SLOW DANCE: ANIMATION AS MEDITATIVE PRACTICE
Ages 16-29
Spring 2022, Online
In this online workshop, student fellows will approach stop-motion animation from the inside out, allowing materials and process to determine the final product. Animation can be repetitive and time-consuming, and it’s an art form that keeps the artist indoors in their workspace. Fellows will learn to exploit these qualities, turning limitations into opportunity. Using found objects from home, they’ll reconsider the possibilities of what’s typically taken for granted—pots and pans, writing utensils, clothing—as they experiment with movement and rhythm, relaxing into the work, into a meditative process, a “slow dance” with materials that allows narrative to emerge naturally, to be discovered rather than constructed. Fellows will learn the production process of brainstorming, storyboarding, capturing, and editing; and demonstrations and examples of stop-motion animation techniques, along with mindfulness exercises and journaling, will supplement the program. Final animations will be shared at a public exhibition and on the program website. Limited to 8 student fellows.
Gwyneth Anderson is an experimental animator and visual artist exploring themes of invisibility and perception. She has screened and exhibited work in galleries, festivals, forests, and vacant lots throughout the US and internationally. She recently moved to Baltimore from Chicago, where she was a teaching artist with both the Museum of Contemporary Art and Columbia College.
Dhyaneshswar “Danny” Sudhakar is a film and media graduate student at Johns Hopkins University majoring in writing and sound. He specializes in directing and editing, and is excited to work with BYFA fellows.
