My favorite speakers of the day included musician Matt Venuti, animator David Silverman and professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design Walter Hood. Here’s a bit of a round up of those presenters:
MATT VENUTI: Produced by only two people in the world (Swiss artists Felix Rohner and Sabina Shärer in Bern), the PanArt Hang is a percussion instrument played by hand that is shaped somewhere between an upside down wok, a spaceship and a steel drum. Venuti chose this instrument as one that he believes “quiets the mind and opens the heart.” Attendees were asked to close their eyes as the Hang’s sound resonated across the auditorium and lulled us into a transcendental state. If you get a chance to see Venuti perform, it’s well worth it.
Hang Demonstration by Matt Venuti from Matt Venuti on Vimeo.
DAVID SILVERMAN: As an animator, David Silverman is credited for creating the rules of drawing the Simpson, has directed numerous episodes and has worked on films like Monsters, Inc. and The Road to El Dorado. But in this presentation his love for animation took a backseat to his historical look at the evolution of horn instruments. From sousaphone, to french horn, to tuba, Silverman took us on a journey of instrument design and patents. At the end of the presentation he spoke about his own interest in the tuba saying simply, “As a boy animator I wanted to be funny, and I thought the tuba was hilarious.” Credited as the creator of the flaming tuba or “Tubatron” at Burning Man, Silverman continues to make audiences laugh.
WALTER HOOD: Imagine for a moment, sitting at one of the most notoriously hippie colleges in the US, hearing a man utter the words, “Don’t get me started on community gardens.” The manicured parks we’ve become used to, aren’t in Walter Hood’s eyes, necessarily the best ways for people to connect with their public spaces. Turf, flower beds and “Stay off the Grass” signs aren’t how Hood operates. After explaining the Pittsburgh’s Hill District project and a plan called the Green Print, Hood (aided by the input he received from hundreds of residents), found a way to highlight the coexistence between the emergent urban forest and the people living in it. 
