News
08.03.07
Theresa and Jeremy
Two friends of This Spartan Life passed away recently, the filmmaker and game designer, Theresa Duncan, and the visual artist, Jeremy Blake.
Theresa was a great supporter of TSL, helping with introductions and keeping me posted on good potential guests. She had a great sense of humor and really cut her own path creatively. She was a prolific writer and blogger with a unique perspective on film.
I knew Theresa for 10 years, since working with her on her second CD-ROM, Smarty. Her talent was evident from the start in this unique project for young girls. Theresa complained to me at the time about children's media being driven by focus groups. Smarty, in contrast, was personal, creative and fun. The visuals were done by a young graphic artist named Jeremy Blake. From this collaboration on, the two became inseparable until the end.
Jeremy was probably the most interesting artist whose work I was privileged to see up close. He developed a technique he called "time-based painting." You can see some of his work in the music video he created for Beck, for the song "Around The Bend." Jeremy asked me to create the sound design for his new "video portrait" of Malcolm McLaren, on which he was working when he died.
Near the end they were a very troubled couple. The circumstances of their deaths were quite tragic, but I leave that to the art bloggers to discuss. I only hope that these two shining lights in my life are remembered with love and admiration, as they were really quite special people.
/Chris Burke
