Here’s how we collaborated with the foundation to produce a video telling the story of artist Aaronel deRoy Gruber through her artwork and archive.

A view of the gallery at The Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation.

Introduction

Client

The Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation

Industry

Nonprofits and Arts

Services

Videography, video editing, audio engineering, music composition, and audio mixing and mastering

The Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation supports and promotes the artwork of Aaronel deRoy Gruber, which includes her paintings, sculptures, and photographs. The Foundation also supports and promotes locally and nationally known artists, with a focus on those artists originally from Western Pennsylvania who have chosen photography as their primary medium.

As part of ongoing efforts to promote Aaronel deRoy Gruber’s legacy, the Foundation contacted Bright Archives to produce a short film telling the story of the artist and the foundation, incorporating the extensive archive of the artist’s studio.

Primary Goal

The Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation needed a creative way to introduce Aaronel deRoy Gruber and the Foundation to the public.

Our Solution

The project involved onsite videography, archival 16mm footage, archival images, music composition, and a voiceover by the Executive Director.

A video still depicting slides of Aaronel deRoy Gruber’s artwork.

Our work started with a kickoff meeting to review project goals, logistics, and deliverables. We then developed a detailed project plan providing a timeline of activities.

Bright Archives completed two days of onsite videography capturing the artist’s work, including a number of kinetic Plexiglas sculptures. We also documented archival materials from the artist’s studio, like pigments, exhibition posters, notebooks, and journals, as well as visitors viewing works on display in the gallery.

We collaborated with the Executive Director to produce a voiceover for the film at the Bright Archives studio. The voiceover tells the story of Aaronel deRoy Gruber and provides details about her journey and artistic process, guiding the audience through the narrative of the film.

To compose the original music for the video, we made audio recordings of the kinetic sculptures. The sculptures’ moving parts create a sound similar to white noise, and we used these sounds to form the basis of the tonal center for the piece. We then integrated piano and synthesizers to create an atmospheric score that balances curiosity and sentimentality.

Once the recordings were complete, we moved on to editing, mixing, and mastering the video, delivering a six-minute film and a one-minute teaser video for social media.

The Results

Upon public release of the short film and teaser video, the client wrote, “the brilliant work of Bright Archives has allowed us to convey our setting, mission and content at the deRoy Gruber Foundation in Pittsburgh, stewarding the story of modern artist Aaronel deRoy Gruber.”

The teaser video was published to Instagram, where it was viewed thousands of times, and the short film is displayed prominently on the Foundation’s homepage.

Conclusion

A key takeaway from this case is the power of storytelling. In today’s media-saturated world, it’s easy for video to feel overdone. That’s why it’s important to incorporate meaningful narrative elements, whether it’s a personal voiceover from the Executive Director or a thoughtful sound design. Your story is unique, and video should bring it to life in ways that feel relevant and purposeful.

We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to The Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation and Executive Director Brittany Reilly. It was an absolute pleasure working on this project.

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