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I was thrilled to be a part of this year’s Ozark Foothills FilmFest. It all started with the poster and from there grew the entire look of this years fest. I am so glad Bob and Judy Pest, the entire FilmFest staff, let me have such a big part of the branding. I think it turned out very interesting and intriguing. Lots of good words were said about during the Fest so I was very honored. I know Ben and I will definitely be attending this event for years to come.

45 RPM Teaser Trailer Premiere

The first trailer for the movie 45RPM made its debut at the FilmFest this weekend. I did the branding for 45RPM as well as all of the art for the main character, who is an artists. Altogether, I did 17 paintings, dozens of drawings and a sketchbook. It was a fun challenge to put myself in another artist shoes and to take chances I wouldn’t normally take. I think Juli did an incredible job on this film and it really shows in this small glimpse. Without further adieu… you must see this trailer:

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Thanks so much to the Batesville Arts Council Gallery for the lovely reception for my art gallery opening last Friday. There was a great turnout! It was such an honor to have so many people viewing my work at once. Afterwards, a lot of us ate at the delicious Elizabeth’s across the street — so good! Batesville is starting to feel like home as much as I’ve been there the past couple of months. Can’t wait for the film fest!

Photos by Ben Mooneyham

Pictures from the opening:

Would like to once again invite everyone to my upcoming art show opening this Friday! I will be displaying over 15 of my latest painting as well as selected photography from my photo blog. There will be a reception on Friday from 6PM-8PM; refreshments served. There will be paintings there I guarantee you’ve never seen before! Come out and support Arkansas artists!

The show is up until April 1st. If you can’t make the opening hopefully you can come another day.

I was featured in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette – 3 Rivers – on Sunday, February 26th as the artist for this years Ozark Foothills FilmFest poster.

BATESVILLE — On an easel just to the left, a framed poster sat covered in a piece of print fabric at the Batesville Area Arts Council’s Gallery on Main on Tuesday morning. Each year, the Ozark Foothills FilmFest unveils its new poster for the upcoming festival. This year, the poster artist is Mandy Maxwell of Paragould.

The 2012 film-festival poster was chosen based on its reflection of the culture of Arkansas.

“They wanted something to really show the Ozark culture, and nothing says Arkansas more than my dad,” Mandy Maxwell said as she unveiled the poster, reveling a photograph of a blue boxcar from China that sits on her parents’ property.

“This is an image you see anywhere in Arkansas. It’s something we see all the time,” she said. “It’s the warmness — the wear and the re-purposing of it. The garden, the growing and the trees around it.

“At first I was thinking, ‘Ozarks — that’s mountains and trees,’ but they wanted an emphasis on the culture in Arkansas. This is a photo of one of my dad’s containers that’s filled with junk. He’s as Arkansas as you can get.”

Bob and Judy Pest have been bringing film and filmmakers to Batesville for 11 years through the film festival. Bob Pest said that this year, there will be more feature-length films than before.

“In the past, we have had short films by up-and-coming filmmakers in Arkansas,” he said. “Many of them have come up enough that we have more feature films.”

He also said many people wonder why it is important to have a film festival in a town of 10,000, and he has a quick response.

“Arkansas filmmakers can grow up and make films about Arkansas,” he said.

In addition to introducing the films and their makers, the film fest also offers screenwriting and filmmaking workshops and competitions. Pest said focusing on the advancement of filmmakers from Arkansas helps promote the state and draw in tourism.

Maxwell was introduced to the film festival when Paragould independent filmmaker Juli Jackson asked her to help with a film.

Jackson is one of three Arkansas filmmakers who received a $30,000 grant from the film fest to stimulate filmmaking in Arkansas. She used the grant money to fund her latest film, 45RPM.

“The main character is an artist, and Juli got Mandy to do the art for the artist in the film,” Pest said.

After film-fest officials saw Maxwell’s work, she was asked to design the poster, T-shirts and a new website for the 2012 film festival.

To learn more about Jackson’s films, visit her website at julijackson.com, and to see more of Maxwell’s work and to read her blog, visit mandyatlarge.com.

View the poster and see the lineup of movies that will be playing at the Ozark Foothills FilmFest, which will run from March 28 through April 1, at www.ozarkfoothillsfilmfest.org.

Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.

Three Rivers, Pages 117 on 02/26/2012

I will be showing my artwork during the month of March and will close the show during the FilmFest. Hope to see you all out!

2012 Ozark Foothills FilmFest Poster Unveiling

So glad for the great turnout at the poster unveiling for this year’s FilmFest. The poster turned out great. Hope to see everyone back for the gallery show coming up in March. The show will be a collection of my latest paintings, from 2007-2012.

Today the official branding I did for the 2012 Ozark Foothills Filmfest went live, you can see it on their website here. The website features the photograph from the poster, and various other background images taken by me. The poster and t-shirt I designed are also featured on the site. Tomorrow, February 21st, I will be in Batesville, AR for the poster unveiling and press announcement. Hope To see you out!

Recent Announcement from FilmFest Headquarters:

Hello, Friends of the Fest.

Just a reminder that this Tuesday, February 21, is the FilmFest schedule release and poster unveiling. It takes place at 11:00 am at the Batesville Area Arts Council Gallery.

This year’s branding artist, Mandy Maxwell from Paragould, will attend. In addition to providing the original photograph used in this year’s official poster, Mandy also did or helped with all the pieces of this year’s branding campaign, including the website, program cover, and t-shirt. She’s spent countless hours working on our behalf; we’re hoping for a good crowd to reward her efforts.

For those of you who have purchased or indicated that you plan to purchase a Foothills Film Society membership, I will bring most of the members’ posters to the unveiling so that Mandy can sign them, if you’d like her to.

Hope to see you there!

Bob and Judy

The Batesville Area Art Council Gallery is located at 246 E. Main St. in Batesville, AR.

Coffee and scones will be served.

This year’s poster artist, Mandy Maxwell of Paragould, will attend the unveiling and sign copies of the poster, on sale for $10. Maxwell’s work will also be featured in a Batesville Area Arts Council Gallery exhibit from March 9 to March 30. The Gallery’s regular hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The gallery will also be open on Sunday afternoon, March 30; call 870-793-3382 for hours.

The schedule for the 11th annual festival, set for March 28-April 1, will be announced after the unveiling. Screenings will take place at UACCB, Old Independence Regional Museum, and the historic Landers Theater Building. The complete schedule will also be available on the festival website, www.ozarkfoothillsfilmfest.org, beginning February 21.

Ozark Foothills FilmFest is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit founded in 2001. For information call 870-251-1189 or email ozarkfilm@wildblue.net.

• I took a photography class in San Francisco
• Got the opportunity to work on a movie ( 45RPM )
• Saw some incredible and inspiring concerts: Deftones, The Pixies, Circa Survive, to name a few.
• Painted some beautiful paintings: Feast, Tribal, Picnic, Pink
• Sold some artwork.
• Fully redesigned mycompany’s website.
• Had the opportunity to do some great photoshoots.
• Working with the Ozark Foothills Film Festival on their 2012 show.

And that’s not even the half of it! The best part about 2011 was probably my Instagram addiction. It’s an app for my phone that allows me to easily take and share pictures with my photo blog. Because of this, my 2011 is full of photos! I took at least one photo every day of 2011, all organized and tagged. I love that I can visually see each month and what was going on. (Try viewing the photo blog in grid view.)

Taking pictures every day keeps me thinking creatively and see my world differently. I am hoping to do the same for 2012, with hopes that this year’s pictures will be even more unique.