I’m happy to participate in this – I’ve attended shows here, and we are lucky to have this in Baltimore.
April 14 at 2640 Space, St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD.
I’m lifting this from the JHU Newsletter site:
New Works provided easy access to experimental work by Baltimore filmmakers that otherwise might be lost to the ether. Its mission to connect viewers to artists within the same community is a commendable one. A creative Friday evening detour, an experimental film screening is a great way to mix up one’s regular thought patterns and behavior with the consumption of work by people who are thinking outside of the box.
I had an artist reception at the Hamilton Gallery today for my solo show Found and Chosen. I received a creativity grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to produce a recording which coincides with this exhibit.
This show features animation, a record release, a webpage, a Plasticland installation, and about 16 framed works.
As a coping mechanism for the collective anxiety we felt during the pandemic, I took long walks through my neighborhood in Baltimore City, and later, other cities. It was a form of meditation. This developed into a practice of mindfulness. I was able to quiet my thoughts and generally slow down. I noticed and found delight in objects and sounds that I previously might have overlooked. Found and Chosen is a collection of materials gathered during this time.
The Atlas of Found Objects
Some of the interesting objects that I found, I bought home. Most were just photographed with my phone. I made this 6′ x 3′ banner showing some of my favorites.
Each image has the location where I found them under the photo.
The Minotaur and the Four Horsemen
The Minotaur is an icon adopted by the Surrealists, and monsters figured prominently in their works between the world wars as they stood against fascists and Hitler. I found it interested that one of the January 6th attackers resembled a very skinny minotaur.
22.5” x 16” Wood, glass, acrylic paint, wax pencil. 2022
This painting is the product of my new animation, which has a working title of The Art of War.
The images below are also from this animation, only I worked with discarded prints from the government repository.
I’m not sure when the full animation will be complete, but all these pieces seemed to fit squarely within the context of this exhibit, and I wanted to get part of this out into the world.
Yellow Cravistans Nos. 1-3
One day, while walking Goose, we found one of these yellow cravistans in the grass. The following day, we found another. Same with the day after that. I brought them home and mounted them like the trophies they are.
Other Found Objects
I’ve included some letters, which you can read about elsewhere, and other treasures, some of which are used in The Lunatics animation.
Plasticland
CDs and Tapes
While supplies last, people can visit the gallery and take a CD/Cassette. I’ve talked about this elsewhere, and in great detail on the Found and Chosen page I’ve linked from the liner notes.
I am fortunate in that, post graduation, I’m getting to be a part of an MFA exhibit with some members of my cohort at Rhizome in Washington, DC.
I decided to submit my stop motion film Plasticland for this exhibit, and after installing the work, I’m really glad it did. I think the space and this work speak to each other.
From the Rhizome website:
September 3 – 24 * Exhibit open during all events and by appointment: email info@rhizomedc.org * Opening event Saturday September 10 from 4-6pm
Rhizome is excited to partner with Towson University’s MFA program to present an exhibition of selected works by recent MFA graduates. The show features a range of 2D work, video, and installation. The work clearly springs forth from pandemic times and anxieties while speaking to timeless preoccupations of the ever-searching artist. The selected artists juxtapose personal searches for their particular truths with themes of transformation in natural and built environments, cycles of growth and decay, and the nature of who we are.
Featuring work by: Zachary Diaz / Erin Barry-Dutro / Claudia Cappelle / David Calkins / Jim Doran / Brianna Doyle / Grace Doyle / Jodi Hoover / Lolo Gem / Katherine Nonemaker / Aral Olgun / Andrew Thorpe / You Wu / Jen Yablonsky / Tara Youngborg
Thanks to Kanchan Balsé for curating the show from the works submitted.
I’ve written and talked about the Sweaty Eyeballs animation festival/screenings extensively. It’s always an inspiration, and I’m grateful to have it in my home town of Baltimore. And I am very very happy to be a part of this fantastic show!
There are over 3 hours of reels running in the gallery, and art from some great independent animators.
From the Goucher website:
February 11–March 27, 2022
Featuring: Adam Davies with Leili Tavallaei & Nick McKernan Albert Birney Cassie Shao Christopher Rutledge Corrie Francis Parks Eric Dyer Erinn Hagerty & Adam Savje Evan Tedlock Gina Kamentsky Ismael Sanz-Pena Jim Doran John C. Kelley Karen Yaskinsky Lynn Tomlinson Ru Kuwahata & Max Porter Stephanie Williams Tynesha Foreman Zoe Friedman
Curated by Phil Davis with Alex Ebstein
Goucher College is pleased to present Sweaty Eyeballs Animation – Behind the Screensin Silber Gallery, on view from February 11 through March 27, 2022. Behind the Screenspresents animation highlights from the Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, exhibited alongside additional artworks and process ephemera that provide a window into each of the artists’ unique approach to the medium. The animations range from documentary and narrative to the visually abstract. They span digital and analog, with examples of stop motion, rotoscoping, hand-painted, hand-drawn, clay, collage, puppetry, and zoetrope animation.
Founded by Phil Davis in 2012 as a series of one-night-only events, Sweaty Eyeballs has been a consistent platform for and champion of animation in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2019, Sweaty Eyeballs became a full-scale animation festival, hosted at the Parkway Theater.
In this gallery exhibition, artists who’ve participated in various iterations of Sweaty Eyeballs spill beyond the monitors to reveal their frame sequences and material experimentations. Others present drawings, collages, sculpture, filmstrips, and their preparatory notes. Behind the Screenscelebrates the extensive work that makes up and supports animation in a survey of style and format.
Phil Davis is an animator, avid musician, cartoon watcher, and professor of animation and film at Towson University. His animations and music videos have been featured in festivals internationally. He is currently working on an animated documentary short about the town of Millinocket, ME, and incidents surrounding a fatal paper mill accident.
Update 3/17/2022
We had a screening and artist talk this evening. I got to see Brood X and A Job as the Moon projected in the theater space. An interesting artist talk followed.
There were a lot of insightful comments. I’ll share a few of my top favorites here. Lynn Tomlinson, when asked if she had any advice for students, said:
Don’t wait until the end to think about sound. Sound is at least 50% of the finished work and so very important
If your process allows, film the beginning and end of the film first. People are always tired and/or rushing at the end, and it can show.
Phil Davis commented that being an animator is a lot like being a god – you can to create and control everything in your film. He was speaking about and to experimental animators, and that’s very true. My advice for the students was this:
Finish something. Just finish it.
Don’t sweat mistakes, embrace them. They can lead to new pathways.
In the beginning, I had so many ideas and things to cram in a single story, but once I got started, I figured out that either it wasn’t going to work, or I couldn’t actually do whatever it was, or something else made more sense. Being fluid helps.
In 2015, I attended a Sweaty Eyeballs invitational screening at the Brown Center at MICA. If I were a religious person, I would probably say it was like a religious experience. Alas, I am not, but I will describe it as an important night for me – I left feeling inspired and full of wonder. My glass was full. I had just started graduate school, and this night was like a big, welcoming door that swung open for me.
It was a fantastic night – sitting in an actual theater and watching programming one doesn’t often see in actual theaters. I was moved. I loved it. I wanted to be a part of it.
@sweatyeyeballsanimation is a 7-day juried festival of the world’s most boundary-pushing, mind-blowing animation, and this year you can watch from anywhere in the world! Sweaty Eyeballs is hybrid for 2021 and will offer both online streaming AND in-person screenings at the historic SNF Parkway Theatre in Station North Arts + Entertainment District theater in Baltimore, MD. Follow @sweatyeyeballsanimation for ticketing and pass updates and programming news.
I am so happy, therefore, to say The Benefits of Radiation will be screened at the SNF Parkway Theatre, for the first time in an actual theater. I love this film, and I am happy for it to be included.
UPDATE
It was a wonderful evening. I’ve never seen one of my film shown in a theater before, and I loved how it turned out. The Parkway Theater has such character, too.
I wanted to sit in the back – I always like to sit in the back – to hear and see what happens.
In this last photo, the animators who were present were called up to the stage for a very short Q&A and to say “hi.” I’m standing on the left, next to my friend Lynn Tomlinson.
Three of my animations are looping in the front window of Maryland Art Place this week. I’ve been really looking forward to doing some public projection pieces. I’m very grateful for this window of opportunity!
photo courtesy of Melissa Penley Cormierphoto courtesy of Melissa Penley Cormierphoto courtesy of Melissa Penley Cormier
