Transformations and Dramatic Statements 
The Lure of the Moon: Finding Event Lighting Inspiration in the Caribbean
January 25, 2012
Like most event professionals, the moment I can grab a little rest and relaxation to recharge my creative batteries, I take it! Ordinarily, that means my wife and I head to a tropical destination where we can literally sail into the sunset. The sailing community is close knit and you hear all about intriguing places to go, celebrations to share and parties to attend. So, last Winter, after hearing about the lighting effects that take place at the Fireball Full Moon Party, we decided to head to the British Virgin Islands to do a little “research” of our own.
For many people around the World the moon has a powerful allure: it is full of beauty, romance, legend and myth. During the full moon each month, people gather together to honor and give thanks to the cycles of life. These celebrations are important times for reflection, meditation and for building relationships. In the British Virgin Islands hundreds of sailors gather at Trellis Bay, located on Beef Island, to celebrate the full moon at the Fireball Full Moon Party. If you’re not familiar with the islands, Trellis Bay is a beautiful and well-protected anchorage complimented by an artsy and hip shoreline. Sailors love to anchor here year-round, but on full moons they sail in by the boat-loads to enjoy the festive atmosphere of the Fireball Full Moon Party. This is the real Caribbean! You can’t get here by cruise ship or tour guide, you need a sense of adventure to journey here and experience the full moon party and all of its lighting effects.
The Full Moon Party is a joint production of Aragorn’s Studio and the Trellis Bay Cybercafé. Trellis Bay’s fetes feature local musicians, a top-notch barbeque buffet, and local artist Aragorn Dick-Read’s flaming fireballs. The parties are a good place to sample Tortola’s traditional music form, scratch-band music called “fungi.” Entertainment also includes mocko jumbies, colorful stilt-walking characters that perform impressive moves at heights of up to 10 feet. But the stars of the event are the fire sculptures on the water. Aragorn’s fireballs are a story unto themselves. Spherical metal sculptures about five feet in diameter, the fireballs are stuffed with flammable material, fastened on stands over the water, and lit afire. The effect is mesmerizing; flames dance over the crystal water, allowing glimpses at the balls’ intricate carved designs. So much awesome inspiration in one kickin’ party atmosphere!
However, in talking with Aragorn, we learned that the fireballs have a checkered past. Aragorn engaged in a very public dispute with the island’s Conservation and Fisheries Department in 2004 and 2005 over whether he had the required permission to station them on the seabed. (Local law states that land ownership ends at the high water mark; the seabed is controlled by the government). At the height of the dispute, the fireballs were confiscated and locked up at the East End Police Station. Luckily for us, the matter seems to have been resolved for the time being. (Imagine the photo op of the fireballs all locked up in a Caribbean jail!)
No doubt, the Fireball Full Moon Party was pretty incredible! We enjoyed the local band who kept us dancing all night under the full moon’s spell, to tunes such as their own cool version of Alicia Keys’ No One, Bob Marley classics, and other great Calypso, Reggae and Soca tunes. Combined with the fire, water and moonlight, it was an environment that just screamed “celebration”!
Seeing the World and sharing unique experiences like this gives us great inspiration for the production work that we do every day. Now, if we could just book an event where we can introduce the elements of fire and water into an amazing lighting design…
By Brian Toner, Owner & Lighting Designer
CATEGORY: Design Ideas, For Fun, What We Love
The Great Pumpkin Carve… and lighting
October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!!!
Sometimes Candlelight is the best lighting, especially when it comes to lighting your Halloween Jack O’ Lantern.
Last weekend we had the opportunity to attend the Chadds Ford Great Pumpkin Carve. This event, which is over 50 years old, is a spectacular display of pumpkins carved by local artists in the Brandywine Valley.
The Great Pumpkin Carve Event was started by the early Wyeth family artists and is cosponsored by the Historical Society & Concordville- Chadds Ford Rotary and has featured local and national artists including many members of the Wyeth family. Many famous and local celebrities join in the action, including celebrity mom April Margera.
The Pumpkins are native pumpkins, grown by SIW vegetables of Chadds Ford. They weigh between 150 and 400 pounds. Most of them are of the variety “Prize-Winner,” a drought resistant pumpkin that tends to be bright orange. There are also a few “Atlantic Giants” which tend to be paler and sometimes a less regular shape. Each artist is assigned a pumpkin when they arrive and then has to quickly design his work based on the shape and look of the pumpkin he or she is assigned.
Much care is taken to design the carved pumpkin to work with the candlelight. Many artists remove the outside orange skin and varying layers of the white interior to allow different intensities of light to shine thru the pumpkin.
Mark your calendars for the weekend before Halloween next year if you want to attend. You can witness the artists carving the pumpkins on Thursday night and then they are on display for the next two nights. The event also features local music, food, hayrides and vendors. More information can be found here: http://chadds-ford-historical-society.org/events/great-pumpkin-carve/
CATEGORY: Community, Design Ideas, For Fun, What We Love
Jennifer : (10.31.11 - 9:19 am) Some great pumpkins this year. My design was the Headless Horseman:)
Eventions Productions Releases New LED Lighting Solution
October 07, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Eventions Releases New LED Event Lighting Solution
Philadelphia, PA - October 7, 2010
Eventions Productions, a top Philadelphia event production company, announces the release of their newest lighting fixture – The LED12. It was shown for the first time at an event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The LED12 is revolutionary in that it is the first LED fixture that has a perfectly neutral white light. In the past, LED fixtures attempted to create white light by using a combination of red, blue and green bulbs. It was impossible to create truly white light by using this method.
The LED12 features 12 three watt white LEDs in a custom designed enclosure that holds the light fixture and a battery, enabling the fixture to operate for over 10 hrs on a single charge. The LED12 also has a snap in gel frame to allow lighting designers to color it any color as well as multiple frosted and clear lenses to alter the shape of the beam.
“The LED12 has a tremendous number of advantages for the special event market,” exclaims Eventions’ President, Brian Toner. The fact that we can light an entire event using no electricity from the venue nor any cables that would need to be hidden or taped down allows us to light spaces and events that were either impossible or prohibitvely expensive before. For example, at the event we did a few nights ago at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, we uplit 28 columns, the stairs and food stations in less than 20 minutes of setup. The client loved the quick turnaround, decreased labor needed and the complete absence of cabling.”
Photographers and Videographers will also greatly apprecriate the fact that the lights are perfectly uniform in color and do not appear to strobe as most LED lights do when filmed by video cameras.
Decorators, florists and event planners in the Philadelphia region who have seen the LED12’s in action are immediately impressed with their capabilities and have been reserving them for many upcoming events. “With decreased budgets and clients being cautious of where they spend money, as well as the fact that the labor to install these fixtures is about 1/10 of a traditional uplight, we see a huge market for the LED 12’s,” says Toner.
The fixture was created by the team at Eventions over a six month period. The LED12’s utilize cutting edge battery technology and charging systems. The fixtures feature LED Bulbs utilizing state of the art optical collimators, which allow the light to be focused into a tight beam much like a light house lens does.
Eventions has completed the first run of 48 fixtures and expects to eventually replace all of its uplighting with the new technology within a few months. Shown below are the fixtures in their custom designed travel cases with built-in charging systems.
About the event: On Wednesday, September 29th, The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Office of Special Events and Stephen STARR Events, hosted an open house for the area’s top event professionals. Event decor was provided by Table Art and photography was provided by Marie Labbancz.
About Eventions Productions: Eventions Productions is special event production company serving the greater Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington D.C. markets. Eventions provides special event and corporate lighting design, sound and audio support, video and media projection, scenic design, power generation and staging. Eventions provides these services for the wedding, bar and bat mitzvah, special event, college, social and society events as well as the general public.
Contact:
Brian Toner
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.eventionsproductions.com
610.485.5900
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CATEGORY: Behind the Scenes, Business Partners, Community, Corporate, Design Ideas, Industry News, Innovations, What We Love
melissa paul: (10.31.11 - 8:25 am) Awesome pumpkin carving ART! Wow, and local too!