Uno Lady presents GROUNDED: an ambient, experimental film based on meditation
Film premiere: Monday, December 14, 2020, 7pm – on YouTube
Self-trained musician Christa Ebert (who performs as Uno Lady) has created a short experimental film about mindfulness that includes mantras, soothing songs, and guided meditations for busy minds. Filmed mostly in her backyard in Cleveland, Ohio during the pandemic, Ebert created stop-motion animations with homegrown flowers, sweet potatoes, drawings, and paintings, spliced with calming footage of nature, all set to a soundtrack composed specifically for the project.
The music features vocal harmonies, field recordings of nature sounds, bells, and synths sprinkled throughout. Background music was created from environmental elements such as crickets chirping and babbling streams, percussive beats were made with bird songs, and Ebert even created a guiro effect by grating ears of corn she grew together.
Multi-media artist Sequoia Bostick contributed hypnotic animations to several of the songs, and in addition to Ebert’s voice, one of the meditations in the film “Breathe” is guided by LaToya Kent a meditation teacher and musician who performs solo and as a part of Mourning [A] BLKstar.
The purpose of GROUNDED is to help people find peace in the present moment and offer kindness and healing through these difficult times.
The full album will be released digitally January 12, 2021 for the new moon, and more meditation videos will be released then as well. Preorders start December 4, 2020.
GROUNDED was made with support from the SPACES Urgent Art Fund and by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Tip if you’d like: Venmo @TheUnoLady – PayPal: unoladymusic@gmail.com – cashapp $TheUnoLady
CoolCleveland – “Wed 9/2 @ 8PM Christa Ebert, who performs as Uno Lady, is one of northeast Ohio’s most interesting — and most chameleon artists. Calling herself a “one woman choir,” she makes her music by processing and layering her voice with electronic effects pedals, creating a dense and hypnotically dreamy sound. Her oddball, sometimes surreal, lyrics add to the strangeness of her impact, as does her constantly changing appearance. She’s released several albums, including last year’s Osmosis LP.
Ebert will perform as part of the Maltz Performing Arts Center’s LIVE @ Silver Hall streaming series, which airs a different locally based artist every Wednesday and Sunday. It’s free to tune in. Go here.
I am ecstatic to be awarded SPACES’ Urgent Art Fund. With the support I will present GROUNDED: an ambient, experimental film series and audio-visual installation based on meditation.
We are grieving on a global level. The purpose is to help find peace in the present moment and offer kindness and healing through difficult times. Modulated nature footage will show the powerful effects of nature’s everyday occurrences. While other meditations focus on relaxation, this series cycles through emotions sonically. It is a journey that pierces the audience’s attention throughout the process, creating an engaging experience that will remain with the viewer for a long time.
The series will be accompanied by a soundtrack composed specifically for this project. The music will feature vocal harmonies, field recordings of nature sounds, theremin, singing bowls, bells, and synths sprinkled throughout. Some songs are lyricless, ambient, and the visuals will be abstract – others pieces feature natural sounds and have breathing exercises intertwined. Mindfulness segments hope to depict short attention spans and share methods that can retrain focus.
Music is a community building art form. Recent BBC article, “The world’s most accessible stress reliever,” touts the positive, healing effects of music and how singing is meditative and mood boosting. The video will feature a continual stream of songs, providing a sonic narrative to accompany the visual segments.
There will be a free virtual viewing of the film. Guests who register will receive a download of one of the songs featured in the film. An audio release will be produced. Details will be shared later in the year as the project develops.
Congrats to the other awardees: Amanda D. King, Anna Tararova, and Mourning [A] BLKstar Collective! I have so much love and respect for your art and am looking forward to seeing what you create.
SPACES has one Urgent Art Fund grant left to award in 2020 and artists are encouragedto apply. Applications are judged by three external jurors based on feasibility, public accessibility to the project, artistic quality, and timeliness. Interested artists may contact the program coordinator, Cierra Rembert (cierra@spacescle.org) with questions about applications and requirements. The Urgent Art Fund is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a Support for Artists grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. (more).
In the theme of transparency and in hopes to help someone else with their proposal, I am sharing my application materials.
Thank you residents of Cuyahoga County and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture for your support. I am looking forward to giving back to you through my art.
July 8, 2020 CLEVELAND, OH – SPACES established The Urgent Art Fund in 2019, with funding from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to support creation of artworks that are socially, politically, or culturally responsive. The Urgent Art Fund will support FIVE artist projects in 2020. Selected projects receive $5,000 each, plus additional resources including staff support, access to tools and studio space, and an annual SPACES membership.
We are pleased to announce the first four awardees of 2020: Anna Tararova, Mourning [A] BLKstar Collective, Christa Ebert, and Amanda D. King.
Anna Tararova will publish five risograph and screen printed books by artists of color through her project, Empress Editions. Artists will be selected through a call for proposals and interested artists are encouraged to apply online (link below). The five selected artists each receive short-term access to studio space in Midtown Cleveland in addition to design and layout assistance, printing, and binding services. The artist books will be released online, at art book fairs, and during a public event at Outlandish Press. Apply to Empress Editions HERE
Mourning [A] BLKstar Collective will present a series of online experiences filmed in culturally significant locations throughout Northeast Ohio. These Mourning [A] BLKstar Residencies, developed by James Longs, Theresa May, William Washington, LaToya Kent, Kyle Kidd, Dante Foley, Pete Saudek, and RA Washington, provide a gesture of fellowship and song while dealing with a global pandemic threatening the livelihood of hourly workers, teachers, artists and others. A premiere is expected online in September of 2020 via //BLK//BLUR, a POC founded and curated streaming platform.
Self-trained musician and activist, Christa Ebert, performs as Uno Lady and composes songs with her voice, electronic effect pedals, and unconventional instruments. For her UAF project, Uno Lady will present Grounded, an ambient, experimental film series and meditation-based audio-visual installation as a means to find peace in the present moment. This work is in development and will be presented online, free of charge., later this year.
My GOD is ANTIRACIST is a multi-layered, multimedia meditation on GOD as the embodiment of antiracism. Amanda D. King interweaves photography, text, video and installation with Black liberation theology, Black church aesthetics and recollections of Sunday service to invoke the viewer to perform antiracism as a spiritual practice. This work is in development for a public premier in the fall of 2020.
SPACES has one Urgent Art Fund grant left to award in 2020 and artists are encouragedto apply. Applications are judged by three external jurors based on feasibility, public accessibility to the project, artistic quality, and timeliness. Interested artists may contact the program coordinator, Cierra Rembert (cierra@spacescle.org) with questions about applications and requirements. The Urgent Art Fund is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a Support for Artists grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
UNO LADY released a new music video for “Venn Diagram,” from her new album, OSMOSIS on Volar Records. Venn Diagram was filmed and directed by TurnStyle Films in Cleveland, Ohio.
Uno Lady’s new album, OSMOSIS (EPK) on Volar Records, assimilates ideas, sounds, and styles, from 60’s pop, folk, jazz, and soul. Vocals are the foundation. OSMOSIS is a soaring collection of 13 songs. It’s a colorful journey through a sonic dream world, and Uno Lady is your guide.
WCPM- 90.3FM Ideastream NPR- Uno Lady is Christa Ebert, who calls herself a one-woman choir. She uses digital equipment, a keyboard, her voice and live looping to create an enchanting wall of sound. This year, she traveled to France to participate in an artist-in-residency at Chateau Orquevaux. In 2018, she received an Akron Soul Train Fellowship and was a Panza Foundation awardee. Christa Ebert is now a board member of the Panza Foundation.
Here she is, as Uno Lady, performing, “Sanguineous” and “Don’t Break My Heart,” which features Roseanne Safros (drums), Theresa May (trumpet) and Beth Hiser (bass).
Listen to the new record, OSMOSIS on Volar Records. You can stream, buy digital or order a limited edition green vinyl here.
