“Hail Janus!
God of new beginnings, gateways, transitions, and liminal spaces — namesake of January (or perhaps that is the Goddess Juno)”

My Litte Robot Captain by Houston’s Cultured Critter Collective

At the turn of the year, I like to write a love note to the previous year and take a look ahead. This helps me to take stock of what has flowered in the past twelve months and to peek at what I’m planting and planning in the coming year. It’s mostly for me, really— because I’m often like, ‘I’M NOT DOING ANYTHING!’— then I sift through the wonders of the past year and I’m like, ‘Oh, I did stuff. I did cool stuff. Cool.’

So take a little trip with me (grab a tea and settle in):

In January 2019, I visited the UK, Denmark, Sweden, France, and Germany. In Malmö, Sweden, I launched my multi-version Visible Darkness new opera project with a live voice and fixed mixed presentation at Voice and the Unknown: an international vocal performance research symposium at Lund University Inter Arts Center (January, 28-30 2019). In the summer of 2019, I returned to the UK and presented and workshopped a score presentation version of the work with a generous ensemble of instrumentalists in London in July at the Music and/as Process Conference (Royal Music Association).

My dance film, Breath and Bone, created with dancer and choreographer, Neil Ellis Orts screened in Atlanta at The Decatur Arts Festival; and in Houston at the Barnstorm Dance Fest and at Frame X Frame Film Fest (spring and summer 2019). Banshee / Afterlife, a fixed media piece for clarinetist Boja Kragulj premiered at The International Society for Improvised Music at Augsburg University, Minneapolis, Minnesota (May 16-19).

Another joyous collaboration with dancer and choreographer, Meg Brooker— Kassandra, premiered in Austin at the Dancestry festival and we did a workshop presentation-performance in London at the Isadora Duncan International Symposium at the iconic dance space The Place (summer 2019).

***Kasandra*** at Dancestry: Anew. Austin, Texas. Summer 2019

My experimental voice film Enchant(ed) screened at the Cambridge Summer Open at Art at the Alison Richard Building, Cambridge University, UK (June 25 - August 2).

A very special project premiered in October, 2019: the release of Houston Grand Opera’s The Rose which I directed and edited. It is the third episode in HGO’s Star Cross’d web opera series and produced by HGOco managing producer, Emily Wells. Check out the episode on YouTube, here.

**A Rose**:a new web opera in Houston Grand Opera’s Star Cross’d series

Through a collaboration with Houston Arts Alliance and Caydon USA, two of my large-scale paintings are in a new mid-rise in Midtown. Woot!:

Penton_Primordial Sky II detail.JPG — Detail: **Primordial II** (48” x 48” acrylic on wood panel)

Looking Ahead…

I recently finished the (exciting!) music for the Visible Darkness music video with collaborators George Heathco, guitars and Chris Becker, beats, and with the final mix and mastering by Todd Hulslander. I’m super-excited about this work and the pieces in this vein which will follow. My compositional work has blossomed through a commitment to exploring voice and poetics and the collaborative additions of George, Chris, and Todd’s beautiful artistry. I also launched the shoot schedule and pre- and post- production of the new music video for Visible Darkness. Release in early 2020!. And I’m now in production for the music for the other two mini operas in the trio: After the Ball and Shore Pines and Spider Silk.

**A trio of cyber-fairytales**: new mini-opera videos coming in early 2020!

I continued a fruitful collaboration with composer Chris Becker on his atmospheric EP inspired by the poetry of 19th century symbolist poet, Stephane Mallarmé. Also slated for release in early 2020. Wait for it!

Several of my prose poems were published this year: Shore Pines and Spider Silk on The Future Fire; New Planet on The Wild Word; and After the Ball is forthcoming on Corvid Queen.

I’ll also be at Concordia University in Montreal in the spring as a visiting scholar to facilitate a workshop on multidisciplinary performance practices.

I moved my studio from The Garret (upstairs!) to Studio M / Mission Control aka The Laboratory (said like the Brits, of course: luh-BOR-a-tory; and aka “My grandfather’s private library” / cue the Young Frankenstein quotes) downstairs. Why is that a big deal? — beyond physically moving speakerss, mics, and my iMac?— it’s a big deal because it signals artistic growth: