For the first time, I got to participate in an exhibition at Towson University. As you may recall, I completed my MFA during the pandemic time, and posted my exhibition on doranimation.com.
Again is a nice show. Erin Lehman sent me the following curatorial statement:
“All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.” (J.M. Barrie) To repeat, to return, to add or go back. To do. Again. And then once more. The word “again” may denote repetition, renewal, or reuse. It suggests commitment and focus, the joy of digging in, variations on a theme that builds to a whole greater than its individual parts, often to a wonderfully surprising conclusion. Repetition can be meditative, creating ritual and routine that brings order and comfort. It requires patience, but also discernment. The artists in this exhibition have found joy in continuity, in going backwards in order to move forwards. They bring together parts of the whole, or they build on what has come before. They play with similar themes, techniques, or ideas to create a body of work that calls the viewer to explore on both a macro and micro level, to discover a mix of repetition and new exploration that calms the mind and excites the imagination. The work is often luscious in detail, materials, or pattern. Their commitment allows us to journey alongside them, bringing our own notions and experiences to the what now and what next?
Again statement, Erin Lehman, PhD
My Job as the Moon looped in the gallery. I wish I’d gotten more photos. The rest of my pics were blurry/weird. I was happy/honored to be included!
The Lunatics was screened at the Born in Baltimore festival. All the work was very strong this year, and several of the award winning films had intense, social justice themes that hit hard. The Lunatics brought up the end with some comic relief.
We are fortunate to have such a wonderful festival here.
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.
The Lunatics entered the greater world at the 2022 edition of the Sweaty Eyeballs festival here in Baltimore. Always a big inspiration, this year’s festival did not disappoint! The Baltimore showcase was sold out, too.
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.
