"an excursion in ambient video" - the performers

Ron Becker is an artist, musician, entrepreneur, businessman, and sage.    Ron's consulting firm has been providing electronic design, audio/video engineering and production, distributed network design and graphic design for Fortune 500 companies for over 40 years.  He combines all these talents in his duties as one of the co-founders of eyescape®.

Along the way, he has played keyboard and guitar with the bands, E-Ticket, The Mythical THEY People, and composed music for videos, including eyescape's latest release, an excursion in ambient video.. In his "spare" time, Ron creates digital art limited editions, enjoys travel in distant lands, and explores the coastline of the Pacific Northwest.

Ron's composition, Chrysalis, closes the video. It's a sweeping, orchestral fugue, contemplative and full of emotion. Ron recounts that it was written during a time of great turmoil, and adds, "It came from a very deep place, as though it were part of another life." The peaceful conclusion suggests resolution of problems and the calm that can follow.

Martin Simpson is, very simply, one of the finest guitarists in the world. Guitar Player magazine calls him "a master musician," and his fans around the world agree. Martin was born in northern England, played his first gig at age fourteen, and turned pro at seventeen. Since then, he has toured with Richard Thompson, Fairport Convention, and the Albion Band.

His style combines British and American traditional sources--from bluesey slides to sitar-like bent notes, to harp-like arpeggios. Martin combines all these skills on Fractal Modal, the second of three soundscapes on an excursion in ambient video.

Martin tours frequently as a solo act and with Martin Simpson's Band of Angels, which includes his wife, Jessica. His CD's include Smoke and Mirrors, and Leaves of Life.

John O'Kennedy enjoys a career as a composer and musician in film, television, documentaries, and cartoons. He started as a guitarist who advanced his interest in and love for ethnic and regional music. He has travelled extensively through Ireland, Mexico and Nepal--experiences that further enrich his "world view" of music.

Born in Alameda, California, he attended Loyola Marymount as a film major, then continued his musical studies on his own. He returns to his alma mater as a guest lecturer. He has worked with Ry Cooder and Albert Harris.

Fragments, John's contribution to an excursion in ambient video, incorporates both western and ethnic influences. Punctuated by ethnic percussion (djembe, tabla, udu), and with interwoven lines played on sax, duduk, mandolin and keyboard, the piece winds its way through different moods and melodies.

Fred Kepler is a writer, producer, and artist living in Hollywood. The other co-founder of eyescape®, he produced all the fractal images on an excursion in ambient video. Apart from his work in film and television, Fred studies yoga, martial arts, and is fascinated with other cultures.

Although it is drawn from mathematics, his art invites interpretation. It suggests two worlds: technological and natural, and allows the viewer to discover a range of emotion, experience, and intuition.

For Fred, each image represents "a process of creation and exploration. Each equation is infinitely detailed--I rely on intuition more than any systematic search to find these images." The art reflects the viewer as much as the artist himself.