Herron Islander hosts film screening event at Northwest Film Forum in Seattle

Posted

Scott Turner, KP News

Courtesy photo by Joseph Pentheroudakis

Herron Island resident Joseph Pentheroudakis makes his living as an artist. His primary medium is drawing and his work can be seen in several Seattle galleries, but he also works in photography and video.

Last month Pentheroudakis and his friend Barbara Robertson of Seattle hosted their third annual “Take Three” video screening at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle.

“The Take Three title is a reference to the fact that each person submits three videos or animation pieces and each piece is three minutes long,”Pentheroudakis said. “It’s for artists whose main medium is video and also for artists who usually work in something other than video.”

Since it began three years ago, Take Three has shown experimental work by filmmakers and also videos created by printmakers, painters, sculptors, a sound artist and a music composer, he said.

“It’s a way we can give our friends and other artists a chance to show their video work,” he said.

This year, 12 artists participated in the event, which took place in a theater on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

Pentheroudakis himself had two entries. Both were shot on Herron Island. “One is sort of an ode to Herron Island called ‘The Land May Vary More,’he said.

“It was all filmed on south beach which is my favorite place on the island. It’s a three-minute abstract piece about looking out to sea.”

Pentheroudakis’s other video, also an abstract work, featured “overlapping images that add up to something interesting. That one I shot in black and white. It’s mostly effects. I was paying attention to light and dark shapes and how they move around in interesting ways.”

That work has the intriguing title: “Six Slow Rustic Pieces –– or How to Turn Your Fence into an Abstract Object.”

Pentheroudakis stressed that everyone can experiment with video.

“It’s so easy to do it these days. There’s so much software out there to help you along and you can train your eye and your hand and your mind to work with the medium to create interesting things,”he said.

“I want people to try it. When you start looking around you, there are lots of things you can focus on if you have a camera ––any camera –– your phone or a regular camera.

“It makes you pay attention to the world around you and notice things you wouldn’t notice otherwise,” he said.

And sharing your work is as much fun as making it, he added.

“So it’s both on a personal level and sharing your work with others and having them see things they might not be noticing.”

The Take Three event itself “was a blast,” he said. “When we as artists can share our work with an audience it’s a very rewarding experience. And enormously fun, too,”Pentheroudakis said.

And, he added, seeing a film or video in a theater instead of on a computer or TV is the very best way to experience it.

“Watching images and storieson a huge​screen in a dark theaterispart of our cultural DNA,”he said.

“There are no interruptions, no breaks, no chatting or other distractions. It’s ​j​ust you and the performance and that immersivemoment is what those of us who work in the medium work for. And the sound is like nothing you can reproduce at home,” he said

Pentheroudakis is already making plans for Take Three 2016.

Anyone interested can contact him at jpentheroudakis@gmail.com.

To view more of his work visit

Herron Island resident Joseph Pentheroudakis makes his living as an artist. His primary medium is drawing and his work can be seen in several Seattle galleries, but he also dabbles in photography and video.

Last month Pentheroudakis and his friend Barbara Robertson of Seattle hosted their third annual “Take Three”video conference at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle.

“The Take Three title is a reference to the fact that each person submits three videos or animation pieces and each piece is three minutes long,”Pentheroudakis said. “It’s for artists whose main medium is video and also for artists who usually work in something other than video.”

Since it began three years ago, Take Three has shown experimental work by filmmakers and also videos created by printmakers, painters, sculptors, a sound artist and a music composer, he said.

“It’s a way we can give our friends and other artists a chance to show their video work,” he said.

This year, 12 artists participated in the event, which took place in a theater on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

Pentheroudakis himself had two entries. Both were shot on Herron Island. “One is sort of an ode to Herron Island called ‘The Land May Vary More,’he said.

“It was all filmed on south beach which is my favorite place on the island. It’s a three-minute abstract piece about looking out to sea.”

Pentheroudakis’s other video, also an abstract work, featured “overlapping images that add up to something interesting. That one I shot in black and white. It’s mostly effects. I was paying attention to light and dark shapes and how they move around in interesting ways.”

That work has the intriguing title: “Six Slow Rustic Pieces –– or How to Turn Your Fence into an Abstract Object.”

Pentheroudakis stressed that you don’t need to be an artist to experiment with video.

“It’s so easy to do it these days. There’s so much software out there to help you along and you can train your eye and your hand and your mind to work with the medium to create interesting things,”he said.

“I want people to try it. When you start looking around you, there are lots of things you can focus on if you have a camera ––any camera –– your phone or a regular camera.

“It makes you pay attention to the world around you and notice things you wouldn’t notice otherwise,” he said.

And sharing your work is as much fun as making it, he added.

“So it’s both on a personal level and sharing your work with others and having them see things they might not be noticing.”

The Take Three event itself “was a blast,”he said. “When we as artists can share our work with an audience it’s a very rewarding experience. And enormously fun, too,”Pentheroudakis said.

And, he added, seeing a film or video in a theater instead of on a computer or TV is the very best way to experience it.

“Watching images and storieson a huge​screen in a dark theaterispart of our cultural DNA,”he said.

“There are no interruptions, no breaks, no chatting or other distractions. It’s ​j​ust you and the performance and that immersivemoment is what those of us who work in the medium work for. And the sound is like nothing you can reproduce at home,” he said

Pentheroudakis is already making plans for Take Three, 2016.

Anyone interested can contact him at jpentheroudakis@gmail.com.

To view more of his work visit jpentheroudakis.com.

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