Lauren Lamonica

Years after graduating from CMU’s Art Department with a BFA in Electronic and Time-based Media Art (2001), I feel I’m getting some love! Not that the Art department didn’t appreciate my sell-out electronic art focus while I was there…but I feel I’m finally getting some publicity within their alumni newsletters. Also, I’ve been receiving catch-up emails from the Dean of the College of Fine Arts, little blurbs on their website…and CHECK THIS OUT: a snapshot of an interactive Shockwave movie I made is featured on the CMU Art Page!

This image is a screen shot of my old portfolio site at laurenlamonica.com, which linked to shots and videos of my 3D models, paintings, sculpture, performance art, VR worlds, videos and films, and my resume. I’m going to have to bring this site back up for the memories!

(It’s a snapshot because I don’t think you can even play Shockwave movies anymore).

I went to NY a couple of weeks ago to join an annual tradition in Long Beach, NY - jumping into the Atlantic Ocean on Superbowl Sunday. I did this for the first time last year with about 5,000 other Long Beach Polar Bears. This chapter was founded back in 1998 by my uncle, Kevin McCarthy and his friend, who wanted to do something crazy for their upcoming birthdays. A few years later, with about a hundred members, they decided to turn the event into a fundraiser for Make A Wish. In 2008, the event raised 350K. This year’s event, which has doubled in size over last year’s to almost 10,000 Polar Bears (a Guiness World Record), has been expected to raise almost 1 Million Dollars.

I am very proud of my uncle and everyone else who jumped into the cold Atlantic on this beautiful NY winter day. My family was all there in orange “staff” hoodies volunteering and collecting money for Make A Wish. What a great day. Here is a video, which features my uncle talking about the event.