Beatrix JAR
Encyclopedia
Beatrix*JAR is a conceptual electronic music duo and couple consisting of sound artists Bianca Pettis - "Beatrix" and Jacob Aaron Roske - "JAR". The duo creates audio collage and inspires electronic sound art movements. Based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Pettis and Roske grew up discouraged by the limitations of traditional music pedagogy. They formed Beatrix*JAR in 2004 over a shared attraction to non-traditional musical expression and unique musical instruments.
Since 2005, Beatrix*JAR have traveled extensively spreading the good word of D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) electronics and experimentation with over 240 conceptual sound art performances and hands-on circuit bending
workshops. The duo have been featured at art museums, night clubs, universities, libraries, hacker Spaces and art galleries all over the country including the Walker Art Center
(Minneapolis, MN), Wexner Center for the Arts
(Columbus, Ohio), Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh, PA), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
(San Diego, CA), the American Visionary Art Museum
(Baltimore) and the High Art Museum (Atlanta, GA) to name a few. The duo has been featured on MAKE TV (PBS) and on ABC's Nightline and are recipients of the 2010 Archibald Bush Fellowship in Media Arts.
Beatrix*JAR self-released three albums of note: I Love You Talk Bird (2005), Golden Fuzz (2007) and Art*Star (2010).
About Art*Star: Track Number 3, “Thank You Jesus” was remixed by The Alpha Centauri’s Lance Conrad; Owner and Head Producer of the Minneapolis Recording Studio Human’s Win!
About Golden Fuzz: “Golden Fuzz may be the most accurate album title I’ve seen all year. It’s a shimmering mosaic of beats and samples layered with a smattering of live vocals, samples, circuit-bent toys and AM interference.” – Michael Una, Create Digital Music.
"As Beatrix*JAR, Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske are known for coaxing unusual sounds from common items such as children's toys and other battery-powered electronic gadgets. The DIY process is known as circuit bending, and the results are audio collages that can range from whimsical and amusing to dark and disturbing. However, in the hands of Pettis and Roske, the experimental music manages to sound warm and inviting, and often comes with block rocking trip-hop beats." - Active Dayton
Since 2005, Beatrix*JAR have traveled extensively spreading the good word of D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) electronics and experimentation with over 240 conceptual sound art performances and hands-on circuit bending
Circuit bending
Circuit bending is the creative customization of the circuits within electronic devices such as low voltage, battery-powered guitar effects, children's toys and small digital synthesizers to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators....
workshops. The duo have been featured at art museums, night clubs, universities, libraries, hacker Spaces and art galleries all over the country including the Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
(Minneapolis, MN), Wexner Center for the Arts
Wexner Center for the Arts
The Wexner Center for the Arts is The Ohio State University’s multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art...
(Columbus, Ohio), Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh, PA), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego , in San Diego, California, USA, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.-History:...
(San Diego, CA), the American Visionary Art Museum
American Visionary Art Museum
The American Visionary Art Museum is an art museum located in the Federal Hill neighborhood at 800 Key Highway in Baltimore, Maryland and that specializes in the preservation and display of visionary art...
(Baltimore) and the High Art Museum (Atlanta, GA) to name a few. The duo has been featured on MAKE TV (PBS) and on ABC's Nightline and are recipients of the 2010 Archibald Bush Fellowship in Media Arts.
Beatrix*JAR self-released three albums of note: I Love You Talk Bird (2005), Golden Fuzz (2007) and Art*Star (2010).
About Art*Star: Track Number 3, “Thank You Jesus” was remixed by The Alpha Centauri’s Lance Conrad; Owner and Head Producer of the Minneapolis Recording Studio Human’s Win!
About Golden Fuzz: “Golden Fuzz may be the most accurate album title I’ve seen all year. It’s a shimmering mosaic of beats and samples layered with a smattering of live vocals, samples, circuit-bent toys and AM interference.” – Michael Una, Create Digital Music.
"As Beatrix*JAR, Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske are known for coaxing unusual sounds from common items such as children's toys and other battery-powered electronic gadgets. The DIY process is known as circuit bending, and the results are audio collages that can range from whimsical and amusing to dark and disturbing. However, in the hands of Pettis and Roske, the experimental music manages to sound warm and inviting, and often comes with block rocking trip-hop beats." - Active Dayton
External links
- Beatrix Jar website
- Beatrix Jar Interview at Create Digital Music
- On the Scene: Beatrix Jar plays with music, toys - article in The State - South Carolina's Homepage
- http://edu.warhol.org/pdf/BeatrixJar.pdf Beatrix*JAR (music/performance duo) - The Andy Warhol MuseumThe Andy Warhol MuseumThe Andy Warhol Museum, located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist...
, a museum of Carnegie InstituteCarnegie Museums of PittsburghCarnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
. - Circuit Bending Workshop with Beatrix Jar - Columbia Museum of Art
- Beatrix*JAR brings "fuzzy sound collage" to the Warhol - Pittsburgh City Paper
- Sound art duo at the Tobias Theater Thursday - interview at nuvo.net
- the warhol: resources and lessons