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Coffetime Perks Up Marriage of Digital Artists

5/31/2004

PUTNAM, CT - At a time when over 50% of marriages end in divorce, illustrators Dave Joly and Annie Gusman have found a way to combine life, work and marital bliss in the digital age. Their recipe for success? Brew up a fresh pot of coffee and meet in the kitchen before heading off to their home-based studios.

"It has to be a life or death issue before we're willing to miss Coffetime," according to Dave.

The ritual is so important to the artists' marriage that they documented it as part of a current show of their work. Coffeetime, a streaming web animation created with Flash technology, is presented on a site the couple designed to accompany "picturedance.com - The work of Dave Joly and Annie Gusman", showing at the Danielson campus of Quinnebaug Valley Community College, Jan. 28 - Feb. 28, 2000. The website includes details about their use of digital tools to create illustrations and multimedia work, as well as samples of their non-digital personal work.

The couple established their home/studios in Putnam, CT, a small town nestled in the states' northeast "quiet corner" in 1987, among rolling hills and farmlands. The artists find the setting conducive to both work and family life, sharing their Victorian-era house with their 10 year-old daughter and two cats.

"We let Fedex and the Internet do the traveling for us," states Annie. "The only back-ups we hit now are the cats on the stairs to the studios."

Dave Joly is an illustrator and multimedia animator who has freelanced for 15 years. Prior to freelancing, he was a games animation designer with Atari in Sunnyvale, CA. Annie Gusman is an illustrator and painter who has freelanced for over 20 years. She was formerly Chair of the Illustration Department at the Art Institute of Boston, and Assistant Professor of Illustration at the University of Hartford. Their clients include: Atlantic Monthly, Boston Globe, Childrens Television Workshop, Club Med, Delta Airlines, Digital, Houghton Mifflin, Motorola, National Geographic Society, New York Times, Nynex, Simon & Schuster, and the US Postal Service.

Ms. Gusman has also illustrated 13 books for children including Small Cloud, which was recently re-released by Walker Publishing Co.

Coffeetime, as well as directions and show hours can be found on the picturedance.com website