‘Skyaak Canadian Ring Wing Glider’ as Artist’s Muse

Check this short clip out of California. It was such a rush to see the Skyaak Ultra-Glow experimental prototype flying around in the night skies over Berkeley Campus!

The video artist had to say this about his experience:

Here’s a little bit of night flight with my new Skyaak Model 3 with the light kit. Flight is great, but more than that, this thing looks great at night and was surprisingly easy to catch (especially for people that had never thrown a Skyaak before). Distributed by Tubemogul.

Living in rural Western Canada has its pros and cons. Mostly pros.

I used to think that I was pretty far removed from the action of the great big world living here, but since the world is steadily shrinking thanks to communication and information-sharing advances this is really no longer an issue.

A case in point would be the above video that shows the Skyaak Model 3 Ultra-Glow flying around over Berkeley Campus! Now if that’s not getting out there into the slipstream, I don’t know what is.

The great thing about living here is that I get to pretty much do what I want most days.

As a professional artist/entrepreneur I am enjoying a life ‘off the grid’, meaning I get to spend time devoted to the things I feel passionate about.  Sure, I have to do the daily grind to earn the money I need to pursue my interests, just like everybody else. But I also get to spend substantial chunks of time dedicated to ‘following my muse’.

Which is pretty wrapped up in the Skyaak project.

When pressed to come up with a number one reason for spending all this time and energy on the Skyaak project I  say this: I get a great big buzz out of creating an object that I can toss into the air and watch as it takes on a life of its own in flight!

There’s something in my lizard brain that gets a wicked rush from the idea that I am in the process of developing a flight methodology, a design configuration that actually works.  There is a visceral thrill to the notion that I have nurtured this concept over the years from its crude infancy to the rather advanced form that you see flying around over Berkeley Campus above!

More than this, I’m looking forward to all of the future advancements yet to come. I have lots of ideas in the wings for more sophisticated models that will keep me busy for years to come.

With all the amazing advances in materials, replication technology and IT, I feel like I have access to a steadily expanding tool-box that will never exhaust itself of creative potential.

What more can I ask for?

Copyright Tony Karp 2008

Variations on the theme of re-birth

Clive Gerada is a Malta-based artist who has just published an exhibition called “Unrealized” on FaceBook

I want to share one of Clive’s pictures from the show here, as it rings a bell for us.  Strikes a familiar note.

Incoming...

Clive Gerada shows in “Unrealized” a series of selectively masked portraits.  His credits hint that he knows all of the characters he has portrayed. His notes say “The bare thought of “Unemployment” has given me the idea of creating a series of 13 “Unfinished” portraits, which resemble the human being when s/he feels unrealized or incompleted, or unable to fulfill his wishes to fulfill himself as a human being.”

My take on this is that Gerada refuses to give in to a spirit of malaise. Rather, he examines the feelings of in-completion by a reckoning based on “I am what I do” or identification of one’s worth being inextricably tied to one’s occupation, job description, etc.

By taking a closer look at the ‘condition’, the artist affirms his own ‘employment’, is the working artist plying his trade in a very public way.

Photo by Natalia

The concept of a figure struggling to free itself from the confines of the medium (the ‘condition’) has been around for a long time. Michaelangelo expressed it vividly in his ‘Slave” sculptures where he shows us the figure struggling to free itself from the inert sculptor’s stone.

The images here struck me personally as a metaphor for starting a new era in one’s life, with blind spots and information gaps that can seem daunting at first.  You have to gather your wits about you and tackle the challenges as they come up.

As with any creative, passionate act, all the effort and energy that goes into the construction of a new web-site can be seen as pushing of the envelope, stretching in all directions to finally arrive at a certain place where you feel fully employed, fully engaged and on fire with enthusiasm!

Making some progress w skyaak.com

Happy to say that we’re making  progress with the all new www.skyaak .com.

There’s still a ways to go yet…and confidentially… we are having so much fun experimenting with all our new toys that we will probably just keep on mashing it up, dialing it in, tweaking and the like.

It could take a little bit to massage it into shape.

So stay posted, it will be rapidly morphing in the coming days.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Ever have that feeling of intense disorientation when you are learning a new skill set or, say, on your first day at a new job? You know what I’m talking about, when everything is strangely fuzzy yet at the same time intensely magnified. You notice every little detail (at least on the surface…) while your head is in a bit of a fog?

I’ve been in this situation quite a few times in my life, as I am not shy about leaping out of my comfort zone. It’s kind of a rush in a weird way.

It would have been so easy for me just to hang on to one of the many (really good) jobs that I’ve had over the years, but some default mechanism in my hyper-creative frontal lobes always insisted on pressing the eject button.

One thing I’ve learned is to embrace this feeling of slight vertigo as the joy ride that it is.

Because it means that once again, you have taken that step sideways.

New things are on the horizon.

So what if you feel like you are plowing your nose through the dirt, you will soon make some sense of it all and then you will feel the air under you as your freshly acquired skill set gathers enough inertia to get you airborne.

I am writing about this today because I am right at that critical point (of vulnerability…) where everything is in a state of flux. I have just authorized the total strip-down of my darling ‘home-page’ at the website formerly known as www.skyaak.com.

You can still pop in, but wear a hard-hat.

So what’s up with the title of this post?!

I’m getting to that.

About a year ago I met this guy…we found each other on an inventor’s forum.

Started chatting, next thing we knew we had crafted an agreement to work together on a tangible idea.

And have been steadily gathering steam ever since, with ever-increasing momentum.

This guy is a Webby-Wizard…an SEO Sorcerer!

And yes, I am his apprentice.

Nothing like some good wholesome terrifying fun.

Royal Flush of Domain Names

Got the exciting news this morning that the domain names for our new skyaak.com site are in the bag. Now we have a Royal Flush to work with. Should be a sweep.

Check the website-in-waiting.

Still shy and blushing in its hatchling status, the ALL NEW skyaak.com will be striking out bold as brass in the coming days, so hang on tight!

Looking at the skyaak logo

A recognizable logo is fundamental in the graphic continuity of brand development.

Skyaak logo is here

Look at an early animated logo  here.

Just visited a cool site that showcases some famous logos (evolving!)

Name that skyaak skyline for free DIY deuce

Brendan w his skyaak model 3 overlooking the distant metropolis of Melbourne skyline.

Name that skyaak sky-line.

Leave a comment w locale id to grab a DIY deuce comp.

Stumped? Enjoy our instant delivery crash-free product disbursement system anytime.

Working it out w GoDaddy @ WordPress

Check the Skyaak R&D sister site. This is strictly an experiment, in a total state of flux.

We are going to use the WordPress platform as a launch pad for the brand new skyaak.com.

WordPress has all the support, plug-ins, CSS, et al to juice up a world-class site.

For example, GoDaddy talks to WordPress. WordPress is a plug-in feature of our spanky new GoDaddy host and by proxy server. So hang on for the ride, folks. This will be fun.

Skyaak ‘betcha can’t make just one’ contest reminder

Seeing as how this space has now hosted quite close to 1500 visitors, thought it would be a good idea to remind y’all about the ongoing FREE SKYAAK PRIZE CONTEST.

As a gesture of appreciation to all of you that have purchased a Skyaak DIY deuce, here it is:

Skyaak DIY deuce
‘betcha can’t make just one’

OK. It’s official. You read it here.

To make your Skyaak DIY deuce experience even more fun, we’re announcing a contest with prize awards of *FREE* Skyaak Model 3 units to best videos of your DIY deuce in 3 categories:

1) Most creative customizing
2) Best finesse throw with best glide
3) Most creative editing

All you have to do to qualify is grab a Skyaak DIY deuce that you can download, dope w clear tape, customize ( go on, you know you wanna customize it!) cut out, build and fly! That’s a lot of fun for 2 bucks.

Youtube your video entry and include skyaak in the tag so we can find it and we will announce the winners in this space every 3 months. Send as many entries as you want. Build as many DIY deuce units as you want. Have fun and good luck!

3 winners every 3 months. *FREE* Skyaak Model 3 shipped *FREE* anywhere on the planet.

Flat package concept, w 3-D Model 3 ready for maiden voyage!

Skyaak DIY deuce
‘betcha can’t make just one’

Skyaak re-birth-ing

As mentioned earlier, we are now in the home stretch in the process to overhaul skyaak.com.

People still tell me that it’s a good-looking site,

but everyone around here believes it’s time for an extreme makeover.

For one thing, mind-mapping

and eye-maps tell us that the logo-man ought to be chucking the Skyaak up to the upper left-hand side of the page to draw eyes in a natural swooping trajectory.

At present, the ‘logo-man’ is throwing Skyaak Model 3 in a closed loop off to the right hand side of the page, like a visual staircase to nowhere. Not so good. We’ll probably abandon the idea of an animated gif altogether on the new site. More than likely we will have a brief, friendly introductory video to give it a personal feel. I imagine you will get the impression that I am pretty excited about the Skyaak design and how well it flies.

There will also be a big emphasis, as always, on how good this unit looks.  As an artist, I am always looking for a new perspective on this project.  A major perk for me is quite simply the look of the thing as it flies through the air.