Local animators premiere 3rd installment four-year wall animation project
Wallrus, an animated wall project lasting four years and involving 8 animators, continues in its third installment on Saturday, Oct 1st and Sunday, Oct 2nd, 9AM-6PM in a special Local Sightings Film Festival event in Seattle’s Carl Anderson Park. Local animator Tess Martin will direct a group of other independent animators in the animation of a life size whale, part of her film about animals tentatively titled ‘Cat Person.’ This event is free. Those members of the public interested in being interviewed (audio only) are especially encouraged to attend.
ABOUT WALLRUS:
SEAT (Seattle Experimental Animation Team) in conjunction with Sound Transit, and with support from the NW Film Forum, presents: Wallrus – The slow moving, ungainly giant movie, an eight part collaborative mural/animation created over four years on the surface of a construction barrier in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park. Part of Sound Transit’s STart’s Capitol Hill Wall Project, seven animators and one school group collaborating over time
take over part of the huge plywood wall around the Capitol Hill Light Rail construction – specifically a section by ‘the Philosopher’s Tree’ near the 10th Ave and Denny park entrance. Clyde Petersen kicked off the project in September 2010 by animating a music video for The Thermals in chalk, and Amanda Moore created animated clips in March 2011 for her film The Open Town. Tess Martin will have tenure on the wall from September 2011 until March 2012 and after this kick-off event on Oct 1&2 will be animating on it roughly once a month.
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Tess Martin will begin her work on the wall with the help of five other independent animators (Britta Johnson, Webster Crowell, Salise Hughes, Stefan Gruber and Amanda Moore) at 9AM on October 1st. They will continue animating throughout the weekend as light and weather permits. The spectacle is free and open to the public. Tess will be directing a scene from her short film Cat Person which depicts a story in RadioLab’s Animal Minds podcast (about a whale). Members of the public interested in being interviewed (audio only) about the story are especially encouraged to attend.
ABOUT TESS MARTIN:
Tess Martin is an animator who has been making her own short films since 2004. Her specialty is back-lit paper cut-outs. She has received an Artist Trust GAP Grant, a CityArtist Grant, a Puffin Foundation grant and a 4Culture grant for work on her most recent film, Plain Face, which premiered at SIFF on May 28th. Her last film (A Moment’s Reverie, a 10 min. stop frame animation) was on display at e4c, 4Culture’s media gallery in Seattle for a year, and has shown at multiple venues around the world. She has received a 4Culture grant for her current film, Cat Person. She is a member of SEAT, Seattle Experimental Animation Team, and has helped organize animation events, screenings, and public works.
Forthcoming and previous animators include:
Clyde Petersen, Amanda Moore, Webster Crowell, Britta Johnson, Sarah Jane Lapp, Stefan Gruber and Coyote central.
Most of the animators are part of SEAT (Seattle Experimental Animation Team), a loose coalition of animator/filmmakers based in Seattle whose mission is to be a nurturing force for the creation and dissemination of experimental animation.
Contact: tessmartin[at]filmandscissors.com
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