TEMPEST: The Great New England Steampunk Exhibition Spotlight

The Great New England Steampunk Exhibition is coming up this weekend in Fitchburg, Massachusetts! It will be filled with masquerades, games, vaudeville shows and great musical acts like the uber-popular Abney Park! There will be a lot of popular panels that Retro-Futurists will enjoy, as well as new ones that I haven’t seen before, like the Victorian Insult contest and the Victorian Bathing Suit Competition. Nerd Caliber is very excited to come to this event. Expect to see our coverage of this exciting Steampunk convention with videos, photography and reviews! To tease you for what you will be seeing at TGNESE, we interview Tempest of Med’Devi Ink, who is not only a dancer but also an artist and a teacher.   If you weren’t planning to come to The Great New England Steampunk Exhibition, you would lose a chance to be a part of something really fantastic.

You are a teacher, an artist and a dancer as well. For those that are reading about you for the first time, how would you describe Tempest?
Tempest is a multifaceted, multicultural force of being.  Sometimes I step outside myself and say “really, how do I do all of this?” And the answer is “don’t ask” (I’m also a smart ass). But more concretely, I am a visual artist, a designer, a dancer (world reknown performer and instructor), writer, and lover of cookies.  I am always up to something, always creating and exploring.

I have been immersed in the visual arts my entire life ( thanks to my parents), and I started attending art school at the age of 3, and pretty much continued on through college – where I received my BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.  Through most of my younger years, I split myself between the academic and the artistic, being a straight-A student with a heavy interest in natural sciences.  As I reached the end of high school, I decided I would be happier focusing on art and design, and I haven’t looked back.  I have made my primary living in both fine and design arts since I graduated (and even before).Now dance…I always enjoyed social dancing, but I never studied dance seriously until college, which is when I discovered bellydance, and pretty much became fully immersed in the study of it – the music, the culture, the fusions, the costuming, etc. That was over a dozen years ago. It worked its way into my artwork and then pretty much infiltrated my life.

Most people don’t realize that bellydance is done by men and woman, young and old alike, in its countries of origin. The roots of bellydance can be found throughout North Africa, the Near East, Arabian Peninsula/Middle East, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean.  I especially love North African (Algerian, Tunisian, and Moroccan) dances and both Turkish Oriental and Turkish Romani dance. The North African dances really speak to my soul – I love the music, the movements, the history, and the aesthetic.  Likewise, I love the speed, flash, and energy found within Turkish dance – and the attitude!  In the workshop, we’ll explore where the traditional dances meet fusion.  In Curio, I will be performing my own Nouveau Noir style of dance – and you’ll see my students performing a Steampunk Airship Pirates-inspired piece, and a Neo-Victorian/Steampunk piece as well.  There are a wide variety of dancers in the show, exploring the realm of Steampunk for their inspiration.

You create many articles of goth and steampunk clothing as well draw a myriad of things. What inspires you? Do you have any favorite artist(s) that you look up to? Why?
I do too much for my own good, that’s for sure.  I have long been fascinated with ancient cultures from around the world and of bygone eras – Egypt, Babylon, Greece, India, Japan, etc, from the Victorian age to the American “Wild West.”  All of these things have developed and informed my aesthetic over the years. I pull inspiration from music, artwork, film, and literature – I’m like a sponge!  In particular, I love Art Nouveau and Art Deco, so Alphonse Mucha’s work  has been a life-long inspiration, as well as Erte, Aubrey Beardsley, Klimt.  Also the Orientalists, the Symbolists, the Pre-Raphealites….pretty much most work created before the 1950’s (with a few exceptions like Andrew Wyeth, Audrey Flack, and a few other “modern-era” artists). I love work that incorporates myth and mystery and has a sense of depth, natural beauty, and curiosity about the world.

How do you define steampunk? What about the genre fascinates you the most? If you were a character in a Steampunk story, who and where would you be?
I used to joke about it being what happens with Goths grow tired of trying to find the black shirt in the pile of black shirts, and long for another neutral, but alas, that’s gotten a bit old and tossed around 😉  So, in (slightly) more serious terms, Steampunk (to me) is the art of taking something old and making it new, taking something new and making it old – with a defiant, anachronistic edge.  As someone who fascinated with multiple cultures and eras from all over the globe, as well as a sci-fi/fantasy geek of sorts, Steampunk is like coming home.  I love the people who are involved in Steampunk – not only are they so talented and creative, but they’re mostly all terrific, well-rounded, friendly people who aren’t afraid of having fun and being themselves.

Are there events at The Great New England Steampunk Exhibition, outside of the ones you are a part of, that you are interested in attending?
I hope to attend as many of the concerts and art-based events as possible – it’s often hard when you’re vending, teaching, and performing to get to do and see everything you want to – but even just from my booth, I love being able to see everyone – Steampunks are the best folks 🙂

For those that are interested in seeing more of your work online, where can they go to buy some of your clothing or see more of your artwork?
http://www.darklydramatic.com & http://www.owlkeyme.com

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Pictures in this article belong to Tempest.