Here is a sample of timelapse photos take during the Seattle Experimental Animation Team’s Wallrus project on October 1st & 2nd 2011. Led by Tess Martin, the group animated a story from RadioLab. Those three second were probably 2 hours of work! Photos taken by Doug Mora. Thanks Doug! More coming shortly!
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
Get ready for a life size whale in Cal Anderson Park on Oct 1st & 2nd! As many of you know the Seattle Experimental Animation Team has been commissioned by Sound Transit to make work on part of the big red wall around the light rail construction on Capitol Hill. We have the wall for four years total, and one animator takes over every six months. Clyde Petersen used his time on the wall to create chalk animations for the amazing Not Like Any Other Feeling video for the Thermals. Amanda Moore used the wall to create clips for her film The Open Town. Well, Tess Martin’s tenure begins in a few weeks, and goes until March 2012. Her first endeavor is a live animation event that is part of Local Sightings, the yearly festival of work from the NW organized by the NW Film Forum.
She will begin 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. This will involve lots of paint and rollers on long extension poles. Possibly also ladders of various sizes and scuba gear. We will continue animating throughout the day Saturday as light and weather permits, and will return Sunday as well. The spectacle is free and open to the public. She will be directing a scene from my short film tentatively titled ‘Cat Person’ which depicts a story told in RadioLab’s Animal Minds podcast. Members of the public interested in being interviewed (audio only) about the story are especially encouraged to attend. If you haven’t heard this story yet, listen to the whole thing here.
Check back soon for an official flier and press release!
These are the animated segments from Below U.S. that I worked on in June:
‘Below U.S.’ is a play about hybrid identity directed and performed by Tikka Sears and Manuel Castro. It includes these sections animated by Tess Martin, that parody Electric Company skits from the 1970s. These scenes reflect on derogatory language, and how it can define those at whom it is directed as well as those who speak it. This multimedia play was performed June 2-4, 2011 at the Ethnic Cultural Theatre in Seattle, WA. More info: http://www.memorywartheater.com/
Though the DVD of Tess Martin’s film Plain Face will only be available until October 1st on Indieflix, the film is now available for online streaming. A 30-day stream if you are not an Indieflix subscriber is $1.95. Check it out!
Indieflix has announced that as of October 1st, they will no longer be offering DVD sales. This means that the DVD of Tess Martin’s latest short, Plain Face, will not be available for purchase from their website after that. I am looking into alternative DVD distributors, but that may take a while. So get it while you can! The DVD contains 2 additional short films, a 10 minute behind the scene featurette and a bunch more special features!
Tess Martin’s latest short Plain Face has been accepted into the Se-ma-for Film Festival in Lodz, Poland – this is a festival dedicated to stop-motion animation and occurs Sept 22-25 2011.
It’s also been accepted into the Atlanta Underground Film Festival in Atlanta, GA, that occurs the same dates, Sept 22-25th. Plain Face will be playing as part of ‘Animation Attack 2’ on Friday the 23rd at 10PM. If you know anyone in Atlanta, or Poland, for that matter, spread the word!
Check out this trailer for Brian Favorite’s documentary ‘Like a Lady: The Fakaleities of Tonga‘. It includes some super short animated clips from Tess Martin – there will be more in the full film:
This documentary sample tells the story of Brian, a Peace Corps volunteer, told to hide his sexual orientation for fear of rejection by his fellow villagers in the conservative, Christian, traditional country of the Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific.
He befriends a community of men and boys who do not conform to the traditional male role model of Tongan men but combine or move between men and women gender roles. Brian seeks to understand his place in their country with the help of his fakaleiti (transgender) friends.
Still from A Moment's Reverie
Tess Martin’s animated short film from 2007, A Moment’s Reverie, is now available on DVD! It’s on a compilation of short films called the “Journal of Short Film Volume 22: Special Issue – Women of the JSF.” The Journal of Short Film is a quarterly DVD journal put out by the Ohio State University Film Studies department. Each DVD is only $10! “I’m happy my work is represented along with work from seven other talented female filmmakers, including Samantha Moore’s ‘An Eyeful of Sound‘, an animated documentary about synesthesia.”
