Beatrix JAR

Beatrix*JAR
Origin	Minneapolis, St. Paul
Genres	Sound Art, Electronic Music, Electronica, Circuit Bending
Years active	2003 – present
Labels	Hypercreatives (Run by Beatrix*JAR)
Website	Official website
Members	Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR): Modified Toys, Beats, Vocals Bianca Pettis (Beatrix), Electronic Turntable (DNS-1000), Beats, Vocals

Beatrix*JAR is an American sound art & electronic music duo formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2003. The duo is composed of sound artists Bianca Pettis - "Beatrix" and Jacob Aaron Roske - "JAR". Noted for their unique performances and non-traditional approach to music, the band draws its inspiration from AM Radios paired with Flash Cameras, Modified Children's Toys, Samples and electronic beats. Beatrix*JAR self-released three albums of note: I Love You Talk Bird (2005), Golden Fuzz (2007) and Art*Star (2010).

"What sets Beatrix*JAR apart from these various media manipulators is its particular method of music generation -- Roske and girlfriend Bianca Pettis rely for their sound sources on rearranging the innards of electronic devices. Onstage, their setup fits entirely on a small table: an AM radio, a flash camera, four Speak and Spells (or Reads or Maths), a Casio keyboard, a Yamaha drumbox, and a Denon CDJ, scratched by Pettis (a.k.a Beatrix)." - Manny Thiener, Pittsburgh Daily

Bianca Pettis and Jacob Roske met each other in a video editing suite at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College in 2003. Bianca, a professional theatre actress and performance artist at the time, was taking a video class at the school. Jacob, who made music as solo artist JAR at the time, was a student of both the sound art and video departments at the college. The two were introduced by a mutual friend and felt an instant connection. Jacob gave Bianca a CD with his music on it and days later Bianca returned with a video using a song he created.

Initially, the two collaborated on video projects in which Bianca would make films of Jacob's solo performances as JAR. In 2005, JAR opened for Les Georges Leningrad at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. Bianca filmed the show and afterwards the two decided to start a band together.

From 2005 - 2010 Beatrix*JAR traveled extensively spreading the good word of D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) electronics and experimentation with over 250 conceptual sound art performances and hands-on circuit bending workshops. Their work was featured in art museums, night clubs, universities, libraries, hacker Spaces and art galleries all over the country including the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, Ohio), Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh, PA), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego, CA), the American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore) and the High Art Museum (Atlanta, GA) to name a few.

In 2010, Beatrix*JAR received the Minnesota based Archibald Bush Fellowship for Media Arts. Jacob and Bianca took a two year creative Sabbatical in San Diego, discovered silence and started to create one of kind birds and cats they call Beatrix*JAR Art Pets. After about two years, the duo returned to Minnesota, where they briefly ran a Pop Up Gallery they called the Beatrix*JAR Open Experimental Studio hosting audio events, hands-on workshops and created Art Pets with the public.

Inspired by the audio works of John Cage and the paintings of Jean Michel Basquiat, in 2013 Beatrix*JAR started adding Audio Playgrounds to their repertoire. Audio Playgrounds breakdown the wall between performer and observer by allowing audiences to make the sounds.

External links

• Beatrix Jar website
• Beatrix*JAR on the PBS program MN Original Beatrix*JAR on MN Original