Snow globes are magical anyway.  But what if you could shake one and have it play a 360-degree video?

That’s exactly what award-winning San Francisco artist, inventor and educator JD Beltran has done, with her current project: Cinema Snowglobes.

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Working in collaboration with designer/inventor Scott Minneman, JD has created snow globes which play a 360-degree video when shaken!

JD and Scott specialize in cutting-edge interactive art, combining talent and vision with sensors, screens and microchips.   JD’s digital public-art portfolio includes  “The Secrets Series” and “The Magic Storytelling Table“, which has been exhibited all over the world.

In 2012, JD and Scott came up with the concept for Cinema Snowglobes.  Crafting their first prototypes at The Workshop Residence, they developed their snow globes over the next few years.

Cinema Snowglobes debuted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2013.   In 2014, they won the “New Technology Art Award”, as one of the twenty best technology-based works of art in the world, according to The Cinema Snowglobe webpage.

At CES® 2018, in Las Vegas, Cinema Snowglobes won a CES® Innovation Award in the Portable Media Category.  (They also garnered lots of oohs and aahs as JD and Scott introduced them to attendees, in preparation for an upcoming crowdfunding campaign!)

JD talked about her background, shared the story of creating The Cinema Snowglobe and offered resources and advice for fellow creative inventors.

On this edition of Over Coffee® you’ll hear:

• How JD first became interested in combining art and technology to create her art;

• A story of an early snowglobe project JD created, prior to envisioning Cinema Snowglobes;

• How JD and her partner and husband, Scott Minneman, first decided to create Cinema Snowglobes;

• What the process was like, creating their first batch of Cinema Snowglobes;

• Some of the creative challenges involved in their first production run;

• What you’ll experience, when you pick up two of the most popular Cinema Snowglobes;

• A creative mistake JD and Scott made, while making their first snow globes, that served as a lesson;

• A funny story about an “oops” moment they had at The Workshop Residence (it’s not one anyone could have seen coming!);

• What JD recommends to her students, when she teaches them how to create interactive art;

• Two resources she recommends, for fellow makers and artists;

• A timeline on Cinema Snowglobes, including  a forthcoming new feature: the ability to upload your own content!