Calamyra is an interactive art installation, or in other words, a game. In the story (I wrote it when I was 12), Zythania Puckleberry climbs a tree and ends up stuck on top of it, seeing the treetops as stepping-stones and the clouds as the ground. Now, in this new world, she (now you, the player) must learn enough about the world and its people to return home. The room was filled with these treetops and whenever someone would step on one, it would trigger some event to take place in the game world, such as lightning (a strobe light), a volcano spurting lava (a fiber optic light in a felt-covered posterboard cone), or a flurry of bubbles. The storybook, provided to participants as they entered, walked them through the correct order to step on the treetops in order to win the game and find their way home. The game used a network of motion sensors connected to Teleo Modules that then sent the information to a computer. Aprogram I created in the program Max that tracked player's movements and triggered the winning event.

Calamyra takes the game world and brings it into the physical world, allowing you to participate as yourself, touch, see, and smell what's around you, instead of just having yourself represented by an onscreen avatar. It brings everything I love together, and allows people, whether they want to play the game or just sit and experience it, to have fun.

Click below to read through the storybook and see images from the installation.

Zythania Puckleberry/Show Invitation

The Adventures of Zythania Puckleberry: Calamyra

read the whole story with drawings and corresponding installation images

see only installation images telling the story

Calamyra Prototype: Interface Show

Calamyra Installation: Climbing the Tree

Calamyra Installation: In the Treetops

Calamyra Installation: Tree-hopping

Calamyra Installation: Tornado and Bubble Mountain

Calamyra Installation: Winning the Game

Calamyra Installation: Interactive Elements: Flower and Lava

Calamyra Installation: Interactive Elements: The Golden Queen of Light and her Fairies

roll over image to trigger an effect!

roll over image to trigger an effect!

One night in 1996, I dreamt of a world filled with nothing but lush, green islands surrounded by so many rivers that there was no such thing as an ocean. I went on my own adventure there, filled with peril and excitement, and even a little love story. The next day I began writing it down, and the world of Ilouay was born. It has become a fantasy adventure novel exceeding 150 pages, along with the supporting art material seen below. Ilouay is an ever-evolving world that epitomizes my love of escape from this world, and aventure in another.

Read a section of text

Ilouay: Tenai

Tenai: Serenity Falls

Tenai: Serenity Falls Sign

Trinos: Clock