Steampunk Artist Eric Horn, Revisited

May 16 & 17 the Duluth Art Institute is celebrating the Second Annual Steampunk Spectacular featuring art, fashion, live entertainment and more for Midwest enthusiasts of the Steampunk genre and the creative people who make it happen. I first met Eric Horn at the world premiere of his graphic novel Chronicle (Part I) at a Friends of Industry event in the summer of 2011. Think Jules Verne. Think futuristic contraptions that might have been conceived 120 years ago. Think of a world where flight and travel and life is all steam-powered and imagination-driven. Eric Horn is a talented artist and illustrator who helps bring this world to life.

EN: What is it that gets you so jazzed about the upcoming Steampunk Spectacular?
Eric Horn: I'm excited for a few reasons. First, last year we only had a month to plan for the event and it turned out to be amazing. The second reason is that because we had more time to plan it is bigger, with more to do and see. For years now I’ve been wanting to have a Steampunk convention here in the Twin Ports. It would be fantastic seeing steampunks from all over swarming the streets of Duluth and Superior. We have so much to offer here that fits nicely into the genre and tends to be the type of things those who are Steampunk enthusiasts like to attend such as the Depot, William A Irving, Glensheen Mansion, and other such attractions. This is an opportunity that if done right will greatly benefit the community as a whole. It also gives people a chance to get dressed up and have some fun.

EN: How did you first take an interest in the Steampunk genre?
EH: I was originally introduced to it by a good friend, Erin Gunderson, who designed her own jewelry. She would make cool necklaces with nuts and bolts and gears. I was in my early twenties, around 2000. She’s now in Portland.

EN: Where did “Friends of Industry” come from?
EH: My involvement with Friends of Industry started with Gustave (Campanini) doing a piece for the Artist Kamikaze. He needed detail work done on this piece because he doesn’t do small detail well. I went to his studio and we came up with the idea of creating this show featuring my graphic novel. It was produced like a world premiere with live music and many of the guests wearing their Steampunk designs. Gustave wanted the show to be something with the word Friends in it. Eventually the space became an artist retreat and clubhouse after this show.

EN: What was the inspiration for your graphic Steampunk novel Chronicle?
EH: I’d been wanting to do a comic book for years. Every story line I came up I’d re-write and not like it. As I looked into Steampunk online I said, “Hey, it makes sense if I put my story in the steampunk world, a lot easier to do …. I kept trying to write a story for the modern day, but it wouldn’t work with the elements I wanted to have. But when I put it in Steampunk it could go anywhere. I started working on Chronicle about three years ago. I’d met Richard Rosvall at the Roller Derby and at Carmody’s but never really talked to him. Then I saw some of his work on Facebook and I sought him out to use some of his stuff in the comic.

EN: Can you explain the process?
EH: It begins with imagination. Then we create costumes and scenes and take photos which I then hand-draw based on images I’ve Photoshopped.

EN: How much time do you spend on your drawings? 
EH: Well, that all depends on the piece. Some of my pen and ink drawings have taken me months to do, putting in a couple of hours a day on them. Some I have cranked out in under two hours. As for my self-titled Over Art style (Over Art is when I take a photograph and then ink over it to give it an animated feel and look) I can do a piece in usually a day or three. The longest I have worked on something is years. I have one piece that I still have not finished because of the amount of ink involved, and I also lose focus on finishing it and put it away to work on something else.

EN: Where can people see some of your work? 
EH: People can find my work on my Facebook page. They can also follow the work I do in the studio and other group projects on our "Friends of Industry" Facebook page. I have also been doing Instagram for some time now which is a neat way to expose works to a large audience with ease. We’re currently trying to develop a website, but so far life gets in the way. I have works hanging up at Goin’ Postal in Superior including some new pieces which will be in our May 10 show during visual arts week.

EN: I'll be there. Thanks.

Top right: Photo by Andrew Perfetti

Get Ready for a Night of Steampunk

FIRST: The Announcement 

Tonight 
May 17, 2012 6:30 – 9pm 

Entry & 1 drink ticket: $8 

Members: FREE 

Dress in full costume and get in for $5 

Afterparty at the Rathskeller in Tycoons

The Duluth Art Institute is proud to present A Night of Steampunk. This will be an event featuring a Steampunk fashion show and other Steampunk related visual arts. Steampunk visual art designs have no set guidelines, but tend to synthesize modern styles influenced by science fiction, fantasy, and the Victorian era. This is an interactive visual arts event where spectators are encouraged to not only explore the Steampunk creations by local artists, but also participate in “setting the scene” of this event through dress. Come to the event in full costume and get a discounted entry for $5.00.

We thought there would be no better backdrop for this event than the Depot Train Museum. Sponsored by Dubrue, The Historic Union Depot, with an after party at Tycoons, this will be a night to remember!

My first conscious contact with Steampunk was at last summer’s Friends of Industry event featuring the world premiere of Eric Horn’s Steampunk Chronicle. Only later did I understand that I’d already seen Steampunk in various Hollywood films, but failed to be aware of what it really was as a semi-defined genre.

In her book Writing Steampunk, Beth Daniels is quick to point out that not everyone who enjoys reading Steampunk is interested in living Steampunk. Perhaps it’s a bit like the Trekkies who become characters and go to conventions, as opposed to the Star Trek fans who simply didn't want to miss their show each week. Tonight’s DAI-sponsored event at the Depot offers the role-players and hard-core enthusiasts to dress up without having to wait till Halloween. I mean, who amongst us didn’t look forward to becoming some other character on that last night of October?

At its most basic, Steampunk is a subset of Fantasy. Efforts to put my arms around the genre led to some basic shared premises. The historical period is Victorian/Edwardian, the era of Jules Verne and early H.G. Wells. But there’s a “weird, wild west” version and East Coast Steampunk and  the more people you talk with the less you’ll have a coherent picture, except that one thing is certain, sort of. This is a pre-computer world, a pre-twentieth century science world, pre-organic synthesis…

Another feature of the genre is its fascination with original characters. Marvel Comics meets old-school science, the Industrial Revolution meets a future that by-passes the real directions science and technology advanced.

I’m no authority, but I have been boning up on Steampunk literature and guess what? I already have the beginnings of a story forming in one of the subterranean caverns of my unconscious. It involves a golem, a hero and maybe even a little romantic adventure. Good versus evil, redemption from a futile pursuit... and a wake-up call to save the world. But tonight I will become an Edwardian-era chemist. Join us! I fully expect it to be a night to remember.

* * *

If you like fantasy with a supernatural twist, you might enjoy my first volume of short stories titled Unremembered Histories. They aren’t really Steampunk since they pre-existed my encounter with the genre, but a few of the stories will tickle your imagination in that general vicinity.

Featured eBook of the Day: Unremembered Histories

PHOTOS COURTESY ANDREW PERFETTI 

Click images to enlarge. 

Steampunk Chronicle Premiere at Friends of Industry

Last night I took in a steampunk event at the Gustave Campini's Friends of Industry art space in downtown Duluth. The event included steampunk art, costumes and a the world premiere of Chronicle, a multi-media show based on a comic book being produced by Eric Horn and friends. From what I've been told Steampunk is a huge new passion, not unlike the Trekkie movement that resulted in Star Trek conventions around the country.

Steampunk is a subset of science fiction, except these futurists are from the past. Think of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Put yourself in 1880 and imagine what the future would look like, what space ships of tomorrow might look like from the vantage point of pre-flight and what futuristic weapons and uniforms might consist of.

If you ever saw Will Vinton's claymation production The Adventures of Mark Twain, you will recall seeing a steampunk-style flying contraption that carried the story, along with its characters. Mark Twain had a fascination with the future, and was intensely curious about the capabilities of science. As a result he developed a close friendship with Nikola Tesla and spent a lot of time in that brilliant man's lab.

Some people credit cyberpunk writers William Gibson and Bruce Sterling with the re-birth of interest in steampunk. The two wrote The Difference Engine, a book that brought their futurist sensibilities to Victorian England.

Steampunk artisans take ordinary objects and make extraordinary masks, gear and goggles using materials that were likely to be found 130 years ago, hence the preponderance of leather, brass, wood and iron. Events like Campini's last night provide the occasion for steampunk fans to get decked out and show their stuff.

As a starting point to learn more about Steampunk, visit Wikipedia.

Below: The Victorian era projection screen.