wish I had.

I didn't do this but I wish I had. what a great little piece.

I Like It When You're Gone from Rosanna Wan on Vimeo.

drowning in tea

spring break has been wunnerful - peaceful and a time to drink significant quantities of tea, hunker down with the ogre & the mermaid, wonder at the schizophrenic weather (a day of 65 degrees followed by a day of 29 degrees, 19 in the wind), prep for the plastic club screening, do the laundry, watch movies (animated and otherwise) on the wall (the projector's great), dream about a european summer, and water the plants (well, that's actually tomorrow).

helas, all too soon it will come to an end, and a life of structured activity will resurface to give definition to this reverie. but that's fine - bring on those bright-eyed, bushy-tailed student faces (or video-game-sleep-deprived, "I didn't get as much done over spring break as I thought I would" faces) the lunchtime meetings where a lot of talking gets done, and another round of mid-semester crits...school gives one the impression of a validated world order - not to be taken at face value, not to be accepted unquestioningly, but a community constantly evolving, revising itself, pushing and pulling, sights set on a pie in the sky.

but maybe we should be looking for something other than pies up there...

les triplettes rencontrent les simpsons

cultural commentary! : sylvain chomet interprets the simpsons.

winter wander

there are places to go, beings to see. it's good to get out of the house and see what is out there.

mermaids...

...and eyeballs.

...and maybe I'll never be french, or anything in particular at all, but I'd love to be a stranger in a strange land, knowing that my place is not to have a place, but to be there anyway.

philadelphia independents at the plastic club

links to a few of the animators who have agreed to screen their work at the Plastic Club's Philadelphia Independents event, March 29th, 7pm, 247 S. Camac St, Center City, Philadelphia:

geoff beatty
former instructor at philadelphia university and moore college of art & design, geoff is the head of germantown studios.

ross bollinger
creator of animated films and advertisements that can entertain and be enjoyed by a wide audience, ross is a relative newcomer to philadelphia, focusing on client and personal Flash animation.

lowell boston
independent animator, filmmaker, poet, and adjunct associate professor in animation at the university of the arts and philadelphia university, lowell is also the producer of the philly cam series, optical toys. lowell is working with animator/artist liz goldberg on a project they will present as a work-in-progress for the screening.

liz goldberg
independent animator, instructor in fashion design and drawing at drexel university and philadelphia university:"my work is an exploration of the theme of the diva - the flamboyantly uninhibited female and the personal and political empowerment she represents."

andrew hoffman
philadelphia cartoonist and painter, he has been working in the publishing industry since 2000.

juggling wolf
jason chen, marina gvozdeva, and ian foster: a multidisciplinary collective, dedicated to creating video and animation that is technically challenging and visually rewarding.

christopher magee
independent animator and assistant professor in animation at the university of the arts, big head at motion heads studio.

dick meyer, alice meyer-wallace

"in the early 70s dick meyer got a christmas gift from his wife which
was an afternoon with paul  fierlinger, a czech animator, who taught
dick about his method of animation, moving images with watercolor on glass."dick taught his sister alice meyer-wallace the technique as well.

anthony schepperd

independent animator: "animation gives us the rare opportunity to spill our most coveted attribute, the imagination."

karl staven
independent animator and photographer, director of the animation program at the university of the arts.

jody sweitzer
mixed media, sculpture, jewelry, installation, and film/video artist whose work records the interactions and experiences of viewers of spaces she creates.

lynn tomlinson
interdisciplinary artist specializing in animation, mosaics, community art, sculpture, documentary, media art, and emerging media.

an evening of philadelphia independents

the philadelphia plastic club has graciously invited me to help them organize a night of screenings of the works of local, independent animators. saturday, march 29th. details to be posted.

looking forward to assembling this group of artists, and looking forward to seeing what's going on in everybody's little corners of this urban jungle...whatcha been up to, neighbor?

snowman in search of an identity.

...or a personality, or a way to interface with the world...

animation journal

just found this academic journal:

animation sage journal

if you're up for an academic discussion in animation, this is your favorite jazz bar hangout.

artists.

oh, to be able to hang out with revolutionary artists in cafés somewhere, talking about art and changing the world...

become a chameleon.

interesting post about fragmentation & adapatability from Amid Amidi. whether or not one agrees, and given that this article is not contemporary, it still bears reflection with regards to the nature of being a professional animator: think broadly about your skills as the sand shifts underneath your feet.