d studio max, bleach, sometimes Pixar, Adobe Photoshop and other apps. This is from the window series, which I have one displayed in the, we don't fall exhibition.

## Unattributed [15:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=912s)

The same lights.

## Sahar Moussavi [15:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=914s)

These are all based on the same photos I took before. So I became really interested, interested in those photos that I started shooting new photos of lights, car lights during night. And I will show you some of the photos without editing, without any edit. These are some of the photos without edit.

I really liked the movement and the colors. And the background is black and there is this bright color of movements in front of it.

## Unattributed [15:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=956s)

So this is this piece also based on the light photos. Also this one, I will just show you.

## Sahar Moussavi [16:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=975s)

I'm using the same technique, you know, closing the lights and forms. I'm making through this 3d studio max and other apps.

## Unattributed [16:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=993s)

I use bleach for this one. But still using the, the same photos.

## Sahar Moussavi [16:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1006s)

Sometimes I, you know, I use different softwares that I don't remember actually how many or which one. They remember.

## Unattributed [16:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1019s)

Some colorful pieces. I really like this one because it's very digital, digitally, digitally.

## Sahar Moussavi [17:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1036s)

Well, I, I made this series of some, you know, brain related pieces and I named it like brain fog and other things, other, you know, captions. I think you have seen on my Instagram, because I was reading, reading books about brain functions and how amazing it is. And I got really interested and I use like EEG prints for this piece. And you can still see the light photos that I took before long exposure technique and other lights that I have modified with different apps.

Other mixed media, abstract, using 3D studio, max and the photos and the glitch and lots of

## Unattributed [18:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1087s)

Things.

## Sahar Moussavi [18:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1099s)

So actually my final work is a short presentation. I made this wall art three, around three or four years ago. And I took a lot of time to do this. So I took some photos of it. It's the, the wall is made of, you know, broken tiles, mirrors, and some color cement and other things. So I started taking photos of the wall and you know, creating some pieces, which I'm actually currently working on it. And I haven't posted any on Instagram.

I hope I can post some soon. These are some, some of my works based on the wall, wall art. So I want to show, I want to also play a short video of my videos. I think I have to stop sharing this screen.

## Davonte Bradley [19:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1163s)

If it's not going to be in the same window, then yeah, you would have to restart sharing. Okay.

## Unattributed [19:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1174s)

Oh, let me see. Can you see?

## Davonte Bradley [19:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1189s)

I can see the window for, for your folder, but no, there's no video yet. Okay. So I'm going to try to play it from the desktop. Try sharing the whole desktop and then play it from there.

## Sahar Moussavi [20:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1205s)

Can see now.

## Davonte Bradley [20:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1208s)

Yes.

## Sahar Moussavi [20:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1209s)

Okay.

## Unattributed [20:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1210s)

There we go.

## Sahar Moussavi [20:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1211s)

So these are actually my first works. When I joined Techspressionism, I have I have around a two minutes video that I just put my videos in one video so everyone can see.

## Unattributed [20:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1259s)

Thank you. Thank

## Sahar Moussavi [22:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1328s)

You. Thank you.

## Davonte Bradley [22:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1356s)

Thank you so much. And sorry it took so long to actually get to your presentation because I know you've been waiting for a couple of weeks now. But finally glad to see it. Thank you. Thank you.

## Sahar Moussavi [22:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1367s)

Thank you. All right.

## Davonte Bradley [22:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1370s)

So that being said, let's get into our Q&A. Q&A session. I know you have a lot of praise in the chat.

## Unattributed [23:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1380s)

It's actually still going.

## Davonte Bradley [23:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1384s)

It's a lot of praise in the chat. Scanning for questions. No questions in the chat yet. But if you do have a question, feel free to raise your hand and I will get to you within a couple seconds, actually. And I will get it. Cynthia did... Yes.

## Cynthia Beth Rubin [23:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1407s)

I have a question. All right. Thank you for this presentation. It was really interesting that you started with your design background and the fact that you did interiors. So I wonder if from the start... I mean I had put a little comment in about a wonderful mix of 2D 3D but while you were doing mock ups of interiors obviously you were thinking in 3D space even if the final presentation was 2D. So I loved that you brought that together in the beginning. And I'm wondering if you still feel that way, if you're kind of thinking rooms, why you place your imagery in rooms or how else? I mean, I don't want to put thoughts into your head. So how else has it influenced you today?

## Sahar Moussavi [24:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1455s)

Yes, actually, I was at the beginning, I was actually thinking like in 3D dimensional because I was working with measurements and spaces and limitations. And my first works was actually I had a work named room and I was actually designing rooms with other objects inside it first, and then try to, you know, go out of the room. And I had a 2D, you know, background because I was painting, drawing before, since I was, a little, you know, I was little and so I had the 2D background.

But after so many years, I was working 3D at the beginning. Yes, I was actually, you know, you know, thinking in a room and then try to go back to that background to that 2D background.

## Unattributed [25:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1511s)

Yeah.

## Cynthia Beth Rubin [25:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1516s)

Well, thank you very much. That's an inspirational answer, by the way. Thank you.

## Davonte Bradley [25:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1521s)

Thank you, Cynthia. All right. We do have two questions in the chat now. First one's from Colin. So are the long exposures shot digitally or with film?

## Sahar Moussavi [25:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1532s)

It's digital. Digital.

## Davonte Bradley [25:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1536s)

All right. And from Skywire, are you making the sounds as well for the motion pieces?

## Sahar Moussavi [25:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1544s)

No, the sounds I download from different artists. Actually, it was most of them were Iranian artists, but the one with the white rhino, which actually I created when the last rhino, white rhino got instinct. Yeah. A friend of mine actually composed that piece and it was a he put it on. He, you know, added to my video.

## Davonte Bradley [26:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1578s)

Got it. Yeah.! Patrick wants to know, have you mentioned Techspressionism Iran yet?

## Sahar Moussavi [26:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1586s)

In my presentation? No. Oh, no. Sorry. Yeah. When Negin and I started Techspressionism IR, we are going to introduce Techspressionism to Iranian artists. And we started with our page. And well, we are at the beginning. So I will get to you in a second. We're we will soon. I have started translating some, you know, the manifest and the artist's history and other things. And I hope there will be good news.

## Davonte Bradley [27:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1629s)

Oh, once I get something going, that would be our first global first global chapter, I guess, for the movement. So very much looking forward to seeing what you guys do.

## Cynthia Beth Rubin [27:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1640s)

Yeah. We'll see.

## Davonte Bradley [27:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1644s)

Skyward, did you have a question or did your hand just go up and down?

## Unattributed [27:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1651s)

I was just clapping, but that's just great news. Yeah.

## Davonte Bradley [27:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1659s)

Okay. Very cool.

## Michael Pierre Price [27:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1662s)

Node model, yeah.

## Unattributed [27:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1664s)

Thanks. Oh, Michael. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

## Michael Pierre Price [27:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1671s)

Yeah. Thank you, Sahar. It was a really interesting presentation. I guess I kind of had a comment and I'm happy for you to respond. I think one of the downsides of being an American is that we oftentimes don't see the global perspective on things. And I have found that the... I think the salons have been a bridge building mechanism for us to see how much as artists we have so much in common with one another. Iran,

## Unattributed [28:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1717s)

Especially for Americans, has been rather an

## Michael Pierre Price [28:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1721s)

Opaque country where I think there's more propaganda that we kind of view Iran as a... You know, through a lens. And so seeing your work, Negin's work and other artists from around the world, but especially I think Iran, especially the Middle East, there are times where the perspectives are skewed. And so to see your work, to hear like you're working in 3D Studio Max. And so there... There are just these things that, like I said, as Americans, we tend to see only through an American lens. And so I just wanted to thank you.

And I was just kind of curious to how Iran sees America. And I don't want this to be a political thing, but the fact that we're a global community to me is really important. And I thank you for your contribution to that. Thank you.

## Sahar Moussavi [29:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1790s)

Thank you. Thank you for your comment, Michael.

## Unattributed [29:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1794s)

I really appreciate it. All right.

## Davonte Bradley [30:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1804s)

Don't want to let that awkward pause continue for too much longer. So I'm going to say something. Oh, did you have something you wanted to share, Sahar?

## Sahar Moussavi [30:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1816s)

No. Actually I was reading questions.

## Davonte Bradley [30:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1818s)

Oh, you're reading now? Reading questions okay oh it looks like renata has a question if

## Patrick Lichty [30:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1826s)

I can if I can make a little if I can make a have a have a tiny bit of fun you know between michael and sahar I mean it's like you know you know is that being that Negin and I you know is that are in the process of moving from you know the middle east I'm in the united states now I mean and with michael it's like of course actually 3d studio max is very you know pretty prominent out there as far as like 3d visualization but and you know the and I'm just going to say but a little tiny bit of a farce I can't in time but I mean what were you expecting you were expecting you know which you know it's like it's like it's like yuck being three and so yuck day and then studio you know you know so it's like you know in other words you know a lot of a lot of the technologies and that sort of thing you know it's you know through one way or another you know they bleed you know they bleed over and you know they're a lot a lot of the stuff's there in one form or another which I think is really interesting for me to have learned you know when you know went over there

## Sahar Moussavi [31:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1908s)

You know I actually have news for you we bought the software is very cheap here cheaper than you have bought I remember

## Patrick Lichty [32:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1923s)

Yeah I know a lot of americans don't know that

## Davonte Bradley [32:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1928s)

I remember once upon a time when I was a wee lad and I was doing something So let's say not so legal things on the internet because I was wanting to get into 3D animation and 3D design as well. And I found Maya, which I think some of you people might be familiar. But Maya at the time was $2,000 for a license.

And I was in middle school. Where was I gonna get $2,000 from? So that's why I, I had less than legal avenues to explore that though. At the end of the day, my computer couldn't handle it anyway. So it was a bit of a wash, but yeah, software prices have always kind of been like, or at least the cost of software and hardware has been a little bit prohibitive sometimes when it comes to creative endeavors with technology.

But it's nice to see that things have come down a lot, like just across the board and it's opened up the doors for so many peoples and creators.

## Sahar Moussavi [33:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=1992s)

I want to answer Laura. It's open to all Iranian, even if they are living in Canada.

## Unattributed [33:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2002s)

Okay, great. Because I was also gonna comment on Michael's comment. I'm American, but I also am dual citizenship in Canada. And when I went to graduate school at SFU in 2009 through 12, I was studying with the children of the same people possibly that I was studying with. And I remember that I went to college with an undergrad during the 1979-80 revolution. And it was really interesting. And we talk about it amongst ourselves always. And the Iranian artists appear into some really interesting and innovative work. So I thought if it was open, I'd let them know about it. And is it okay to tell them to? Yes. Okay. So maybe you can email me your email address so that I can know what there's, what link they're supposed to go to, or you send me the link. Okay. Is that possible? Yes.

## Sahar Moussavi [34:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2052s)

We have an Instagram account, Techspressionism.ir, I think. Double, yeah.

## Davonte Bradley [34:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2062s)

Yep, that's it.

## Sahar Moussavi [34:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2063s)

Okay.

## Unattributed [34:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2065s)

So it's on the Techspressionism website?

## Sahar Moussavi [34:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2071s)

No, it's on Instagram.

## Unattributed [34:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2073s)

Oh, Instagram. And what's it called again?

## Sahar Moussavi [34:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2078s)

Techspressionism.ir. Negin, Negin, yes, it's the chats, Laura. You can see. Okay. All right. Thanks. You're welcome. Thank you.

## Davonte Bradley [34:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2092s)

I'm going to try to actually link it directly to the chat here. There we go. All right. So that is Techspressionism.ir's Instagram link. If anybody would like to peruse that. Yeah. I'm going to try to link it to the chat. Oh, and then I know Renata, actually, you had your hand up a little earlier.

## Renata Janiszewska [35:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2117s)

Yes. Hi, Sahar. Thank you so much for your presentation. It's so nice to hear your voice. Yeah, thank you. See you smiling. I know it's late there probably. But I'm just curious about in real life versus online activity for your art. And also, are you still designing? Are you still doing any of that? I mean, I'm still doing industrial or architectural design.

## Sahar Moussavi [35:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2143s)

Well, yes, I have some projects in interior design. I'm still working. It's not like before, you know, due to pandemic and everything, the projects are usually slow or canceled. But I'm still having some projects.

## Renata Janiszewska [36:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2162s)

And as far as your fine artwork, is it your wish that it be seen? I mean, online or have you had ideas about how you would show it otherwise?

## Sahar Moussavi [36:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2174s)

Well, actually, I prefer to show it online. I don't know. You know, because I think it's digital. So it should be, you know, it should stay in digital space. I don't know. I haven't printed any of them yet. And my idea is that maybe it should stay in digital world. Okay. Great. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you, Renata.

## Davonte Bradley [36:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2207s)

All right. Also, Renata, did you get your hair done recently?

## Renata Janiszewska [36:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2214s)

You're very observant. Yesterday.

## Davonte Bradley [37:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2220s)

Yesterday? Well, it looks very nice. I just wanted to point that out. Sorry.

## Renata Janiszewska [37:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2224s)

Thank you.

## Davonte Bradley [37:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2227s)

Okay. So, I'm going to stop here. I'm going to go ahead and wrap up. Does anyone else have any more questions for Sahar? Before we wrap things up?

## Unattributed [37:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2235s)

Yeah.

## Colin Goldberg [37:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2236s)

I just wanted to ask you, you know, like, I know that as an American, you know, like, I've definitely been exposed to a lot of preconceived ideas about what Iranian culture is like or other stuff.

## Davonte Bradley [37:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2249s)

I know there's like these reality TV shows, you know, Shaz of Sunset and that kind of stuff about people who come to the States that, like, clearly

## Colin Goldberg [37:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2257s)

Are a very conservative and very biased sort of like, I don't know if they're like completely fictionalized, but strange, you know, angle. And I wanted to ask you, you know, in terms of like your ability to express yourself creatively, like, have you felt that, you know, there's any difficulties in terms of just not being able to, because I know that Negin had mentioned, you know, there was talk about maybe the some of the internet access being shut off for you guys or whatever else, like, and I'd be interested to hear about, you know, what that's all about.

## Sahar Moussavi [38:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2292s)

Well, we do have some difficulties, like, for example, internet. Internet was, for example, exactly two years ago, the internet was shut down, Negin, for a week or two weeks, and we didn't have access to internet. And in my presentation, I mentioned some issues. So, you know, we had some events due to the water crisis. So during those sad, terrible events, the internet was shut down, shut down in those provinces.

So, yes, we do have lots of difficulties. And, for example, for my presentation, I changed my internet. I upgraded it because it was really, it really had problems. And we don't know what will happen in the future. So, well, we're trying to get along. I don't know. Actually, we will, we don't fall.

## Colin Goldberg [39:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2369s)

Thank you. And I wanted to echo, you know, what was said before by Michael about, you know, just how powerful the internet is. To have people coming in from all over the world and especially places where I think Americans in general have preconceived notion of what people from a particular place are like because of media bias. You know? And when this all first got started, I never would have really anticipated it going to countries that are not primarily English speaking countries. Like I had a very sort of small vision of like what could possibly happen, you know, and I feel like it being on Instagram with the hashtag allowed it to reach a lot of places where, you know, English isn't the primary language and it's just the word, you know, and the hashtag. So I think that actually has made it a lot more interesting than, you know, I initially even thought it could be.

## Patrick Lichty [40:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2429s)

You know, one thing I think that's been interesting, you know, in my life overseas, I mean, I think you'd be fine in Tehran or Isfahan or maybe even Yazd, you know, but I mean, it's like, you know, like Baku and Azerbaijan, Yerevan and Armenia and Turkey, you know, most of the eastern cities in Turkey, you know, most of the people speak English, you know, as a second language, you know. So, I mean. I mean, you'd be, you know, you'd be, you'd be fine, you know, and I think this is one thing that was actually kind of a shock to me, you know, living, living outside of what I'd said called the European zone, you know, for as long as I did, you know, you know, a good chunk of that

## Unattributed [41:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2473s)

With Nikki.

## Michael Pierre Price [41:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2484s)

All right.

## Sahar Moussavi [41:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2485s)

Yes, lots of people can speak English.

## Davonte Bradley [41:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2489s)

Cynthia, our second Cynthia, actually, because we have Cynthia's in here. Cynthia, do you have anything to ask or share?

## Cynthia DiDonato [41:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2500s)

Yes. First of all, I'm so happy to hear your voice as well, Sahar. I do follow you and a number of people here today on Instagram and it's, it's just so special to hear you speak and to see, you know, the breadth of your work. Very taken with your water crisis artwork. And I was wondering, and of course, that's something we all share globally, being concerned about water and perhaps for you, maybe even more so, are you thinking of expanding those pieces? Maybe you have a series of them already because I think they're remarkable.

## Sahar Moussavi [42:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2544s)

Well, actually, when I was preparing the presentation, I thought that maybe I have to add more pieces to that series. Because I only had a few those days and I was really not, you know, emotional. And I was really sad. So now I think that I have to continue the series and make new pieces.

## Cynthia DiDonato [42:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2572s)

Wonderful. I look forward to seeing them. Thank you.

## Unattributed [42:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2578s)

Thank you, Cynthia.

## Davonte Bradley [43:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2583s)

Okay, folks. I think that can wrap things up for Sahar unless anybody else has anything else because we still have a little bit of time in between. But yeah, I'm keeping track on the chat. But yeah, I think everyone has asked the questions or left comments that they've want to share with us. So if you have any questions, please feel free to ask or share. So, and with that, again, thank you so much Sahar for your presentation.

And oh, oh, okay. Thank you. All right. And now we have our second presentation for today. Skywater, who I'm not sure if you want to be addressed as Skywater or something else. So correct me, how am I supposed to refer to you as?

## Unattributed [43:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2637s)

Hello. Hi. So happy to be here finally in this long speaking. So to answer that, my name is Duk Su, but on the internet, it's really hard to understand how it's said even in real life when I talk to people. So I prefer to go as Skywater just because it's easier for everyone, easier for me, easier for everyone. I also really like that name. It is fun story if you, none of, I don't know, if any of you know Turkish here, but it actually translates exactly from Goksu to Skywater. So Skywater means Goksu if you manually translate the name. So it's still my name. You can also call me Sky if that's easier. And I'm here to present you my first, I guess, art presentation that I made in like really long time. I have never really presented my art in this form before. Okay.

But let's, let me start sharing my screen and then I'll tell you a little bit about myself and then my art.

## Davonte Bradley [45:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2705s)

All right. Sounds good.

## Unattributed [45:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2708s)

So let's see. First page. Do you see the screen? Yeah, we can see it. Awesome. Okay. Actually, I can probably do this better. Yeah. Okay. All right. So I'm just going to move this real quick. This is my presentation. Let's see what's up on the second page.

## Davonte Bradley [45:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2747s)

One second. I think it's still capturing the initial window. So if you're moving stuff around, we're not seeing it. Got it.

## Unattributed [45:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2756s)

I think it has to be off full screen or I can just share my, let me do this real quick. Hold on. New share, desktop, share. Whoops. And then full screen.

## Davonte Bradley [46:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2773s)

There it goes. Yep. There you go.

## Unattributed [46:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2776s)

Better.

## Davonte Bradley [46:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2777s)

Yep.

## Unattributed [46:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2778s)

So initially I was born in Turkey, Istanbul, and now I'm in base in San Francisco. I make digital paint. And I'm a brand designer, freelance brand designer who uses mixed media tools. And I use a lot of tools. But recently I've been focusing on acrylics, spray paint, paper, ink. And then I add the tech pressure sides, Procreate, Photoshop, AI, and generator, all tools to create these utopias that you're going to see that exist in my mind. And the first digital painting I created for this series is called Self-Defense. And I used acrylics, spray paint, ink, paper, Adobe Fresca, and Photoshop. And this was done in 2019. And this was extremely different than what I've done before in terms of art. I was mostly doing acrylic on paper paintings with some mixed media. But mostly they were on paper.

So they were digital files at the end of the day. And at the time, I was doing a lot of digital art. And at the time, I was also doing a lot of graphic design work with my own clients. So I was already fairly digitally native. And to be quite honest, I've been using Photoshop since like 2010 or 2008.

It's been a tool that I've been using almost every day of my life since then. Which is a funny story about that. My mom used to take my laptop away in high school because I would spend too much time. She would take the cables and leave me the laptop so I can only spend like an hour or two until the computer dies.

So that's where my Photoshop obsession comes from. And then that's why I'm a graphic designer today, as well as I take pressure as artists. I started calling myself because of this beautiful community. And I'm a graphic designer. So I'm going to share my story with you guys. Let's see. I didn't make art to sell until about two years ago because I just didn't know how to sell it. I didn't know how to market myself. I didn't know what would be the purpose of selling it except, you know, making money. And I was really attached to my paintings. So I didn't end up showing. Didn't end up selling them. I just made them. Sometimes posted them on Instagram. Sometimes not. But recently I've been just focusing on that. So this collection came about because I pushed myself on sharing my art.

And then this is one of the other ones that I've sold. And actually, this is the first digital painting I've sold. And that was in February of this year. And this piece is really dear to me because it was a recovery of an unsatisfying painting that I started in 2000.

## Unattributed [49:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=2958s)

And I've been using it since 2019. And finished in 2020. And the silhouette you see in the back that is cream and, like, yellow is actually an acrylic spray paint ink on paper that was photographed and then imported into Procreate and then Adobe Fresca later and then exported as a digital painting. And then I actually added an AI generative motion effect to it to complete it. So I will show you the final version.

Let's see. So this is the final version of my first digital painting I've sold on the platform called Zora.co. And that is a Zora is a protocol where anyone on the Internet can post anything for sale as an NFT. So. I will go back to. Presentation. Let's see. I am lost in my presentation. Okay. And then, let's see what I have next is the second piece I've put out is another motion painting which was created during one of the most depressing times of COVID lockdown. When I would turn off everything around me to find silence and focus on express myself within abstract expressionism, which is actually a hard medium, or it was hard when I first started, because I have such a designer mindset and a perfectionist mindset. So when I do art.

When I did art on paper. It was always like cut really sharply and like you know use rulers and like. You know, use rulers and like. Really fine lines but for this one I just let myself lose and then kind of like let the pen do its thing so this was. This was a really emotional piece in the making, but I was extremely satisfied by the by the results so I kept making more. It's called pixel Venus, and I'll show you the full painting right here.

So it's. It's kind of like a portal. And then the details are kind of not showing here but I will show you later. It kind of looks like that. Okay. See. And then let's see. I have a fallen Venus. Here we have another smile on Venus artwork to show this is this is about abstract expressions and meets Techspressionism it's also about being tired all the time but still finding beauty in that state of mind.

## Unattributed [52:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3139s)

This piece also chain challenges people to look at art with fresh eyes by providing a Gen Z female perspective of a woman depicted in Renaissance era. I find the colors of this piece. The most exciting out of the others in this collection. And Fallon Venus was created using Procreate and Photoshop only.

And this piece really also gave me encouragement to use more bolder colors in my work. And I had an interesting relationship with pink for a while. And this piece let me grow out of that because I think pink in RGB is a very, very strong, it has a power to it, which I really like. And then I think it intimidates some people, especially men. So I try to put a lot of pink in here to like, kind of just be like, I don't know, maybe bold or intimidating or more like add the female perspective to the Renaissance male gaze. If you haven't noticed, my figures come from Renaissance paintings, from especially the Orientalist era of French, Orientalist paintings that were actually completed in Middle East by European white men. So I just really liked that contrast of adding pink and like abstracting it, the female body and in my own way.

So this piece is about that. And then Fallon Venus II is a little bit, it's a little bit more like fun. And I started with this piece as part of my collection. Adding more elements to my painting about like birds and flowers and try and kind of like commentary on technology by giving her a phone in the hand which is like directly looking at the phone and this piece also challenged people to look at art with different eyes and I love this piece that was recently collected by one of my favorite 3D artists so this piece is really dear to me and this one was created by Procreate and Photoshop as well and this is one of my absolute favorite pieces I've done so far I haven't even put it on sale yet because I just don't know I love it so much one of my absolute favorite paintings that I was in New York when I when I started this painting I was on a flight to New York to see my friend and then we went to the Whitney Museum and I saw Julie Morado's paintings which I have seen before but I didn't know who she was I've seen her painting at the SF MoMA before which is at the entrance so you can't really ignore it's huge but it didn't have like a name next to it wasn't like a display it was kind of like a mural at it at the entrance so I didn't know who she was but I knew her art for a long time but seeing her at the museum and her lines of abstraction really gave me this like insane sense of like inspiration and just looking at art so I came back home and as soon as I came back home, I opened my iPad and I started drawing on it.

## Unattributed [55:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3351s)

So all of these like lines of like really interesting lines that I haven't really used before came about. And I finished this painting and then it was actually very like orange and red team based artwork. And then last minute I. Color correction to it and then I think the purple version was the winner in my eye so it became purple blue but what one of the digital you know art things that I love about is the fact that you can just drastically change the piece at the very end of the painting and then you can just change the piece at the very end of the painting and then you can just change the piece at the very end of the painting and so like the previous painting and so like the previous ones that I showed I added motion to it which completely changed the painting same with here it was orange and red and I changed it to blue and purple and then let's see I think I might have another yeah this one is called wait off one of my latest digital paintings from the pixel venus series not much to say about this except that I love how explorative I went with this one and started adding 3d abstract shapes in my paintings so if you see that little pink blob on the right it's well actually there's a lot of pinks but like right here if you can see my mouse I started making just random 3d objects in different apps either blender or there's this phone app called forger so I just make abstract 3d sculptures and then I decided to add them over my paintings and kind of blend it over and I think I'm going to add more of those it is a little hard to like kind of add the depth to it and it takes kind of too much attention sometimes so I'm still trying to figure out how those fit in my paintings but this was the first time I tried it so I'm really looking forward to adding more of that and then lately I've been doing more AI stuff which are you know visual intelligence generated images and then I put those images that are still images into this general motion software that I have and then create these let's see these are supposed to be motion so let me I will try to find them later and link it to you because I haven't really published them but these are kind of motion pieces that are moving not right now but normally and then these are my other motion experiments that I've done earlier this year and they were in terms of concept they allowed me to explore all the mediums that I was either scared or didn't have time to explore which is 3d artificial intelligence and generative tools and motion design so these came about as like experimental

## Unattributed [58:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3532s)

Collection and their ongoing series of I just changed the name on that so globs by skywater I just changed the name of that collection so there are about 26 of them online that is available so far so they're each they're each generative motion loops and let's see it's not really loading fast I'll just show you like that so these are my latest sorry these are my earliest explorations with the blockchain art movement actually and I can show you let's see how much time I have I have time okay I can show you the genesis pieces which are the first ones I've published right here so this one is my absolute favorite I guess it might be because it has like a heart forming in the middle it's really friendly and I just love the I don't know I loved the 3d look that is not actually 3d and it just perfectly lives and it reminds me of a birth scene like something birthing from its core oh it's blob number one and so it's really cool and I'm really excited to show you so far I have 26 and I'm adding more let's see I can show you okay so these are this is my last page and there's a few more of these paintings that I can show you if you like but there's a few that I have unpublished just because I'm waiting to publish it as a collection next week at my art show in LA if any of you are in LA I'm having my first art show in LA so super excited about that so I'll see you guys next week bye bye excited and I also something to add about these paintings also I actually print them in RGB and I am framing them by hand for this art show and in general I will be doing that more because the RGB printing method that I recently found out is extremely good I didn't know it existed I didn't know the colors that I create on my digital screen could be translated to paper in this quality so I'm going to be doing more of those and thanks for listening to me thanks for looking at my art I really want constructive criticism I want everything that you need to say about my art please challenge me please ask me questions as you can see my voice is shaking I'm a nervous person when it comes to talking about art I can talk about anything in general but not about my art so challenging

## Unattributed [01:01:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3716s)

Myself in this alone thank you

## Davonte Bradley [01:02:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3721s)

Thank you very much Skywater and I've got to say actually a lot of the earlier parts of your journey as an artist kind of resemble how I got started actually right down to my mother trying to stop me from using computer because I vividly remember there was a couple times where she actually threatened to throw my laptop out the front door because she thought it was going to be a problem and I was like oh my god I'm gonna use my laptop and she felt I was on it too much so right there with you on that one.

But thank you so much. Let's see. So let's get into our QA. We have A lot of praise in the chat. Let's see. Does anyone have any questions off the bat for Skywater? Are they want to? Or put in the chat I will see I will see both of them

## Colin Goldberg [01:03:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3782s)

I had a question about the different platforms that you meant on could you tell us a little bit about Zora and how that compares to minting on ethereum

## Unattributed [01:03:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3796s)

Yes so Zoro is actually a platform that I found when I first started nft's Journey in you know earlier my process of creating these Arts and also realizing that blockchain art is a thing and Zora compared to most other platforms is a protocol so anybody can work over the code of it and then add to it so they keep adding these they keep adding these things that like are more community-centered and like I guess anyone on the internet can add on top of their code so which is super cool and Zora is not an art-centric platform it's I would call it more like the tumbler of nft platforms so you could basically mint anything you want you could do illegal stuff you could do a poem you could text lol and mint it you could you know mint your driver license you know it's just it's not centralized.

So it is a protocol, which, you know, differentiates it, and it's not curated at all. So anyone on the internet can open an account, mint it, and, you know, never come back again, if you don't want to. So that's what attracted me about it. And the community that was built in there was like, you know, coders and really smart people who are actually engaging with their users. So that's why I started with that and then shortly realized that it is not an art centric platform that is harder to get collectors art collectors on that platform to look at. So that's why I moved on to more art curated and art centric platforms, which are foundation and you know, I did some Hicketnonc and then I posted some on OpenSea. And I have an account on Known Arts on Amazon and other websites like Twitter and bloggers and bloggers and bloggers and bloggers origin which is just an art platform for digital art and nfts so that's kind of my why of choosing zora I would still choose zora if there was more traffic I just don't see enough traffic and it's hard for me as a person who doesn't have like a big collector base for me to like onboard people over there so that's kind of why I stopped using it so far thank

## Davonte Bradley [01:05:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3949s)

You thank you colin there was a question in the chat from ann I think I saw oh what print media are you using for your la show so

## Unattributed [01:06:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=3963s)

It's not paper 200 gsm I think that's how you say it is it is printed in san francisco from this like fine art print shop I'm not really sure what kind of printer they're using but the person who printed them actually told me they printed an rgb so I'm not sure what that is about I need to dig more into that but the paper is just really high quality fine art print matt 200 paper and for my frames which might be interesting to some sometimes I thrift frames so some of my frames are thrifted and I'm going to actually publish like I'm going to hang my art within the frame because I think it adds it's another medium that's added to the painting when I thrift and paint over the frames so I use it as like my final version of presenting the art is with the frames and I'm going to actually publish like I'm going to hang my art within the frame because

## Davonte Bradley [01:07:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4035s)

I think it adds it as like my final version of presenting the art is with the frames and I'm going to hang my art within the frame because all right next up I think it's holly oh you muted holly

## Holly Gordon [01:07:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4045s)

It is I don't have a question skywater I just have a comment it's you had me completely just enrapture over listening to you talk about your process so I just want you to know that just keep talking about your art and the more you talk about what you do I think the more comfortable you will feel doing it but you go girl your work is fantastic thank

## Unattributed [01:07:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4076s)

You thank you so much yeah I don't get to talk about my art that's why I'm nervous I'm very comfortable doing it like don't get me wrong I like go into this thing and I'm just like you know doing all these things and but to talk about my art I just always felt like nobody understands me that's why I was just like always not posting or like what is AI what is generative what is motion design what is procreate all these questions that I get from people it felt like I was just doing something weird you know so very happy to have all of you listening and understanding me and I'm really practicing that so thank you so much.

## Davonte Bradley [01:08:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4125s)

Thank you and yeah I'm pretty sure probably no I can't necessarily speak for everyone but I know probably a good chunk of us have been through that same boat of trying to explain what it is we're exactly doing and having an audience that can actually understand what it is that we're doing because like there are so many different methods for creating what we create so many different pieces of software that we can use to create something that we can use to create software so many different techniques and your average person or your just like your average viewer is just gonna be like huh yeah I kind of know what Photoshop is but yeah sure let's go with that yeah but yeah understand

## Unattributed [01:09:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4167s)

On that front coming from just like Sahar like I don't know what the scene art scene in Tehran is probably strong but in my home country especially when I think about my local communities like my hometown or my hometown like my hometown is kind of when I was growing up there, art was looked at as something that's just bullshit. You know, if you're going to be an artist, you're going to not survive. You're, you know, dooming your life and you're no one that's contributing to the good wealth being of the humanity. So that's basically what it was taught to me when I was growing up.

Art is just for fun. Art is, you know, everybody's a copier. So like there's no support whatsoever for artists in this mindset, especially I'm a conceptual artist. So like I'm not making political art. I'm not making photography that reflects anything that's in real life. I'm just making, you know, conceptual art. But I do believe that art is a tool that, you know, creates general, it's just creates this like end to end, you know, kind of like, you know, kind of like, you know, kind of like, spiral of good things around it. So I don't believe that at all. So it was really hard for me to even accept that I'm an artist in this world. So it's kind of, it's kind of a lot to think about how far I come. And now I have art shows. It's kind of insane to me.

Coming back to my mom, taking my laptop away. She didn't know what art is, and she didn't know what art's value was. And she would even tell me when I draw hyper realistic portraits, that I am copying. And I didn't know that quote where people say like, great artists still, you know, good artists, whatever. I didn't know that quote when I was growing up. I just got upset. I just said like, oh, my mom even thinks that like all of these drawings are making art, you know, garbage. So it's, it's a long way for me to even have this talk and like be in this mindset and being able to talk to all of you and then being understood, you know, it's, it's a different, it's a different perspective.

Absolutely.

## Davonte Bradley [01:11:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4301s)

And I, again, I completely understand, like, even, even here in the US, like that mindset where, you know, artists aren't worth anything, or there's no way that you can live as an artist here, because there's the whole starving artist, artist mentality that is still very common that like, that is literally like one of the first things off a lot of people's tongues, when they're talking about, you know, like, you know, like, artists, they think that the art industry, it's like, oh, no, that's just for money laundering, or illicit activities, and all that stuff. That's like, and then when you get down to actually talking to them, more often than not, they don't even know an artist, like, they don't even have an artist in their lives to like, actually talk to them. So they lack that perspective.

It's like, no, that's, you've listened to a very special brand of propaganda to form these ideas. And it's not, it's not true. Sure, some of those things, do happen, there are starving artists, but that's not like, all of it. That's not all of us.

## Unattributed [01:12:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4362s)

And it's not why exactly, that's why I as an artist or person, whatever, I love supporting artists, you know, I just love being there and being like, Hey, I see your art, I value it, I love it. I want to have it, I want to share it, you know, that's just, that's why I'm more interested in making art, because it's generates this entire spiral of like connection. And like, you know, just us just making art inspires someone else to make art and be a contributor of this whole ecosystem. So even if you are a starving artist, which like, most of us have started somewhere, right? Yeah, we're making money, like I still, you know, money is just a joke in art, you know, but, but, you know, it's just like that whole ecosystem, I will, even if I'm not making art one day, like, if so, something happens, like, I'll still be contributing to that ecosystem, because like, I want people to see that everyone should be an artist.

## Davonte Bradley [01:13:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4427s)

Yeah, absolutely. All right. With me, my comments are probably taken away from some people's question time. So let me get back to the chat. You were asked, Oh, what AI software are using, especially for animating?

## Unattributed [01:14:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4442s)

So actually, I use different things, because I'm still, I'm still learning. I've used VVV, which I don't know how it's actually pronounced, probably. And I use this one called Photomosh. And that basically generates multi effects on top of still imagery or videos. And the generative part comes from the fact that the software chooses what it's going to apply to your feed. So I'm using the VVV, which is the image source. So that's what I used for the ones that were in my portfolio. And I also played around with processing processor.

And that was just like, you know, coding, Google processing is pretty easy to use. It's a browser based thing. So that's also when I tried wish, I don't know if I've published anything with that. But I have some works that we're playing around with. So I'm actually looking to create my own software.

But that's a long time project. So and I don't know how to do that. So I'm going to have to find someone to do that with me.

## Davonte Bradley [01:15:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4518s)

I'm sure there's definitely some willing people around, for sure.

## Unattributed [01:15:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4523s)

It takes a lot. It takes not just one person for sure.

## Davonte Bradley [01:15:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4528s)

Yeah. Yeah. Chalda wants to know, what's the name of the venue for your upcoming LA show?

## Unattributed [01:15:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4535s)

It's called Inner Space Gallery. But it's a pop up gallery for now within another gallery. So I would send you the link to like, if you Google it, it's probably not going to show up. So just share with all of you. The event link if you like the RSVP, it's free. And I would really like to see, you know, anyone just come up, you know, it's gonna be great. There's a lot of great artists. I'll share that with you just a second.

It's on my Twitter, actually. There's a link for everyone. Oh, I direct messaged you. There we go.

## Davonte Bradley [01:16:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4584s)

All right. So link to Yeah, that's the link to the gallery. It takes it through Twitter.

## Unattributed [01:16:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4592s)

Yeah, so there's an RSVP link in the tweet.

## Davonte Bradley [01:16:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4596s)

Yep. So that's the link. Yeah it's a bit by your link event bright event explanation okay well that is there for anybody to peruse it does anyone else have any questions or comments for skywater here

## Unattributed [01:16:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4612s)

Or she actually did ask for a criticism so I can actually show you exactly I can also show you those unmoving generative art that I made so while maybe someone's gathering more questions yeah

## Davonte Bradley [01:17:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4635s)

All right laura has a question

## Unattributed [01:17:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4640s)

Hi I really love your expression and your work it's just really exciting one thing I'm interested in knowing if you want to comment on it is what is your feeling of the aesthetics of combining nature imagery into your technological aesthetic and is there a particular reason that inspired you beyond being in covid lockdown that brought you to bring nature into technology it's a very good question I don't think that's the reason but let's see I didn't really think about this before why I include nature and my paintings I think it's probably comes from the fact that I was trying to make it more like a renaissance piece that is commentary on that and most of them do have you know just a classic like flowers and like beauty shots and stuff so I think that's what inspired me to do that and I think that's the way I'm going to go with that inspired me.

And then I realized flowers and like digital, you know, it's, it's in digital form. It's just looks, it, it doesn't give me nature vibes. I don't know if that makes sense. So, so for example, like the flowers that I drew, some of them are realistic, which, you know, gives you that like nature feeling. And some of them are kind of like hard glitch, really cropped sharply. And it's just kind of like, yeah, you see a flower in like every other painting, but this one is different. So I try to try to put that perspective of like, what we see in physical paintings in general, and apply that to digital art as like, and then on top of a printed and frame it to make it look like paintings, like real paintings that are painted by paint. But let people, discover that it is not by looking at the textures and realizing this is not what I'm seeing.

So it's mostly for the illusion and the commentary on that. So rather than like, you know, thinking about why I added the flowers, I didn't really think about it. I really like, you know, I really like drawing. When I used to like draw with a pencil on paper hyper realistically, I did a lot of, flowers and faces. So that's probably also comes from the fact that I'm very comfortable and like, enjoy doing it. And that gives me a piece of bliss while I do it. Because I don't think about so much of why or, you know, why or where or how it's just, it just kind of comes out. That's the expression as that comes out. I'm comfortable in that, those objects.

## Unattributed [01:20:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4822s)

Can I ask you if you've ever gone in situ with your technology in nature and then found something there that inspired you to put it in the painting? Yes. So I've actually done that with one of the paintings that I showed you. There's, there's a friend of mine, I was visiting her in LA and she has a gorgeous backyard with bunch of, bunch of like roses and roses are my favorite flowers. So she has about like 200 kinds of flowers in her backyard. So I went and like did a tour, took a bunch of flowers, put them in there. And then I took a couple of flower pictures on my iPad and then kind of incorporated in some of my paintings. And I'm hoping to do more of that.

When I go out in nature, I tend to not like take a lot of pictures, but that's definitely something that I'm trying to keep more in mind as like outsourcing my imagery, especially for those small like flowers and natural, like things that I can find in nature. My research is in human technology, nature interaction. So thank you very much for taking that time. I really enjoyed hearing that. Thank you.

## Davonte Bradley [01:21:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4895s)

Thank you, Laura. Oh, for the people that are trying to sign up for the Eventbrite event, it would appear that it does seem sold out for that first day, but apparently it's over three days. The other two days are sold out for the first day. So I'm hoping to do more of that. So if you just go ahead and change the date on that page to one of those two days, you should still be able to sign up.

Even though it's an online event, I guess they have limited spots per day. I don't know. Or maybe somebody formatted it wrong, but you can still sign up for those two days.

## Unattributed [01:22:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4944s)

Yes. And if you really only have two days, you can still sign up for the event. If you only can come on Thursday, please let me know. I will get you in. All right. Just so there's something visual in the background. These are unpublished, so you're getting the first view. And they loop, but right now I don't have them on loop.

## Davonte Bradley [01:22:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=4977s)

All right. Any other questions for Skywater here? Comments, concerns, criticisms, which were invited, which I know over the past salons that we've done, we haven't actually done a whole lot of like art critiques or anything like that. But I mean, if you're if you want to go for it now is a great opportunity to do so because you've been invited to do so.

So I think. Some people here might feel mean in doing that, so they might not. But I will say if you are if you are tuning into this from YouTube, if you go ahead and join our discord, there actually is a discord channel for art critiques just for this kind of thing or even posting onto our Facebook page, asking for critiques there, our Facebook group rather. And. You'll more than likely get some kind of feedback that you're looking for.

Oh, OK. Got a question from Skojo. How were those last pieces animated?

## Unattributed [01:24:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5050s)

So the last pieces are. So I first added the data mosh effect, which you can. You can apply on different softwares. It's kind of it's kind of like glitch effect. Some it's called data mosh. And that gives that pointy triangle edges to it. And then I also applied that AI motion generator so that it would apply random other motions to it. But the base is the data mosh effect.

And then the actual imagery that was feeded is a generative imagery to which look completely different than what it looks like. Right. So that's kind of what I'm trying to do right now. But I just wasn't satisfied with what the computer did for me. So I added more. Very cool.

## Michael Pierre Price [01:25:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5103s)

Thanks.

## Cynthia DiDonato [01:25:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5106s)

OK.

## Davonte Bradley [01:25:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5114s)

Don't see anything else. So we can either continue having a conversation or look like Colin. Maybe. Yeah. Like we're I think you're muted but you're not muted at the same time.

## Colin Goldberg [01:25:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5137s)

All right. How about now? Got it. Yes. So you mentioned Julie Merritt who I guess or merit to I'm not sure the best how do you pronounce her name so I'm definitely a big fan of her work also. And I was curious. Are there any other contemporary artists? That you know you. Feel that kind of inform your work or that you draw inspiration from?

## Unattributed [01:26:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5160s)

Yes. I'm a fan of a lot of artists. I'm a fangirl over most artists, including all of you. I'm a hype girl for artists, but Ivan Alifan is an amazing oil painter. I will just, Ivan Alifan, type it down. He was my big inspiration to start actually painting a little bigger scale, which was, for me, it was like bigger than a letter size. So he's great. I really like his work. And then there is Miss Me Art. She is a street artist based in Montreal. She's also a feminist artist who does, she's anonymous and she also works with nudity in her nude bodies, which are, again, even if you're in art, it's kind of contradictory and she puts them in really large scales on public buildings. So she really inspires me.

And yeah, there's many more, but those three, I'll just say for now. And in terms of, I guess, I mean, there's been so many artists that I've met in this last year, just because I started sharing my art and like each and every one of them are inspiring me every single day. So I can, if you look at my Twitter, like everybody is just, to me, it's just very inspiring and everyone.

## Colin Goldberg [01:27:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5260s)

Yeah. And you mentioned also that you're, you're like, you know, putting this gallery project together. Yeah. For NFTs and live minting and stuff like that. So I know that there's another artist in the group that's here today. That's going to talk. He wanted to drop something about a platform and your NFT platform that he's involved in setting up. And I just wanted to say, you know, like anybody in the crowd or who's watching on YouTube, YouTube who's interested in, in sort of curatorial things, you know, this is a great community to draw from in that, like, you know, there's always people that are into particular subtopic, like generative work or NFT specific stuff or whatever, you know what I mean? And I just think that's something I would really like to encourage people to do, you know, and I'm happy, you know, as sort of like the person who can actually post stuff on Techspressionism is dot com yet although at some point I definitely would like you know some sort of a backup person preferably someone who's comfortable with WordPress you know but to you know to help put those events out there you know and I think that's like a good you know way to look at a growth model for this thing is that you know people have an idea oh I want put the show together.

And, you know, there's, there's definitely between discord and the Facebook group, like, you know, one announcement, I'm sure you'll fill a, you know, a quota of how many people you need for whatever it is, you know?

## Unattributed [01:29:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5352s)

Yeah, for me, that's very exciting, because the fact that NFTs came about, and I learned about it is the reason I started sharing my digital art. So I'm kind of committed to it, I am like, really doing that in different communities, and different platforms, and just promoting it as well, because I believe in it. And I'm also teaching it to anyone who has a question, so if you have a question about platforms, if you have a question about how to do these things, I've got a lot of answers. I just, you know, I'm ready to answer any questions, give you advice, or anything. So please DM me, I can give you as much as I can in terms of knowledge. I think in this, you know, era of like, yeah, blockchain is really complicated. And there's just so much saturation. Right now in the market, so it's really easy to get lost.

And I've already got lost in that black hole scenario. So I like came out of it. I spent way too much time during the beginning of lockdown, researching like a crazy person, everything about this so I'm really happy to share my knowledge and like answer any questions like beginner or advanced please hit me up can talk

## Colin Goldberg [01:30:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5439s)

About you first heard about the text rushes and through skojo right over on clubhouse or something like that was that how you got connected to the group or I've met skojo on clubhouse and actually it was his brain.

## Unattributed [01:30:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5452s)

Talk. I believe like his first time talking in Clubhouse. Well it was my first time. Right? Yeah. It was my first time ever saying anything to anyone else. Yeah that's why you were just like shocked how friendly I was. I was like, sorry, like I'm too friendly. Yeah it was great. And then we talked afterwards.

Yeah, back then I was actually hosting Clubhouse Talks because that was my only outlet of talking about my digital art. Nobody else got me. So I was like really excited, like people understanding me, like they want me to promote my art, like they want me to sell my art. So I got really excited and I was hosting rooms like almost every day with all these other artists or collectors. And Skojo had a question, just a general question about like NFTs or something. And I looked at his profile and I said, you are just like mind blowing art. So I DMed him, I was like, what are you doing? How are you doing these? Like, what are these textures? There was just one specific artwork that I saw of his, which has like this pink, purple, like human, like female body in the middle and just a lot of abstraction.

I said, like, how did you do this? Like, who are you? So that's how we started talking. And then he kind of like. You know, became artist friends and then started talking about these other things. But yeah, that's how we met. And then that's how I heard about expressionism. I didn't really know about it before.

## Colin Goldberg [01:32:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5547s)

Yeah, I wanted to give Skojo a shout out to, you know, Skojo definitely like took the lead on getting Techspressionism up and running on Pinterest. And that's definitely been a boost. You know, it's definitely in the. The first page of SERP search engine results page.

## Davonte Bradley [01:32:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5565s)

Yes, I'm a nerd. Next thing you know, you're going to start talking about SEO and all these other good things. Yeah.

## Unattributed [01:32:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5577s)

Thanks. Totally trying to get everyone on Pinterest. So if you if you have a particular piece of yours that you want me to post there, just DM me on Instagram. Art Skojo. And I'll make sure I put that. One on there. So I want to make sure everyone's represented in the way they want. I've kind of been going through our feed and just pulling some. But I want to make sure you guys are cool with the ones I'm pulling. So DM me if you have anything particularly want me to post.

Pinterest is very powerful for especially like art. You know, a lot of people resource their mood boards from there. So it's very like important that fine art is reflected on Pinterest. With an actual link to as a source.

## Davonte Bradley [01:33:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5625s)

Right. Oh, I actually just thought of a question or kind of a. Yeah, we'll call it that. So. Earlier on, you did mention that you were born in Turkey, correct?

## Unattributed [01:34:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5642s)

Yeah.

## Davonte Bradley [01:34:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5643s)

So. Yeah. So. I know. Or I'm pretty sure. There were there probably were artists in Turkey. Have you have you tried to find any like famous contemporary artists or like contemporary artists in Turkey to like reach out to or.

## Unattributed [01:34:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5661s)

Like nowadays? Yeah. No. Well, yes and no. They've been finding me because of Twitter and a lot of Turkish people have shown interest in the NFT scene because of the economical side of it. Right. Right. Right. It's insanely like insanely booming there because dollar versus, you know, like ETH versus Turkish currency is extremely like different. So there's a lot of there's a huge community of NFT artists right now. So they've been trying like they've been kind of taught like following me and we're doing talks on Twitter and I met a couple of them and when I was in New York last week for the NFT conference. So there's a few. But I don't really know any artists in Turkey. Like I really don't like my family is very small. I only knew one artist growing up and that was my mom's friend who is a muralist and she lived in another city.

So I didn't really get to see her being an artist. I just knew that she was a muralist. So I really don't like I moved out of there when I was 18 too. So I don't really have like a strong social connection. I don't really have a strong connection to anything else besides my school friends and family. So I still don't have a lot of friends in Turkey. So now it's more like when I go back, I'll try to make artist friends and talk to the people.

Yeah, I checked a couple of them out. I actually didn't know it was three. But yeah, I'm definitely like looking forward to connecting. It's hard. The time difference is extremely different too. So like. It's you know, we can either talk right before I go to sleep or right when I wake up. So it's been hard to connect that way. But I'm really looking forward to next time I go to Istanbul, like check out every contemporary gallery, talk to everyone I can.

And yeah, that's definitely a goal.

## Davonte Bradley [01:36:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5789s)

Nice. A bit of a follow up to that are and I think I probably already kind of know the answers. Are there any like Turkish influences? Are cultural references in any of your work or is it just kind of divorced from that?

## Unattributed [01:36:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5807s)

There are so I'm Turkish born. However, my like I guess ascenders, that's what we call it, are from like general Middle East and Eastern European. And I wasn't really I wasn't really I wasn't really raised with a strong Turkish. Mindset or cultural impact. My dad is my dad is a liberal like atheist and my mom is not religious either. And their families are both not originally from Turkey. So I had a very different way of growing up.

Hence why I probably live here because I didn't fit there. And I didn't understand people. But I do have this Middle Eastern route that is very important and I connect with because I really connect with like the hospitality culture and like the culture of like art culture that was before we got westernized, all the roomies, all the historical landmarks and the insane. Insanely exhausting and like creative work that the Middle East has in its ground. All these carpets, all these ways of pouring tea. I'm I've just I grew up with that as a culture that was just around me. So I try to reflect that in my digital art recently because I think this last piece, as I showed you, are the ones that actually show and relate to my identity the most. So when I was sourcing. I was sourcing. Renaissance pieces, eyesores, Orientalist paintings, which really inspired me with the with the objects that the artists depict in those paintings.

So whether it be the clothes of the female imagery or like presentation or whether it's like the carpet in the background, whether it's the servant and the image, whether it's like the hookah, like there's just so much that is just captures that culture. That really. Inspires me. So I try to adapt a similar perspective, but nothing, nothing else that really directly correlates to my Turkish core. I would say yet there are there's a few options that I'm thinking of incorporating as tulips is something that I want to incorporate more of my arts because tulips only grow in Turkey. And if you Google Turkish art, you will see a lot of tulips. And then like the pattern of Turkish rugs is something I'm trying to incorporate and as a texture and I haven't explored those.

## Unattributed [01:39:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5989s)

But good thing you asked because I really wanted to incorporate those two things. So I

## Davonte Bradley [01:39:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5995s)

Look forward to seeing it.

## Unattributed [01:39:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5997s)

Thank you.

## Davonte Bradley [01:39:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=5999s)

All right.

## Unattributed [01:40:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6000s)

So we've got another quick question.

## Colin Goldberg [01:40:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6002s)

Oh, good. You know, both of you and Sahar, you know, have this commercial background. And I do as well, you know, coming out of like sort of an agency environment, but always doing my art at the same time. And I wanted to see or ask you, you know, do you feel that those two parts of yourself, you know, working in that sort of capacity in branding informs your art practice in any way, either, you know, in terms of the content or maybe the way that the work is presented or executed and vice versa? Do you feel that your personal creative practice? Informs what you do, you know, for that side of yourself?

Like definitely artists like Zaha Hadid are a huge inspiration. I remember seeing her show at the Guggenheim and it was completely, you know, unapologetically mixing commercial architecture, wall sculptures, all sorts of different things, just crossing every single boundary. And, you know, none of it was like trying to hide this part of her practice from the other part. You know, it was all sort of integrated. And I thought. That was very interesting.

## Unattributed [01:41:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6072s)

Well, very, very great question. That is my the core of my identity crisis, being a designer who is a perfectionist and needs to be a perfectionist and goal and structure oriented versus being an abstract expressionist who completely ignores everything that is about it. And that's really why I make the art that I make. If I were to not have it. I have a design background, which is also I'm the self-taught designer for a long time until I went to college in 2018 as a transfer student. So and only studied a year and a half. So basically most of the things that I taught myself and that I thought was my art for a long time, because otherwise the art that I made was either for like practice or, you know, never for sale. So it was a hobby for me. But then I realized. Like my graphic design knowledge is extremely utilitarian for my art as well.

I started incorporating that. And unfortunately, until recently, I didn't think digital art was something that people considered as art, even though I did. So actually four years ago or so, maybe five years ago, I asked my mom to get a mortgage like bank money for me, like $50,000. Something so that I could start a physical gallery in San Francisco that will only display digital arts and this was before I knew what VR was like I knew what NFTs were or like I knew any digital artists I just had a huge collection of like screenshots in my phone of like all these beautiful digital art so my mind always wanted this to happen but I didn't know it was possible so right now I'm just I'm just really like I'm just really peaceful with that mindset of like incorporating my design like hard work really like design core knowledge and skills and all these softwares that I learned because I was doing design and incorporating all of that to this like iPad screen canvas I want to incorporate everything I know about design and including like technical marketing and technology and things like that so I'm just really peaceful with that typography and layout and colors and everything to my art because they are they're essentially the same thing like I think artists need to know design designers need to know art you don't have to but if you're trying to make like digital art that's just always good to have especially when you're like branding your art too it's important to choose a nice font for your website or like it's just it just I mean it's hard to do everything by yourself so I feel like I'm doing everything by myself and it's nice if someone else does that for you but once you have the knowledge I think it's

## Unattributed [01:44:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6253s)

More powerful to combine it awesome

## Davonte Bradley [01:44:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6258s)

Thank you totally relate yeah because you've you've had to use your own design elements for your website Colin and

## Colin Goldberg [01:44:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6265s)

Text I feel like this project definitely has given me something where I feel like you know I can take the skills that I picked up through client work and apply them to something that I really care about you know so it's cool not that I don't care about my client work I love my clients in case one of your clients is watching Colin is that what that was for they help support my art habit

## Unattributed [01:44:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6294s)

That's another plus side right

## Davonte Bradley [01:44:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6298s)

And yeah I think it's important to keep your bases covered yeah just make sure nobody's alienated all right well we do have like eight or so minutes left of our official recording time if anyone else does have any like more questions for Skywater please ask them now if not we're gonna start closing things out but before that skojo has a little bit to share I know it was brought up a little bit earlier about an nft project that he was a part of or is in and working with but yeah he's got time to talk about that just

## Unattributed [01:45:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6333s)

A just like a 10 second thing I don't want to take the limelight away from sky and everyone else but I launched a very exciting nft project that's it's very artist and collector focused so I thought this group might be interested in it and also because our very own Michael Pierre Price and Sky did amazing, amazing mint passes for it. So I put the link in the chat. It's called Neftorian.

Possibly in a couple weeks, maybe I'll like incorporate it into. Presentation. Maybe I can bring the founder here and we can present. But it is a really cool project. There's probably a natural partnership with our group if people are into it, because we're trying to bring artists and collectors together to make NFT creation and collecting a team sport. So we're going to have all these types of cool things on the roadmap, like artist shows and artist conferences where we're bringing collectors together and everything. So it would be really, really cool to see if this group is into it. So check out the link and tell Michael and Sky how amazing their owls are. The owl is our mascot. So we did mint passes for, we asked people to do owls in their own style. And man, they, you guys rocked it. It's so cool.

## Colin Goldberg [01:46:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6419s)

So can you tell us what a mint pass is? Because that was something I wasn't familiar with before you told me about that word. Oh, sure.

## Unattributed [01:47:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6427s)

Yeah. A mint pass is basically, I like to think of it as, it's like a high-end Super Bowl ticket for a PFP. So you can get a mint pass for something, which enables you to get a PFP. But it'll give it to you a couple of days before the mint, and it'll give it to you gas-free. So because obviously gas prices are crazy, this is a way for you to mint a PFP for zero gas. So it's kind of like- Can you explain what a PFP is?

Sure. It's a profile pick. So if you're familiar with like CryptoPunks or the Bored Ape Yacht Club, they're kind of taking over. Yeah. They're taking over the profile pick. So basically, these profile pick projects are created by creating this kind of base, maybe animal usually. And then someone designs all these different attributes, the different eyes, nose, what's on the head. And generatively, it gets programmatically randomized. So there might be 10,000 of these bored apes, but there'll only be one with a tuxedo and a top hat eating cotton candy. Although there'll only be one with wearing a toga and a terminator eye. So every single one that's created is completely custom. It's one of a kind. So that's why people can kind of claim them as theirs. And there's this utility that's being added on top of the PFP.

So it's not just like having a very expensive Twitter profile. People are creating things like Bored Ape has an international club, where it's actually a physical space that you can go to all the- all the time. It's like all around the world. They're giving people license to use the art. So they're giving them the actual 3D rigged model of these apes. So if they wanted to put it in a movie, they have full license to do that. So that's, I think the really cool thing about this. This next generation of PFP things is that the utility layer on top of it is really exciting. Because I think that in a couple years, like we're just gonna get NFTs for everything. I've kind of seen it as like, I don't have the idea that if you go to a concert in a couple years, you're probably going to buy an NFT first, and that's going to be your ticket.

And it's going to be a beautiful, beautiful NFT. And then you're going to go to the show, and you're going to come back. And in your wallet, there might be like a movie of what happened backstage at that show. So yeah, it's pretty crazy where things are going. That's very exciting. So this is a cool project. And if you want to check it out, check out the link I posted. I'll tell you more about it later. That was way more than 10 seconds. Sorry. Oh, man.

## Colin Goldberg [01:49:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6599s)

Are you going to come back for the next salon and do a little expanded thing? I know we talked about that before, but you're definitely welcome to. And if you want to, you know, show your work to like, you know, I think that's a really important intro about just your personal practice and whatnot. You know what, you know, how you first got involved with the group.

## Unattributed [01:50:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6617s)

Yeah, I've been kind of a straggler with that. And because of my injuries and concussion, I haven't been able to use the screen at all. So now that I'm finally healthy, I'm able to share what I've been up to. So yeah, maybe we can integrate some of my work into the presentation before I start talking about that project.

## Colin Goldberg [01:50:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6633s)

Awesome. Yeah. All you guys, you and Sky and Sahar all, you know, combine digital and traditional media in some way. And I think that's really appealing to me personally. That definitely, you know, speaks to my own work as well. Like something, you know, before I ever touched a computer, I picked up a crayon just like everyone else in the room, you know, so it's kind of like that. And I think that's a really cool thing. That's interesting to see, you know.

## Davonte Bradley [01:50:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6659s)

Thanks. All right, folks. Well, we got a whopping two minutes left for our regular scheduled time. Just want to thank everyone here one last time before we wrap things up and thank our two presenters, Sahar and Skywater for your wonderful presentations. The round of applause for all of you.

## Michael Pierre Price [01:51:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6684s)

And yeah,

## Davonte Bradley [01:51:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6686s)

Again, I probably say this just about every time we do this, but these meetings, these salons would not be as great as they are without all of you. So thank you very much for your time and participation and all of this. It means a lot.

## Colin Goldberg [01:51:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6700s)

Giovanna, did you just want to say aloud what you were putting in the chat? That might be of interest to anyone who would want to stick around. I don't know if everyone's seeing, because some people on phones might not be seeing the chat.

## Davonte Bradley [01:51:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JhtlP3olQ&t=6711s)

This is true. Quick, quick rundown. Giovanna has a showcase for specialism at the Williamsburg Hotel in Brooklyn. And the manager there is offering a space for free at this hotel. And if you contact Giovanna, you should be able to get part of that or become part of that showcase. And she'll be available after the recording. So after we wrap things up here, she should be available to chat if you are interested. She also left her contact information.

Yeah. Sweet. So that being said, again, thank you, everyone. And we'll be signing out in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and...