Light Grey Game Night: Building

Aaaaaand we're back! We've been busy hammering our heads against a backlog of work, nailing down our New Year's resolutions, putting together the scaffolding for a year's worth of new exhibitions, and figuring out the tools we need to get it done!

Hmmmm, for some reason all this talk is getting me excited to play some Building games! That must mean it's time for another Light Grey Game Night! That's right, mark your calendar for Thursday, February 5th from 6:30 to 9:30 PM!

As you might remember, we're attaching a theme to each night to help people narrow down what games they might want to bring (although you're still welcome to bring whatever you'd like!). This week's theme is Building games!

Construct a sprawling collection of corridors, dungeons, and living quarters in Castles of Mad King Ludwig, kowtow to the hurried demands of your constituents as the Mayor of the quirky little town of Machi Koro, and race across the Japanese landscape laying rails and building stations in Trains, among plenty of others! If you have a favorite boardgame, bring it!

So grab your friends, family or favorite stack of board games, and come play with us! RSVP via our Facebook event, and feel free to share! The more the merrier!

Glitchon 2015!

This past week, we announced the 115+ artists that will be joining us for a large-scale print exhibition, BOSS RUSH, featuring some of the most epic battles, bosses, and bad guys! Each artist is taking on their favorite boss and depicting them for the exhibition, online shop, and traveling show that will be displayed at this year's Minneapolis Glitchcon!

Glitchcon is March 28th +29th, and is a weekend-long event full of workshops, lectures, panels, hands-on demonstrations, and fun events celebrating gamers, game culture, and the makers behind some of our favorite projects! Special guests include directors of Rainmaker Games, Galaxy Studios, Game Informer, Gearbox, Intropy Games and many more.



During the convention, Light Grey Art Lab will be hosting one of the hands-on workshops, sharing some of the behind-the-scenes assets and programming for projects such as Dream Arcade and Great Personality, and teaching attendees how to create their own platformer games using sprite animations and artwork assets.

Saturday, the the 28th, we will also be presenting the works from BOSS RUSH for a special reception and award ceremony! If you are interested in joining us for a weekend full of gaming, check out the Glitch. Tickets are currently available directly through the webpage here.

We hope to see you there!

Podcast: Fare Thee Well, Francesca

Download the MP3, stream directly on Stitcher, or subscribe via iTunes!

Fare Thee Well, Francesca
Length: 00:55:27
Synopsis: On this week's heartfelt podcast we bid adieu to our very own Francesca Buchko - who, by the time you hear this show, has moved thousands of miles away from the hallowed halls of Light Grey Art Lab. We take this chance to reflect on what it takes to stay in touch with displaced friends, the shake-up felt on both sides of the relationship, and exciting, new beginnings. We also slowly come to terms with how difficult it is to play boardgames over Skype.

Show Notes:
Francesca Buchko : Website - Twitter - Tumblr

Podcast: Talking With Glitch Gaming

Download the MP3, stream directly on Stitcher, or subscribe via iTunes!

Talking with Glitch Gaming
Length: 01:11:27
Synopsis: Join us as we continue our series of podcasts where we talk to individuals about videogames, collaboration and community, and making things in the interactive realm. This week we speak to Evva Kraikul and Nicolaas VanMeerten, founders of Glitch Gaming, a non-profit that provides programming to promote gaming culture and game design as a creative practice. We discuss how Glitch connects students with opportunities in the gaming industry, what it takes to run high profile gaming events, and how important it is for educational institutions to recognize gaming culture as a viable candidate for funding.

Show Notes:
Glitch: Website - GlitchCon - GameCraft - Twitter - Facebook - Twitch

BOSS RUSH! Artists Announced!

Thanks to everyone that submitted their links to the upcoming BOSS RUSH exhibition!
Now only are we thrilled to be working with such a great group of artists, we're excited because all artists participating will have a chance to win "Best of Show" awards at GlitchCON, coming March 28th-29th! A guest juror will be selecting 10 artists for special features during the convention and we'll be announcing awards alongside the exhibition at Light Grey!

Without further ado:
We are excited to announce the list of participating artists!

BOSS RUSH
Opens March 20th
7 - 10pm
@ Light Grey Art Lab
118 E 26th Street #101
Minneapolis MN 55404
612.239.2047


Adam Hoppus
Allie Strom
Alex Bahena
Ameorry Luo
Angela An
Audrey Gonzalez
Benjamin Currie
Benjamin Lam
Bernard Gatus
Bobby O'Herlihy
Britney Winthrope
Camille Chew
Cheryl Kook
Charles Tan
Chris Hajny
Chelsea Kenna
Chicherova Olga
Chris Schons
Chris Kindred
Chris Bloom
D. Lobo
Dana Wulfekotte
Devine Lu Linvega
Dana Guerrieri
Dana Terrace
Daniel Shaffer
Deborah Garcia
Derrick Dent
Elizabeth Beals
Erik Krenz
Emily Cheeseman
Evan Palmer
Felipe Gaona
Francesca Buchko
German Shible
Glenn Harvey
Grace Kim
Heather Franzen
Izabela Stanic
Jason Norman
Jay Bendt
Jen Mundy
Jenna Kass
Jesse Lindhorst
Jesse Riggle
Jez Tuya
Joe Lillington
Joey McCormick
John Delucca
John Lee
John Wilinski
Jorrel Segara
Joshua Zentner
Julianna Michek
Justin Oaksford
Justin Woo
Karina Rehrbehn
Kelly Leigh Miller
Kim Ku
Kim Peterson
Katherine Lim
Lara Paulussen
Lauren Pettapiece
Lauren Westlake
Laura Bifano
Lauren Westlake
Laura Brett
Lissy Marlin
Liz Nugent
Leonard Peng
Lydia Guadagnoli
Michael Pitropov
Maggie Ivy
Matt Hayton
Marianne Vincent
Miguel Lima/ ZERO
Matt Rockefeller
Michael O'Brien
Miguel Co
Miranda Meeks
Narciso Espiritu
Nicholas Kennedy
Nick Lasovich
Nneka Myers
Oliver Hine
Patrick Loughman
Paul Reinwand
Philippe Poirier
Rekka B.
Ricardo Bessa
Ricardo Lopez Ortiz
Richie Pope
Rob Chandler
Rodrigo Aviles
Rosena Fung
Rubén Alcalde Crespo
Sarah Huisken
Sage Einarsen
Shaarif Shameem
Shermaine Tan
Susan Yung
Stacey Lee
Stephanie Matos
Soeun Lee
Stephen Wood
Tanna Tucker
Tanner Ellison
Tara O'Connor
Taryn Gee
Tom Kyster
Tom Wiener
Tommy Sunders
Tyler Parker
Victor Maury

More information will be available about the show as we get closer to Opening Night!
Thanks again to everyone that submitted!

In for the long haul.

Welcome to your new office. Domino is right --- it isn't much.  The lighting sucks, the chair looks uncomfortable... and what is all this... stuff? You are pretty certain that the only reason they can call this an office is that there's a desk in here and a few pencils. Where's your computer? What time period is this? 1960?

Ah, such is the plight of the new person. You're going to be working VERY closely with Domino over the next couple months. You hear she knows the ins and outs... about a whole lot of things, including what's going on with personnel at the Museum. You get the feeling that nothing's much of a secret around her... Hopefully you don't share anything too private...

It's finals time where I teach and I had the opportunity to finish a quick background while my class had work-time. Progress is going good -- just working on a couple stories this weekend and trying to crank out a few more backgrounds. I'm going to be sad school is out after next week, but somewhat relieved that I'll get a bit more time to work on Idealists!

---Lindsay

Podcast: Talking With Microsoft's David Washington

Download the MP3, stream directly on Stitcher, or subscribe via iTunes!

Talking with Microsoft's David Washington
Length: 00:47:06
Synopsis: This week kicks off a new series of podcasts about videogames, collaboration and community, and making things in the interactive realm. First up, we're talking to Microsoft's David Washington, who has he enviable (and slightly difficult to explain) position of Technical Evangelism Manager. David and his team work with artists, programers, entrepreneurs, and anyone else with a spark of an idea to help execute their project to it's fullest potential. You also might remember David's name as the programmer of Dream Arcade!

Show Notes:
David on Twitter - @dwcares
If you haven't yet, play Dream Arcade!

Cesario has a lot of work to do.

Cesario is headed out for yet another smoke break. You both have a lot of work to do still and no matter how fast you help out around the office, you can't seem to make headway. In fact, the more you do, the more it seems like he's double-checking your work. You guess you can't blame him... he's probably under a lot of pressure. 

Here's a glimpse of his office! Claire Hummel made an incredible pin-up for Cesario's end game scenarios and it was a lot of fun expanding on her original design. Look at all those books! He's got quite the office... I did a bunch of work on Cesario's spaces this past weekend. The fact that it's getting dark at four means two things -- 1. time to sit down and crank out a bunch of art and code... and 2. I've only got a couple of weeks to launch... crazy. 
---Lindsay

Winston Joel - What a cutie.

 

Winston Joel (Richie Pope's character from the Idealists game) is adorable -- just look at those eyes! I've been working on his spaces over the last couple days and wanted to share a peek of his room. This guy is immaculate.

He lives just outside the city - about 20 minutes by train. The air is cleaner out here and there are plenty of spaces around where a person can sit and daydream. He doesn't mind the commute -- in fact, it gives him a bit more time to relax and binge on another chapter. Best sellers or indie-publishing... it doesn't really matter. 

I had a great time working on his room -- as you can see, he's a big fan of Francesca Buchko's artwork (heh heh -- thanks Francesca, for the use of your awesome work for the wall-art in this scene!) 

I did a couple more backgrounds done this last week and sat around with Francesca Buchko as she worked on a couple more public spaces for the Idealists to explore. Maybe she'll share some of her process? We'll see! 

Wish me luck!

---Lindsay Nohl

Grown- Up Club's Swappydazzle Event!

We recently had the pleasure of partnering with Grown-Up Club to host Swappydazzle! It was a fun-for-all holiday event that included a potluck dinner, ornament making, and white elephant gift exchange!



As guests arrived, they were able to sample some of the delicious baked goods, traditional dishes, and organic recipes. Everyone mingled, ate, and made their way over the the ornament making station led by Light Grey Art Lab!



Lindsay led participants through demonstrations on felted ornaments and crafts. You can see of the adorable creatures and interesting creations on our flickr page here! We then had the white elephant gift exchange that including a wide variety of homemade gifts, paper mache costumes, thrift store finds, and more.



Grown-Up Club is a local organization that hosts meet ups, presentations, and participatory fun events for adults. Since 2013, they have hosted a variety of singles exchanges, open mic nights, craft nights, and games at locations such as Common Roots Cafe, the Walker Open Field, Bryant Lake Bowl, and more.



If you want to check out Grown-Up Club and get involved, you can see their facebook page and website here! You can also see more photographs from this event on the Light Grey Flickr page.

Boys + Coffee

You need a job, and you need a job bad. The local coffee shop isn’t a bad option—it’s one of the more popular hangouts, so you’d be able to see all of your friends pretty frequently. Not to mention the free coffee. And then there’s Joko. He looks like trouble. But he works in the coffee shop’s kitchen, and though he talks tough, you wonder what he’s really about…

Hello and Happy New Year! I’ve been really fortunate to be able to help Lindsay a tiny (tiny) bit with Great Personality: The Idealists over the last few weeks. Man, it is just about the coolest project EVER. I kind of wish I could just work on this all day every day. I love all of the characters, and I really love the stories Lindsay has been cooking up for these guys. It’s hard to have a favorite, but I can definitely say that Shanti Rittgers’s Joko is on my list. Above is a little preview featuring him in one of the backgrounds I created. That’s the other really fun part about this project: we’ve been fleshing out the Great Personality world. Not only will you learn more about the people, but you’ll learn more about the city they live in. Tell you a little secret? I LOVE cities. So this is basically a dream project.

We’ve got a few more sneak peeks for you in the upcoming weeks till the ACTUAL RELEASE OF THE GAME. Eeeeeee!!! I’ll talk with y’all soon!

—Francesca

Light Grey Cookie Party- Recap!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by last week for our annual Light Grey Cookie Party! We had a wonderful time tasting the holiday cookies, making hot chocolate, and celebrating the end of the year with all of you!



This year's Light Grey Cookie Party featured a HUGE selection of baked goods, bars, frosted treats, and more! Throughout the afternoon, we taste tested many of the holiday creations and were able to vote on some of the most interesting, best looking, and best tasting desserts! The winners included Ian's frosted sugar cookies (seen above), Anna's traditional gingerbread, and Jason's orange, ginger, and cranberry cookies!



If you missed the party or want to see more details, you can check out all of the photographs from the Light Grey Cookie Party on the Light Grey Flickr page here!

Thanks for celebrating with us, and we hope to see you in 2015!

Podcast: Resolution Rundown

Download the MP3, stream directly on Stitcher, or subscribe via iTunes!

Resolution Rundown
Length: 01:07:43
Synopsis: Wait, 2015 is here already? That means it's resolution time again! On this week's podcast we take a look back at our 2014 resolutions to evaluate our many successes (and even more failures). We go on to discuss the purpose of resolutions, what makes a realistic yearly goal, and think about making goals that stretch much further than a year. Then we all make bold and binding resolutions for 2015!

Show Notes:
Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition
GlichCon
Last chance to sign up for the Boss Rush Call for Art