DWELL, an installation by Simone Mantellassi & Zena Gurbo

I am excited to share with you the art of two up and coming young artists, Simone Mantellassi and Zena Gurbo. Their work is a marriage of the minds and the heart. This tandem exhbition explores their surreal domestic inquiries in Zena's oeuvre, small functional dwellings based on family, friends homes...and Simone's, small drawings and paintings that number up to 500+ that construct an environment of interior states of being that are frozen into frames of visual poetry.
Together they show us that "home is where the heart is."

Having read parts of Susan Stewart's book, ON LONGING, and Gaston Bachelard's, THE POETICS OF SPACE, these artists give us a post-modern commentary on life and love in the
21st Century that are very much in keeping with these books that have been a barometer for
art, literature, philosophical thinking for me and other artists like one of my favorites, Anne Hamilton.

Simone has shown in two biennials, The Everson Museum, where he won first place in 2006, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and in 2008 again at The Everson. Goggling Simone's work,
his kudos are listed.

Zena has designed sets for The Foothills Theater in Upstate, NY, her small dwellings function as stage sets to my eye, perhaps she is setting the stage for future play named "DWELL"...she also is very involved in the community of art and artists in Oneonta, NY. She currrently cooridinates arts, education and exhibitions at ARC in Oneonta, work she finds challenging and rewarding.

Please join us on June 6th, 6-9pm to welcome them both to our home, and to hear the musical stylings of up-and-coming group "Ones Left Behind" ...tentatively to be held in the East Theater.

Chris Bahr

BCC Student Films - May 20th at 8:00pm

Conversations at The Art Mission is proud to announce an evening with the student filmmakers of Broome Community College on Tuesday, May 20th at 8:00pm. Students from the Advanced Video and Digital Filmmaking classes will screen and discuss their work.

We will be featuring the work of Jake Hotchkiss, Sean Van Iderstine, Matt Pisani, Casey Staff, Gregg Bae, Alice Sounthala, Mike Micha, Cody Controis, Alyssa Krause, Todd Harmon, and more!

For more information, please visit www.artmission.org or call 607.722.6914

Art Mission/Magic Lantern Plug on WBNG

To promote the Magic Lantern Movie Festival this weekend, Mark Levy and Karen Kucharski made an appearance on WBNG, Channel 12. Great job to both of them!



The festival was also featured on the Saturday news at 11:00pm.

BU Senior Thesis Films - Phenomenal Success

I'm starting to think that Binghamton might have an actual indie film scene. We had record breaking crowds for the Binghamton University Senior Thesis films, running the programs in BOTH THEATERS simultaneously (and keeping the filmmakers busy with Q&A's in both).

I was really impressed with the quality of all the films, and it was great to hear the filmmakers' perspectives on their projects. Thanks everyone for making it an amazing two evenings! And support the local film scene!

An angle on Kelly McCossan's "Untitled Installation"

BU Senior Thesis Films - NOW TWO NIGHTS!!!!

Conversations at the Art mission featuring the Binghamton University Thesis Films will now take place over TWO EVENINGS. That's right. The creative output from BU is just TOO MUCH for one evening. So please join us for both programs.

Tuesday, April 29th @ 8:00pm featuring
"Untitled Installation" by Kelly McCrossan
"Diner" by Jack Wilson
"Detune" by Ryan Lee
"The Apparatus Clean" by Sean Cunningham
"RAE" by Casey Puccini

Wednesday, April 20th @ 8:00pm featuring
"Untitled" by Laura Bennett
"SEAK" by Andy Simek
" Juggernaut" by Nick Bongiorno

BU Senior Thesis Films - April 29th at 8:00pm

Conversations at the Art Mission is proud to present an evening with Binghamton University Seniors and their Thesis Films. Please join us on April 29th at 8:00pm to meet the filmmakers and watch their films.

Filmmakers Forum Rocks the Art Mission!!!!

Conversations at the Art Mission experienced another round of record crowds and our first event in the West Theater! It was a fantastic evening of experimental film and I want to thank all the filmmakers who were involved and everyone from the community who joined us.


I also want to offer a farewell to Jake Stephens, co-founder of Conversations, who is heading off to New Zealand to work at WETA. Good luck Jake! We'll miss you.

BU Filmmaker's Forum - April 8th at 8:00pm

Conversations at the Art Mission is proud to present an evening with members of the Binghamton University Filmmaker's Forum. Filmmakers will be in attendance to present their films to the public. We will be featuring....

Susan Elder - "The Vulture Eye"

Eliane Lima - "Djinn"

Ryan Zlomek - "Untitled Unconscious 16mm Animation," "Another Rant", "Failed Attempt"

Brian Murphy - "The Unthinkable Little Dream," "A Silver Cow Hatched from An Egg"

Laura Bennett - "Bobbidyboo"

and more! Please join us on April 8th at 8:00pm!

Press Sun Bulletin Review of Conversations/BOTH experience

Elizabeth Cohen at the Press and Sun Bulletin has written an incredible article about the "Blood of the Hog" Conversations event. Enjoy! Click HERE see the original article.

Indie-film screening is window into Tier potential

Take one frigid night, one tiny theater and one promising young filmmaker, and what do you get?

The night of pure delight that took place last Tuesday, when Nat Bouman, who grew up in Montrose, Pa., but went to high school in Binghamton, debuted his feature short "Blood of the Hog."

It was one of those ever lovely "hometown boy makes good" moments, with an added plus: It brought out so many of those involved in this hometown's arts scene. And it took place in Binghamton's new-ish Art Mission Theater.

It was just awesome all the way around and underscored, yet again, the promise that the arts are delivering to Greater Binghamton of renewed life-blood and energy. The momentum is here.

The event was set for 8 p.m., with the promise of a discussion with the filmmaker afterwards. That never really happened, because so many people turned out that the film was screened two additional times, and folks just mingled with the filmmaker (and some of the crew) on their own after the screenings in the reception/ gallery area.

I repeat: The film was screened three times. In other words, on a frigid Tuesday night in March in Binghamton, maybe 200 people (I approximate here -- it may have been more; some people came and, seeing the crowded lobby, didn't stay) came out to see Bouman's film. I would say that is something of a phenomenon for an event that was guerilla-publicized.

The storyline of Bouman's comedic film: A banjo player, who seems to be fixed in a time circa 1950, lives in the present day. His very hot Caribbean girlfriend does not appreciate his "classic" car, straw hat or overall shtick. He also has a little problem with a gambling debt. His debtor forces him to pay off his debts with a "job." (You see where this is heading ... ?)

Anyway, he does so and meets up with two Spanish hit men who make him play his banjo for them and then proceed to have a discussion about the meaning of life and the possibility of an afterlife during his performance, all during a shootout scene.

I won't give away the end. But I will say that Bouman, a Columbia Film School grad student, made a short comedy that features not only decent comedic acting but also stars a number of locales any Southern Tier resident would recognize. It was a blast to see it.

So, confession: This was my first experience at the Art. This is not a function of my lack of interest in film arts, but, rather, a function of the paucity of West Colesville babysitters. That being said, I have now been there, so I can say it: Bravo to Nat Bouman, bravo to the really fabulous Art Mission Theater and bravo to Binghamton.

I used to think of ours as "the little arts scene that could." But these days it is clear: it is the growing arts scene that can.

Record Breaking "Blood of the Hog"!!!!!

With every Conversations event, the crowds just get bigger and bigger. We were hoping the screening of "Blood of the Hog" would be successful, but we were not prepared for the huge response that we received. Nearly one hundred people were in attendance, filling the theater twice over. It was a fantastic evening!

Thanks again to Nat Bouman for taking the time to screen his film and the supportive members of the community who came!


Filmmaker Nat Bouman (center) with Conversations founders Jake Stephens (right) and Patrick Johnson (left)


The first of the evenings three screenings. Nothing beats the intimacy of the Art Mission!

Blood of the Hog - March 11th at 8:00pm

Conversations at the Art Mission is proud to announce an evening with Nat Bouman on March 11th at 8:00pm as he screens his film, Blood of the Hog.

"Blood of the Hog" is a dark comedy starring the musician Al Duvall as a fictional version of himself. He plays a down-and-out entertainer who owes money to a bookie/postal worker, loses his fiance, nearly gets shot by a pair of Ukrainian hit men, and comes into a pile of cash; all in one movie! It's a comedic, thrilling and tragic romp in the spirit of Truffaut's "Shoot the Piano Player."

Nat Bouman has worked on film productions for Maysles Shorts, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Hungry Man Productions. His director of photography credits include Peace One Day, a feature documentary produced for the BBC, as well as several Columbia University graduate student films. His most recent DP credit is for Hold Up, winner of the Audience Award for the 2006 New Festival and official selection for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and Palm Springs Film Festival. As a director, he has made several short fiction films and documentaries, including; Come Home, From the Coop, and Trap.
Currently, Nat is completing an MFA in film production from Columbia University, where he has earned several merit scholarships. When he is not on set or working on a screenplay, Nat can be found chopping wood, distilling apply brandy or keeping woodchucks away from his tomatoes.

Conversations at the Art Mission would like to thank the Experimental Television Center for its generous support.

101 Ways to Retire - or Not! Feb. 5th at 7:00pm

Conversations at the Art Mission is proud to present an evening with Ithaca filmmakers Sue Perlgut and Chris Julian on February 5th at 7:00pm as they screen their film, 101 Ways to Retire - or Not!

101 Ways To Retire - Or Not! features real women and men in their fifties through their eighties, who redefine what it means to be "retired" and to be "senior citizens," as they live active and vital lives. This advice-filled documentary will change your ideas about retirement in the 21st Century. You can learn more about the film on its official website.

Sue Perlgut is a graduate of NYU with a MA in Educational Theatre. She has worked as a director, performer, storyteller, puppet maker, teacher, arts administrator and producer of theatre in colleges, public schools, community centers and alternative performing spaces in New York City and the Ithaca New York area. She is the author of a children’s book Randi’s Room and currently writes, produces and directs community theatre in Ithaca.

Christopher Julian earns his living as a freelance video producer/director and editor. He received a B.A. in 16mm Cinema from Binghamton University in 1994, and an A.S. in Communications at Tompkins Cortland Community College in 2004. His true passion is digital video editing, but he also pursues works in countless other art forms, including songwriting, painting, photography and woodworking. Chris is currently teaching video at Tompkins Cortland Community College and finished his first feature-length film, Invisible Ink, in 2006. For more information, please visit www.christopherjulian.com.

Conversations at The Art Mission would like to thank the Experimental Television Center for its generous support.