Day 1 - Casey Lipka

DAY ONE

Process To Performance

Creator’s Note:

Welcome! This is day one of a 5-day series going behind-the-scenes of creating “Oh My Sweet”, an original music track and animated film. Each day I’ll highlight a different part of the process – the joys, triumphs, challenges and heartbreak. This series is curated by me (Casey Lipka) with animation secrets by Joanne Davis later on this week.

Each day will include pictures, video snippets or text as part of an in-depth view of the process. This series is 5 days long. You can expect one email from me each morning.

Remember that art isn’t created in a vacuum. Art thrives with community, support and time. Let this be the start to your ongoing celebration of artists and the care that goes into creating a piece of art.

Day 1: The finale and the beginning of something….

The inception of this project began in Fall of 2017 when artist Sunya Whitelight invited me to join her for an installation at Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA.

It was an exhibit called Wingding.

“Wingding is an immersive, three-dimensional art installation that offers children 5 and younger opportunities to learn about the basic elements of art through play. Rounding out the sensory experience, bassist and singer Casey Lipka composed and performed an original soundscape for the Wingding space.”

I composed 45 minutes of music to accompany the Wingding experience. We wanted the music to bring people into the experience, entice them to stay, and encourage them to enjoy playful moments.

A look inside the Wingding Exhibit at Crocker Art Museum in November 2017.

The origin and sound seed of “Oh My Sweet” was born in that exhibit. It was one of seven soundscapes I created for Wingding. I wanted to create something lullaby-like and repetitive. I wanted to create music that would lull the listener into a peaceful state.

At the time I was working at an elementary school, spending a lot of time around six, seven and eight year olds. I am always astonished by the openness and freedom of young minds. This song is dedicated to them and the expansive love that I feel being around those young chickadees.

I teamed up with the one and only Tom Shewmake (a wonderful guitarist & mandolin player) for this track. We got together one day to brainstorm ideas. You’ll hear that he is very much the backbone of this creative idea and this track would not exist without him.

Here’s what it sounded like in 2017! Enjoy a six minute lullaby for your morning….
Oh My Sweet from “Wingding” Exhibit (click to download)

As far as I knew the project was done.

It wasn’t until something magical happened….