Uncategorized Archives - ��ܽ��Ƶ

Meet our 2024 Valedictorian, Page Cowell

Andy Murdoch — Tue, 07 May 2024 19:21:12 +0000

Page Cowell, who will graduate this year with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Interdisciplinary Arts, has been chosen by the 2024 graduating class as their valedictorian. She is also a finalist for the 2024 Student Art Award.��

Page was born and raised in Tillsonburg, Ontario on the territory of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee and Attawandaron peoples. Page is proud to come from a long line of working-class family who have been a model of diligence and an inspiration to her work. She is interested in making art that is accessible and relatable to those who don’t often get the chance to engage with it. She uses a variety of media, from kitchen equipment and drills to coloured pencils and mylar, to make sculptures, drawings, and animations which honour the proletariat.

Page received her foundation year arts certificate from the Yukon School of Visual Arts in 2021, where she participated in Yukon Riverside Arts Fest, Dawson City International Film Fest, and the Something Shows Artist Residency. She went on to continue her studies at ��ܽ��Ƶ. Here, she has participated in exchanges, group shows at the Anna Leonowen’s Gallery, and had her first solo show, Construct. She has an interest in community arts, volunteering and working in her hometown arts centre, teaching youth art camps. After graduating, Page plans to make her way closer to home and find ways to rope others into art and acts of creation.

What was one lesson you learned at ��ܽ��Ƶ?

Paper doesn’t carry well in the wind…

In all seriousness, it is hard to pinpoint a specific lesson when the most important things I learned were rather gradual. I can say that the degree is not the most important thing I am walking away from ��ܽ��Ƶ with.

Do you have any advice for current students?

Don’t take for granted the many like-minded, talented people that are around you at ��ܽ��Ƶ. It is easy to keep your nose to the grindstone, but it is more likely that you will find the time to make work again in your life than it is to be surrounded by these many artists and fellow over-thinkers ever again. Ask questions. Initiate conversations. I have gotten some of the best advice in regards to art as well as life from my peers and mentors at ��ܽ��Ƶ.

Could you speak to your approach to making art that is accessible and relatable through topic and materials and why that is so essential to your practice?

In my practice, I pay homage to the everyday. I don’t think art has to be in a gallery, purchased by a collector, or nominated for awards. I think people make things everyday, whether that is furniture, or decks, or spreadsheets, or lesson plans, or roofs, or car parts, or food. I don’t think art is any better than all of these things that we get to access everyday. Art adds so much more value to our lives if we can access it as easily as some of these things.

Your work is very interdisciplinary – how do you decide what medium works best for each project and where is it leading you nowadays?

The medium plays a big part of the message in my work. The best way to start a project is having something to say. It can take a lot of exploring before I land on the best vessel to carry my point. This typically involves research into the history and current associations with the topic I am working with.

Being able to have a community and audience at ��ܽ��Ƶ has certainly elevated this process ��ܽ��Ƶ in being able to see how others engage and interpret the use of certain materials.

What’s your next big goal?

I am very lucky to have been able to attend art school. Not everyone is afforded the privilege to explore their passions or further their education. I feel that this opportunity comes with a certain amount of responsibility. A responsibility to myself to continue to find ways to make art, and a responsibility to others

to make space for their creativity and share what I have learned at ��ܽ��Ƶ. My next big goal is to remain committed to these responsibilities while also staying fed, keeping the lights on, and laughing often.

You can follow Page Cowell at or on Instagram at .��

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Artist for a Day 2024

Sarah Poko — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 12:46:50 +0000

Artist��for��a��Day��is back!

Coinciding with , Artist for a Day is a full, fun day of hands-on art making for people of all ages. This free event is suitable for artists at every level. At Artist for a Day, you can try your hand at printing, embroidery, wax casting, sculpture and so much more! Everything is hands on, and everything is free.

Event Details:

When:��Saturday, May 11, 2024
Time: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: ��ܽ��Ƶ University, Port Campus, 1107 Marginal Road.

No registration required — just show up!

Artist for a Day workshop and events:

Additive Mini-Sculpture

Darlene Morrison (Alumni) – Build a mini-sculpture of mostly found materials. See how everyday waste materials can be reutilized in a fun hands-on process ��ܽ��Ƶ of creating something new. Recycled plastics, wire, rubber, wood, metal, etc. are combined with new and found objects to create sculptures without glue or nails. Drop in and explore this clean, fun process ��ܽ��Ƶ! You’ll go out the door with a hand-held piece of art that didn’t exist thirty minutes ago.

Architectural Embroidery

A transformative site-specific project, visitors will use embroidery techniques on the railings of the first floor. With yarn participants will explore textiles as a more free flowing process ��ܽ��Ƶ, learning you don’t need many tools to create art.

Cardboard City

Rami Geraci (Student) – Repurposing cardboard waste, visitors of all ages can construct and decorate their own building for our small-scale city. What will the future look like?

Fashion Show Gallery

Miss the ��ܽ��Ƶ Fashion Show? Get a glimpse into the future of fashion with this display and meet the designers who created them.

Make Your Mark

Sketch your dream ring with ��ܽ��Ƶ University’s new grad ring designed by student Erin Flemming. ��A one-of-a-kind ring which contains a trace of the mark students made at ��ܽ��Ƶ. At the core of art is mark making, visitors can sketch out on the newest incarnation of our alumni ring.

Monoprint Making

Rachel Reeves (Alumni) – Monoprints and direct nature prints with plants. Printed on paper, card, fabric using water-based printing inks. During this process ��ܽ��Ƶ each print is unique, no two images are the same.

Performative Arts Communication

Jay Davison (Student) – a group of six students will engage in conversation about their artistic experiences within and outside of the art institute. This project, being based around the communicative power of conversation, is meant to engage with the public and help develop community and communicative skills.

Shrinkies

��ܽ��Ƶ Extended studies – Creating keychains with shrink paper and drawing materials, using a toaster oven. We’ll need a table for the toaster oven and demo materials, and two tables with chairs for people to draw/colour their shrinkies.

Student Art Award Gallery

��ܽ��Ƶ University is proud to present the annual ��ܽ��Ƶ Student Art Award. This celebration of achievement is a recognition of our students’ outstanding work. The Student Art Award provides young artists across ten disciplines at the university with vital visibility as they embark on their careers. See works by: Chris Sampson, Daria Herashchenko, a. laurel Lawrence, Kate Dong, Kalani Chen-Hayes, Page Cowell, Rayce Min, Sunny Babcock, Yongxuan Zheng and Silas Wamsley.

Wet Felting

Marilyn Holm – Making textile approaches accessible to everyone! Wet felting in a baggie, just add water and friction.

Wax Casting

Sarah Sears (Alumni / Student) – Exploring a metalsmithing process ��ܽ��Ƶ, natural material / alginate mold making. Through this process ��ܽ��Ƶ visitors will create a mold and replicate an item in wax.

Artist for a Day is made possible through the participation of ��ܽ��Ƶ alumni, faculty and student volunteers.

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��ܽ��Ƶ President launches I.D.E.A. Fund for Mi’kmaw, African Nova Scotian, and underrepresented students

Sarah Poko — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:04:40 +0000

The new funding initiative aims to empower students with the funds needed to pursue their creative ambitions.

��ܽ��Ƶ University’s President, Dr. Peggy Shannon, is launching The I.D.E.A. Fund to financially assist students from Mi’kmaw, African Nova Scotian and underrepresented backgrounds that want to pursue an education in art and design.��

The initiative was launched by Shannon in March 2024, with the mission to cultivate creativity, foster innovation, and nurture talent—which embodies ��ܽ��Ƶ’s values of inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism (I.D.E.A.).

Specifically designed to support Mi’kmaw, African Nova Scotians, and youth emerging from foster care, this fund aims to support students with financial need and lighten their educational costs. In the spirit of enriching ��ܽ��Ƶ’s creative community, Shannon has pledged to match every donation up to $25,000 in contributions to the fund.

“The I.D.E.A. Fund represents our unwavering commitment to creating a more equitable and inclusive environment within our ��ܽ��Ƶ community,” says Shannon. “At ��ܽ��Ƶ, we firmly believe that diversity is our greatest strength and that by investing in the next generation of creative minds, we are paving the way for a brighter and more inclusive future.”

Jude Gerrard, ��ܽ��Ƶ’s Ombudsperson and Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Consultant, says this fund will go a long way in diversifying the wider creative sector in Nova Scotia.

“Initiatives like the I.D.E.A. Fund not only foster diversity in the creative industry but also serve as pathways to amplify voices that have historically been underrepresented,” he says. “By investing in the education and opportunities of Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian students, as well as students who have been part of the foster care system, we can continue to grow the creative industry and have it truly represent the social and cultural landscape of Nova Scotia. Diverse perspectives, experiences, and talents will help to create a more vibrant and inclusive industry for all.”

The I.D.E.A. Fund will be available as entrance scholarships for eligible students, starting in the Fall Semester of 2024.

Dr. Jacqueline Warwick, Interim Dean at ��ܽ��Ƶ, says for students, the fund will make a difference between living their dreams or putting them on hold—sometimes, permanently.

“As higher education across Canada strives to be more inclusive, we need to create pathways for students who might not otherwise see themselves in an art university program,” she says. “The I.D.E.A. Fund will help ��ܽ��Ƶ train students who will go on to share their talents and brilliance professionally. Through these pathways, the fields of art and design will benefit enormously, and the art world will be more vibrant and diverse.”

Donate to The I.D.E.A. Fund today and help students get one step closer to achieving their dreams. Your contribution, no matter the size, will directly support talented individuals at a pivotal moment in their lives.

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��ܽ��Ƶ grads launch Halifax Art Book Fair

Andy Murdoch — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 10:26:17 +0000

With the popularity of art book fairs in recent years growing beyond the pale of major cities like London, New York, or Frankfurt to smaller cities around the world, four art publishers and art book enthusiasts are launching a book fair in Halifax.

The inaugural edition of the (HABF) and conference will take place on April 13th from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the All Nations Church,��(corner of Robie and Charles).��Admission is free.

Organized by Andrew Hill (BFA Expanded Media 2023), Marite Kuus, Neil Kehler (BFA Photography 2023) and Nick Chapman (BFA Interdisciplinary Arts/Art HIstory 2019), it marks a significant step in the contemporary art scene in Halifax, and of course, many ��ܽ��Ƶ alumni are behind it.

The HABF prioritizes artists’ books, catalogues, monographs, periodicals, zines and related printed materials. There will also be live events programming, featuring hourly talks on aspects of print culture. You can on their website.

Co-organizer Andrew Hill spoke with us about the fair.��

Why an art book fair in Halifax?

There is a significant art book history in Halifax that has largely gone unnoticed in the international circuit of art book fairs. The closest art book fairs to Nova Scotia are in Montreal and New York, which makes it difficult for many Maritime artists to attend these events. HABF wants to reignite the Atlantic art book scene and foster a space for new friendships, connections and ideas.

Can you talk about the research and travel you did preparing for this?

We tabled as Special Characters at Printed Matter’s Los Angeles Art Book Fair, as well as VOLUME fair in Montreal. We also talked with a lot of community members in Halifax to design an event that meets the needs of our community. Among them were people who had represented Halifax INK at the New York Art Book Fair before the pandemic.��

You co-run Special Characters. It started at ��ܽ��Ƶ. How does your small press, ��ܽ��Ƶ, and this book fair all intersect?

was started by myself, Nick Chapman and Soren Wilde in 2021. Since then, we have collaborated with many ��ܽ��Ƶ students, alumni and artists in the ��ܽ��Ƶ network. We have also hosted exhibitions and other events with a goal to foster more artist-run projects in Halifax. Our goal is to provide a platform for artists and publishers in the community, and foster exchange between the Maritimes and beyond. This is what the idea for the Halifax Art Book Fair grew out of.

What’s your ultimate goal for all this?

Our current goal is to build a scene for art book publishing in Halifax, with a longer-term goal of opening a project space with a focus on art books and publishing. A free learning space for performances, lectures, a reading room/library, with the possibility of printing and binding in-house. Think in Brooklyn, in New York, in Norway, or�� in Holland.

About the fair:

Halifax Art Book Fair (HABF)�� April 13th from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. All Nations Church, Admission is free.

The Fair acknowledges the generous financial support from��Ի��.��

��

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Masters of Design Studio 2 Class: End of Semester Show

Andy Murdoch — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 12:19:45 +0000

Together with students from Saint Mary’s University, ��ܽ��Ƶ’s Master of Design Studio 2 class will showcase their latest innovations, products, and services. The MDES-6520-2 class has been invited to join the:

SMU Sparks Expo
Friday April 12, 12:00 to 4:00PM

At the ,

Inspiration Studio (SH212)
5907 Gorsebrook Ave.
Halifax Nova Scotia
B3H 1G3

��ܽ��Ƶ’s current first-year Master of Design cohort will showcase their intriguing projects between design, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Join us for an exclusive glimpse into the visions of a talented group of graduate design students, who have formulated new and critical responses to modern problems, with fresh perspectives and innovative solutions.��

Over the course of two semesters, this group of 10 designers has embarked on a journey of exploration and discovery. From reimagining the shopping experience for seniors to developing smart devices aimed at reducing calorie intake, and even creating specialized information platforms for Canada’s growing community of snake-pet owners.��

Through informed design research and thoughtful analysis, they have identified social and cultural problems and validated their solutions through customer and user development process ��ܽ��Ƶes. The class developed branding effectively as a tool to communicate values and benefits and harnessed the power of emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), to created immersive brand experiences that inform and engage their users.

Save the date and meet our next generation design professionals to listen to their elevator pitches and chat about their visions, target audiences, and product market fit.

Project list

’P��ٳ��’��– Junwen Hu��

A wearable muscle detection and relaxation device

��

‘S��ʳ��’��– Jialin Cao��
A motivational hydration tracking device��

Attachable sensor (hardware) with health app/platform for monitoring, education & community building

��

’S��’��– Hanying Li��

A platform for the deeper understanding of snakes

��

‘S��’��– Angela Qiao��

A multi-functional space that provided Ai supported mental support, using smart home technology for personalized ambience linked to user profiles.

��

‘W��’��– Shima Soltani��

A virtual shopping assistant for seniors, using AR for in-store navigation.��

��

‘M.��.��.’��– Jewell Tan��

A smart-mat and pregnancy care kit, for recovery exercise and training, guided through integrated vibration and light pads.

��

‘M��ܱ��’– Lin Jiang��

A collaborative platform for musicians and visual artists, connecting creatives and related industry partners with each other.��

��

‘M��’��– Han Hu��

An outdoor fashion brand, that reuses micro plastics, with educational, and community building online retail platform.

��

‘VERIDGE’��– Xiaotong Zhang��

A newcomer guiding platform that is built around trust, connecting immigrants with services and local businesses.

��

’TURBOTRAN’��– Behnaz Ghorbani��

An information app that improves local transportation experie

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��ܽ��Ƶ alumna and game developer Anne Macmillan to hold artist talk on April 9

Sarah Poko — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 15:39:55 +0000

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Academy Building (A208)

Anne Macmillan is a Nova Scotian artist, motion designer and the co-founder of the game-dev studio, .

Born in Wolfville, Macmillan completed her master’s degree in Art, Culture and Technology at MIT on a Fulbright scholarship and holds a BFA (2008) from ��ܽ��Ƶ University. Her art practice has been supported by numerous residencies, awards, and grants; such as the Sobey Art Award, Wiesner award and the Schnitzer Art award, to name a few.

Macmillan is interested in observation, structured ways of knowing the world and the limits of such structures.

Website:

Instagram:

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Nature and feminism come together in Sarah Maloney’s botanical artworks

Sarah Poko — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 17:46:33 +0000

Idleness is not a word that exists in . Whether she’s working on her next art installment, teaching at ��ܽ��Ƶ University, helping students, or coordinating ��ܽ��Ƶ’s Foundation program, this Nova Scotian artist, part-time faculty member, and ��ܽ��Ƶ alumna (BFA 1988) is always on the move.

For Maloney, art can be found in every aspect of life — from the human body to daily domestic living. Her traveling exhibition, , blurs the lines between botany and anatomy, and draws back the curtain on the repetitive power of Mother Nature. Using metal, textiles, beadwork and embroidery, Maloney transports viewers to a wonderland of her own design, while simultaneously confronting the ideals of Western colonialism, art history, pleasure, and power.

Tell us about your journey as an artist and how you started in art?

If you go back to my second-grade report card, it says, “Sarah excels in language and art.”

Even in high school, I was taking as many art courses as I could. I would take art classes in the summer, go to museums, art galleries, and I had parents who were supportive. After high school, I went to Central Technical School in Toronto and did a three-year post secondary program, then I transferred to ��ܽ��Ƶ to finish.

Eventually, I went to the University of Windsor to do a master’s degree and lived in Fredericton, N.B., for about eight years, where I started to build my career. I had my first solo show at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery there in 1999.

Right photo: ‘Lily’ is a bronze sculpture mounted onto an antique table. It depicts the flowers, leaves, stems, bulbs and roots of the plant.
Credit: Sarah Maloney.

What was it like having your first solo exhibition?

I was trying to get everything finished before the opening. I had a new baby at the time, and I remember having my party clothes on and still fixing something. That was the point in my life where the balance between being an artist, being a mother and having a job, was very challenging to do on some days.

What was it like trying to juggle motherhood, work and being an artist?

I think any woman who has to manage raising children — which is a full-time job — and working at anything else, is always feeling like something’s got to give every day; whether it’s the children who aren’t getting what they need, or the job, or the art practice. But actually, in the end, it’s the woman who isn’t getting what they need.

There’s a whole generation of women prior to me, who decided the only way you could be taken seriously as an artist is not to have children, or maybe have one child. On more than one occasion, I was questioned about my seriousness as an artist because I had three children. I think there’s this dichotomy in the art world where an artist is supposed to be completely selfish, while a mother is supposed to be completely selfless. For some reason, nobody can get their head around the idea that you can put those things in boxes.

Can you tell us more about the art works in your Pleasure Ground exhibition?

The artworks were created over the course of 30 years; the first piece was made in 1993 when I was in grad school, and the last ones were made in 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Initially, my research was about the body and how the body has been represented historically. So, you’ll see knitted bones, knitted brains, beaded skins, and embroidered bodies in this exhibition. But then there was a transitional period, when I was an artist in residence at the Memory Disability Clinic at the Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital. During that year, I looked through historical medical illustrations and found drawings of body parts, and how they’d been rendered looked much like botanical forms.

So, I started to play with that dichotomy of forms repeating in nature: how cells grow, how bodies are built, and how plants are built. From there, I took a leap to work with only flowers and used floral forms to stand in for the body. At first, I didn’t trust it because drawing flowers were always considered feminine; even the plants themselves had feminine Greek or Latin names. However, it gave me the inspiration to make ‘Collapse,’ which talks about many things including, notions of women’s hysteria.

What is the feminism aspect of your work?

A lot of my work has important historical references and look into issues of the domestic space. What I’ve seen over the years from my time as a teacher is we tend to have a majority of female or female-presenting students in art schools. But then you look at the art world and the market where the expensive stuff is in terms of collections, galleries, auctions, and dealers, and all of that is still male-dominated.

There’s this sense that the kind of work-life balance that most women achieve as artists, takes them out of that kind of high-end competition. But then we need to ask ourselves, who’s controlling the money and who’s buying those things. For me, the feminism of all of this is trying to understand the role women have had, continue to have, and may have in the future when it comes to art.

Do you have any words of advice to young and emerging female artists out there?

Make what you believe in. Keep working and be committed to your work. You can’t try to second-guess what the market is looking for or what curators want, you just have to believe in your vision and work at it. Be rigorous, get feedback, talk to people and apply for everything, but you really just have to put in the work.

—

Sarah Maloney’s Pleasure Ground: A Feminist Take on the Natural World is currently exhibited at the Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, until June 1, 2024. To see more of her work, .

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��ܽ��Ƶ University appoints Dan Harroun as Associate Vice-President of Operations

Andy Murdoch — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:42:03 +0000

��ܽ��Ƶ University is pleased to announce the appointment of Dan Harroun as its new Associate Vice-President of Operations. Harroun will begin his work on April 2, 2024, and he will be integral to the facilitation of ��ܽ��Ƶ’s planned consolidation at the Port Campus in 2030.

Harroun joins ��ܽ��Ƶ with a rich background in engineering and project management and brings more than two decades of operational experience to the position.

“I was really inspired by ��ܽ��Ƶ’s mission statement: Informed by the past, engaged by the present, looking to the future, and guided by the intention to make positive change,” he says. “This vision for ��ܽ��Ƶ really resonated with me, and I can’t wait to contribute to its legacy.”

Before ��ܽ��Ƶ, Harroun worked with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE) where he was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the HRCE site and buildings. His role involved liaising with regional and municipal authorities like Health Canada, Halifax Fire and the Halifax Water Commission to ensure the safe and efficient operations of schools across the city.

Prior to that, he was the Senior Project Manager for Wood Environmental and Infrastructure, where he facilitated the design, construction, and tendering of building and municipal projects. His most memorable experience was a 16-year stint at Hershey Canada, where he managed the engineering operations of the Moir’s Chocolate Plant; facilitating robotic packaging and manufacturing projects, reducing utilities costs by four percent and maintenance expenses by six percent.

“My family best described my role as a chocolate engineer and it was my sweetest job,” says Harroun. “My role started as a plant engineer, supporting operations, and grew to become a member of the leadership team as engineering manager, managing facility operations and the capital program.”

Harroun has also worked with the Municipality of East Hants, Ainsworth Inc., SNC-Lavalin Operations and Maintenance, and Eaton’s Crouse-Hinds. Harroun has a Bachelor of Engineering (Industrial Engineering) and a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) from Dalhousie University.

��ܽ��Ƶ President Peggy Shannon says she is thrilled to bring Harroun’s extensive experience to the team, especially with the preparations to move the university to a new campus.

“Dan’s experience as an engineer, managing both operations and major capital projects, will be hugely important as we prepare for our consolidation into a new campus in 2030 and undertake renovations to our existing Port Campus,” she says. “His arrival into the AVP Operations role is very welcome and we look forward to working with him.”

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Artist Talk with Claire Greenshaw on March 27

Sarah Poko — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 17:16:37 +0000

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

2 p.m.

Bell Auditorium D-440

Host: Erica Mendritzki

About the artist:

Claire Greenshaw is a visual artist and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Visual Arts at York University, where her creative research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Her artwork focuses on drawing, the circulation of images and the experience of time under late capitalism and the Anthropocene. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (Halifax) and Master of Fine Arts from the Glasgow School of Art.

Select exhibitions include two seven two (Toronto), Minuseins (Vienna), Griffin Art Projects (Vancouver), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), The Power Plant (Toronto) and Royal Standard (Liverpool) amongst many other presentations across Canada, the USA, UK and Europe.

Website:

Instagram: ��

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��ܽ��Ƶ student screens their film at Rencontres Internationales Traverse in France

Sarah Poko — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 17:48:10 +0000

��ܽ��Ƶ film student Kate Solar’s travelogue footage is an ode to her time in Greece

Stills from Kate Solar’s short film, Somewhere Real. Solar uses footage from her time in Greece that is superimposed with poetic narration that moves across the screen. Courtesy: Kate Solar

Animated text, poetic narration, and manipulated footage of the Aegean Sea comprise Kate Solar’s , a five-minute short film that takes her to Toulouse, France, this week. The experimental travelogue is screening in the , which has been celebrating and showcasing experimental cinema and video art for more than two decades.

Solar, who graduates from ��ܽ��Ƶ’s Film program in May, spent three weeks last summer on the Isle of Hydra in Greece as part of a ��ܽ��Ƶ cohort at .

“It was an opportunity to make work in response to this place”,” says Solar, who brought along a mirrorless digital camera, to record her time there. “It was very difficult to find a way to document or reflect upon the experience. It’s so straightforwardly beautiful there — almost like a desktop wallpaper. It’s hard to be faced with so much pure beauty when you’re trying to make something from it.”

Somewhere Real does incorporate some of that footage — transferred to 16mm film with an Oxberry animation camera, which distorts the ocean handsomely — but in making the film, Solar found herself leaning on writing instead of visuals.

“I was consistently keeping a journal while I was there,” she says. “I was thinking about some of the images and experiences that stuck out to me and could not be captured by a camera — going to the beach and swimming in the ocean at night would be unfilmable.

“The kind of surrealness of travel in general and being somewhere for a brief period of time and trying to capture that feeling. I decided I wasn’t going to make something driven by footage. But I had this text,” she continues.

Solar’s poetic narration about an evening at the beach and the thoughts it sparked, drives the short as select pieces of Courier text fall in and out of view, moving across the frame in waves of disordered, flipped-around letters, animated with the Oxberry.

“My initial plan was to do direct animation, scratching/painting on the film strip, to accompany the whole text,” says Solar. “Sol Nagler, my faculty advisor, suggested I pay attention to the resonance of the text itself, and the interaction between text and landscape. I printed all my text onto transparency and did stop-motion with the letters and words.”��

Somewhere Real screens on March 14 at Traverse in a from Argentina, Italy, and Belgium. Though just five days long, it packs in installations, screenings, and performances from all over the world.

“I feel like I’ve not been so immersed in or seen as much experimental film as I will see there,” says Solar. “I’m excited.”

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Uncategorized Archives - ��ܽ����Ƶ