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Stars Falling is a culture-centered artwork that casts a tender but critical gaze onto the things we love: role models, family members, places we call home, and beliefs about what is “good.” Anchored by “America’s favorite novel,” Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, this project considers our current moment through the lens of Lee’s writing.

In the novel, Atticus Finch is the central character who exemplifies a certain type of American “hero.” Near the end of Harper Lee’s life, her publisher dusted off an old manuscript that Lee wrote before Mockingbird. In this first-written but later-released novel, Go Set A Watchman, Lee revealed that Finch was a white supremacist. We readers —like his daughter, Scout — thought he stood for equality and justice. By contradicting and betraying the values he stood for, he has complicated our perspective on the world and the stories that help us make sense of it.

For the past few years, Todd Slaughter, Melissa Yes, and their collaborators have been discussing this with people in their Alabama and Ohio communities. Stars Falling brings these people and their words together in a dreamy constellation inspired by the backyards and front porches of the artists’ (and Harper Lee’s) Southern family homes. You are invited to sit, stay a while, and join the conversation.

Learn more at starsfalling.net/

Finches was a collaborative project that explored the tension created when we are conflicted about something we love, whether that is a family member, a leader, or a place. It asks us, “How do I love a thing I know is flawed?” Directed by Melissa Yes and Todd Slaughter, production and videography by 1504, choreography by Fen Kennedy. Details here.

In 2022, we exhibited Finches at the Gadsden (AL) Museum of Art. The installation integrated video, sculpture, and artifacts into a participatory experience, enlivened one evening with a performance by contributing dance artists.

See a brief video depicting the installation here.

Click here to watch a brief excerpt from the 20-minute Finches video.

The research and some of the video content contained in Finches carries over to our 2025 project, Stars Falling.

photo by Tyler Jones of 1504

Video installation and performance featuring six projections, an installation of technical equipment and convex mirror, and live voice and ukulele. 30 minutes.

View an excerpt here. It is a compilation of the six videos, condensed and formatted for single-screen viewing.

Video installation and performance featuring six projections, an installation of technical equipment and convex mirror, and live voice and ukulele. 30 minutes.

Pictured: still from one of the six Space Program videos.

View an excerpt here. It is a compilation of the six videos, condensed and formatted for single-screen viewing.

I led a group fitness class with commentary and flare. I mixed this live fitness instruction mixed in real time with images from social media fitness influencers. What you see here is a frame from that mix.

Years before this project, I taught a group fitness class called "Total Body Conditioning" at a university recreation center for many seasons.

I led a group fitness class with commentary and flare. That's what you see here.

I mixed this live fitness instruction mixed in real time with images from social media fitness influencers. That's pictured in the previous slide..

Years before this project, I taught a group fitness class called "Total Body Conditioning" at a university recreation center for many seasons.

GET FIT (to be coming)! Was a multimedia installation with a looped video on a CRT TV (09:17), a looped video projected onto mirrors, (04:43), plus a kettle bell and a feather. Presented with "GET FIT" zines, a free takeaway.

View an excerpt of the TV video here. It’s a funny one.

View a brief documentation video here. It helps make sense of these images.

GET FIT (to be coming)! Was a multimedia installation with a looped video on a CRT TV (09:17), a looped video projected onto mirrors, (04:43), plus a kettle bell and a feather. Presented with "GET FIT" zines, a free takeaway.

View an excerpt of the TV video here. It’s a funny one.

View a brief documentation video here. It helps make sense of these images.

Documentation assistance from Bill Randall

GET FIT (to be coming)! Was a multimedia installation with a looped video on a CRT TV (09:17), a looped video projected onto mirrors, (04:43), plus a kettle bell and a feather. Presented with "GET FIT" zines, a free takeaway.

View an excerpt of the TV video here. It’s a funny one.

View a brief documentation video here. It helps make sense of these images.

Flam-Lamp (studio session) was an installation in a racquetball court that consisted of a sculpture (drums, lumber, bungee cords, area rug), digital video (with audio), and ambient sounds from neighboring racquetball courts.

Click here to view video and documentation of Flam-Lamp (studio session).

Flam-Lamp (studio session) was an installation in a racquetball court that consisted of a sculpture (drums, lumber, bungee cords, area rug), digital video (with audio), and ambient sounds from neighboring racquetball courts.

Click here to view video and documentation of Flam-Lamp (studio session).