About Iofthestorm

Iofthestorm

Iofthestorm is a multi-media artist performing in the intersection of music, art and technology

IoftheStorm is a virtual progressive folk/rock band, on Facebook: IoftheStorm Musician on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iofthestorm.symphone.tv/

IoftheStorm is a character from the painting "The Singer's Tears" by Amy Lynn Freeman, art prints available at: https://www.colorharmonics.com/the-singer-archetype

IoftheStorm Character Page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iofthestorm.net/about

IoftheStorm.cb.id is my address on Coinbase

"The Singer's Tears" was first shown in a group show in the Barcelona Subway - Link to Barcelona ExpoMetro Show 2022 - Scroll to Billboard#30: https://expometro.co/en/exhibition/2023-barcelona

Link to OpenSea listing for Barcelona ExpoMetro Show 2022

Billboard #30 The Art Tunnel - ExpoMetro Barcelona 2023 - ExpoMetro Barcelona 2023

https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/85775730928421375348473809791505734455763625303971796532309256208422772146177/

Her current project, "Bel Canto Blues: The Art of Sorrow", is an application of bel canto vocal technique to popular music, and will create Twelve Volumes of live, multi-media, multi-location recordings of foundational Blues songs, arranged in a progressive rock style over a jazz form. The project will also produce multi-media artwork generated in relationship to these performances, which will be translated into customized merchandise through Colorharmonics.com and Symphone.tv Marketplaces.

The production of these recordings will be accomplished through live distributed rehearsal and recording sessions, to be held in virtual "Soho-meets-San Pedro Square" multi-location Video sessions, provided by new connectivity services at www.virtualpianostudio.net, and implemented through live video conferencing and broadcast (Zoom, FB, IG, YouTube, etc.).

Support IoftheStorm

"Bel Canto Blues: The Art of Sorrow"

The "Bel Canto Blues: The Art of Sorrow" focuses on traditional blues and folk songs that are in the public domain and without copyright protections, allowing the performers to construct new relationships and agreements with respect to future revenues and rights associated with this project.

Each song will be rehearsed and recorded online using technology with accurate synchronization of sound (Jacktrip for sound and Zoom or Google Meets for Video) within a distributed geographical team, enabling efficient new media production at a low cost, while providing participating artists enhanced post-production opportunities via the programs of Freeman Networks.

This project is experimental, and will constitute a user-acceptance test for some of my systems. To find out more about the terms of the project, please get in touch through the button below.

Make some music?

Iofthestorm.net

Iofthestorm.net is the imaginary character and world of iofthestorm the artist(s). Iofthestorm.net bridges between the imaginary - the fictional - the emotional - the symbolic - and the actual worlds - providing the character Iofthestorm the chance to pretend, experiment and imagine scenarios, options and paths that would not otherwise have been apparent.

Together - Iofthestorm the multimedia performer/band and Iofthestorm.net the character and her virutal world - create a multi-dimensional and multi-environmental canvas for the exploration of life, loss, love and human emotion - from the perspective of an imaginary character based on real life:) and living in the spaces in between.

In this imaginary-but-in-some-cases-actual environment, it is customarily believed that positive shared futures are made only in the presence of trust, and the agreements made there-within will be limited primarily by the abililty to create it, and those limiations will shape the boundary of what is possible.

About IoftheStorm

First appearing in the painting "The Singer's Tears" by Amy Lynn Freeman, Iofthestorm is an experiment in multi-media abstract expressionim reflective of the experience of her generation - as a witness to and creator of - as are we all - the historic upheavals undergoing society since her birth in 1960.

In the first panel of this painting, the singer's tears drop onto the grey lifeless earth below and generate new life, my gestural attempt at representing the positive aspects of the grief and loss that hit me when my mom died in 2022.

As a triptych, the first panel was intended to describe the impact of tragedy, while the second and third would be the transformation and the happy ending:) The character and the painting have been stuck in the first panel since then, and this new project is my attempt to move her forward, by accepting the need for more acknowledgement of my actual grief and sorrow. I think sometimes we confuse sorrow with depression or anxiety - it is just sorrow - and it deserves some space to be experienced without people all hassling you to cheer up already!

So - while the resolution of tragedy in the painting is currently paused, as sorrow rules my heart, it offers an opportunity to really think about the stories we hear about women - and what they teach us. I studied - and then rejected - the art of opera - due to the terrible story lines - in which all the women seem to die. So the first questions I got when I painted this were "Is she Tosca, or Medea, or Mimi, or Violetta?" or any number of other tragic heroines - who do everything right - and still end up dead:(

And next would be the other questions - what about Amy Winehouse, and Janis Joplin, and how easy would it be to continue the narrative, of the artists of both genders - who "die young", inspiring my father to threaten to write a medical analysis of these gruesome stories - at which point I stopped speaking with him of my interests in art and music because...well...

who is iofthestorm?

Who is IoftheStorm

But back to our story here - is the character IoftheStorm from opera - or modern music - or perhaps it is a personal representation of me - (to a certain extent, yes) - or of you (well does it speak to you?) and if so, what does it MEAN??? And the answer is, my very small but nonetheless very gracious with your feedback audience, I don't know yet.

I don't know what it means, first because there are two more panels to be done, and they may tell a story of great learning from the Tree of Knowledge that is translated through the instrument of sound to create peace and prosperity - as I had originally hoped to describe ---[-] or is it a different future we face ---[-] with different choices that are not so easily represented lightly and in a family-friendly communications channel?

"The Singer's Tears" is a Symbolist Painting

So "The Singer's Tears" is a Symbolist Painting - intended to suggest that many women's lives - men's as well - could be seen as having a tragic element in them - because that is actually the case. So "The Singer's Tears" could be seen as a representation - in Symbolist terms - of my experiences - but more importantly - of my assertion - that tragedy is in fact the primary experience - of many women's lives - and my questioning of myself - as to whether my representing this truth - provides any value - to the future prospects of said women - including me:)

Now I don't believe - that if I believe - that I have experienced tragedy - that means it is true. I mean simply that tragedy is a common experience and I am pausing my decision as an artist on how I represent that - in order to align the impact of my art with my intended impact to my audience.

So now, a little more than two years after creating the first panel, I am reconsidering the content of the second panel, instead of focusing on the progress she could make through self-improvement, which is the dominant theme of today's very positivity-oriented-focus-only-on-what-you-can-control-buy-or-dominate behavioral advice, I could instead enter into a polemic and be graphic about the impact of tragedy on my imaginary character based on reality:)

I could refuse to push forward with positive upbeat key and let myself go into the minor keys that I so love instead, and accept the gift of music as my instrument to express sorrow, loss, grief and rage.

In hindsight, I made the same decision on my first album is entitled "Build Me a Boat: Folk Favorites", (available on Bandcamp at https://amandagriffth.bandcamp.com), which is a set of twelve of the most popular folk songs I heard over several years at the San Francisco Folk Music Club's folk camp, (https://www.sffmc.org) and contains "Long Black Veil" and "Silver Dagger" among others. These songs are more emotionally honest than much of what is produced today, and I am looking for more of the same:)

Change in Direction

So, I don't have to focus on my character's diligent efforts to overcome her circumstances - as is the required next scene for the common "hero's journey" storyline:). I realize - that IofthsStorm is no hero - just someone trying to survive:) - and she might be better off focusing on understanding and overcoming the obstacles and threats she faces instead. Maybe that would actually be much more helpful, because the common patterns associated with these modern-hurry-up-and-succeed-tales provide no actual benefit - to the actual individuals - who experience abuse and tragedy - so much so that they regularly fail to survive till the end of the play!:(-

So why the frickety frack would I repeat those messages in my imaginary story - that is about me and also not about me - in the same way that it is about you and not about you.

So that is where we are today, the first Friday in 2025, imagining and hoping for a positive shared future with you all, while at the same time preparing for something far less optimistic, and trying not to forget, that my entire career has been built of finding ways to use technology to meet my goals in ways nobody else had previously considered possible, and I have a technology company focused on applying technology to the enablement of human harmony:)- so things could be worse - and I send out invitations of love, cooperation and shared future positive histories to all.