As a kid, my only exposure to animation was watching the Saturday morning cartoons and I remember my school showing us short animations by the National Film Board of Canada. The NFB films were most inspiring and made me aware that animation can be a form of individual artistic expression. These films without words resonate the inner voice of their creator and appear as stream of conscience dreams.
Years later I discovered the Quickdraw Animation Society (QAS) an artist run centre offering workshops to make your own film. From that moment on I was captivated by the magic of animation and realized a potential to combine my passion for drawing, printmaking, photography and music into one discipline. QAS encourages to experiment with all sorts of techniques and I became most influenced by the cameraless films of Norman McLaren. He was the first person to draw sounds directly onto film and in doing so created a language we can expand upon.
Most of my animations are created by drawing both the sound and the picture directly onto 35mm motion picture film. The basic technique requires no camera, no sound recording and no film processing. The animations are a cinematic experience unlike many other animated techniques.
I like the tactile approach in creating these films, actually touching the film and applying inks with brushes or scratching emulsion with various physical pressures and body motion. I enjoy the meditative process working in the studio on these images the size of postage stamps and blowing them up on the big screen.
I also enjoy collaborative projects working with groups of people involved in expanded cinema and outdoor multi-projections like Scratch Track or Optical Orchestra with human projection screens and 16mm violins.
Animation is similar to music in that most of the time it lives in our memories… it needs to be played to be seen or heard.
