1. Film Title: Corned Beef by Arielle McCuaig
Film Length: 57 Seconds
Film Description:
Corned Beef is an animated short created in 2016 at the Quickdraw Animation Studios in Calgary. Using hand drawn and cutout animation techniques, it tells the story of a canine’s journey to find out what to eat for dinner. The abstracted and homely little dog must make a choice between two dinner options before his stomach will be satisfied. There’s corned beef in the living room, but what could be inside the fridge?
When/where: 2016/ Calgary, AB
Artist Bio:
Arielle McCuaig is an artist currently living and working in Calgary, AB exploring drawing, animation, and sound. She is a self-published comic artist as well as a contributer to collections such as Human Meerk and Baloney Papers. She co-hosts a program on CJSW called Radio Party and is multi-instrumentalist interested in music composition and analog recording.
2. Film Title: Dude That’s Insane
Film length: 6:44
Film Description:
A collaborative animation featuring contributions from 17 artists and animators, Dude, That’s Insane was inspired by the music and drawings of the late Calgary musician Chris Reimer (Women, The Dodos, Azeda Booth, Gold).
For this project, 17 animators were each given a pair of Chris’ drawings to bring to life however they saw fit. The result is a freewheeling, patchwork project that is at times irreverent and anarchic, and also meditative and reflective. Backed by a compilation of Chris’ unreleased ambient music, the film is a celebration of the power of art to inspire creativity.
When/where: 2015, Calgary, AB
Artist Bio:
The Quickdraw Animation Society is a place for people who love animation. We encourage animation production, dissemination and appreciation through screenings, workshops, courses, camps, and other events designed to ignite the public’s passion for the medium.
Incorporated as a non-profit society in 1984, the Quickdraw Animation Society initially focused on the exhibition and appreciation of animation before acquiring its first production equipment and a location in downtown Calgary in 1992. Since then, our members’ films have screened and won awards around the world.
3. Film Title: Box Party by Gina Veres
Film Length: 2:24
Description:
Box Party is an experimental animation that follows Dick as he noses through some off limits boxes, not at all prepared for what he finds inside. Using hand drawn, cutout and claymation techniques, Box Party was created at Quickdraw Animation Society as the final project for a Projects in Animation class, taught by Ryan Von Hagen.
Created: Quickdraw Animation Society, Calgary, 2016
Artist Bio:
Gina Veres is an artist based out of Calgary, Alberta. She has been working at Quickdraw Animation Society since 2014 and is now enrolled at the Alberta College of Art and Design. Currently, her main area of focus is animation. Her work is largely experimental and hand drawn, using humour and a lot of body parts.
4. Film Title: Cake Time by Randy Niessen
Film Length: 1:04
Film description:
Crumb’s mom won’t let her go out to play today, she’s bored and not having any fun! The cure for her blues is pretty simple, you might even say it’s a piece of cake… or umm… maybe an entire cake.
Created February 2016 at Quickdraw Animation Society, Calgary AB
Artist Bio:
Randy Niessen is an artist based in Calgary, AB. He holds a BFA from the Alberta College of Art & Design and has had work exhibited at TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary, Untitled Art Society, Nuit Blanche Montreal and Contemporary Calgary.
5. Film Title: Mattress Poster by Nicole Brunel
Film length: 1:26
When/where: 2014, Calgary
Description of film:
“Mattress Poster” was created in 2014 as part of the Animation Internship program in celebration of the Quickdraw Animation Society’s 30th Anniversary. The short film is a fantasy animation of non-narrative furniture worship, cartoon mutation, and whale sounds fetish. The score was created in response to this imagery. Also featured; a corner of the artist’s bedroom in which all it had contained was pushed into a small space behind the camera.
Artist Bio:
Nicole Brunel is currently participating in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s studio arts graduate program. She studied Painting and Sculpture at the Alberta College of Art + Design and at the New York Studio Arts Residency in Brooklyn. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Archaeology and has worked professionally on international excavations. Nicole has also traveled extensively as a touring musician. These differing interests and experiences influence her diverse art practice.
6. Film Title: A Woman Comes Into a Room by Heather Kai Smith
1:15 minutes
Made at QuickDraw Animation Society, Calgary, 2015
Film Description:
A Woman Comes Into The Room (2015) is a series of moving drawings inspired by and set to Alice Notley’s poem recorded February 21, 1979. The film explores representations of femininity, theanonymous woman and abstraction through line. Using rotoscoping techniques on historical found footage, the film acts as a visual poem to discuss the fleeting feminine form.
Artist Bio:
Heather Kai Smith is an artist originally from Calgary, Alberta, living and working in Vancouver B.C. Her practice centers on drawing, lending itself to projects in animation, printmaking and illustration. She has exhibited her drawings, animations and collaborative projects internationally and participated in residencies and workshops across disciplines. www.heatherkaismith.com
7. Film Title: Les Autres by Neal Moignard and Carl Spencer
Film Length: 4:47
Film Description: Two creatures from another dimension arrive on Planet Earth when a seam in reality tears open. Dazed and confused, they attack humans, who struggle to prove their friendship.
Produced as part of the the 48hr Animation Lockdown at Quickdraw Animation Society in Calgary, AB.
Artist Bio:
Carl Spencer is a media-based artist who works with film, video, sound and projection. His work explores intersections between technologies of the past and present in an effort to encourage a dialogue surrounding notions of technological obsolescence and emerging technologies. He lives and works in Calgary, Alberta, where he is currently an instructor in Media Arts and Digital Technologies at the Alberta College of Art and Design.
8. Film Title: Naming The Dog by Rachel Evans
Film Length 6:01
Film Description:
This surreal video combines Super 8 film animation with stop animation techniques and digital editing to tell the true story of how my shelter dog got her name. It explores subconscious journeys, interspecies relationships, canine archetypes and the symbolism of rivers.
When/where it was created:
Created in 2016 at Quickdraw Animation Studio.
Artist Bio:
Rachel Evans is a visual artist who lives in Calgary Alberta. She graduated with a degree in sculpture and drawing from the University of Victoria in 2007 and has since learned animation at Quickdraw Animation Society in Calgary. Her work is often about animals and deals with eco anxiety, interspecies relations and subconscious realities.
9. Film Title: Renderrabbits by Tyler Longmire
Film Description:
Inspired by Andy Warhol’s screen tests, Renderrabbits is a series of animated portraits of the One Yellow Rabbit ensemble. These portraits were rotoscoped from footage of Denise, Andy, and Blake filmed by Tyler in 2015, and the Richard and Michael portraits were made using the Rabbit’s archival footage and home movies, as sadly they both passed away during the production of this film and could not be captured.
Artist Bio:
Tyler Klein Longmire is an animator and performance maker based in Calgary, AB. He is the Production Director at the Quickdraw Animation Society, and a founding member of the interdisciplinary collective Humble Wonder Theatre. Check out his work at tklongmire.com!
10. Film Title: Watch Your Step by K. Lee Kain
Film Length: 24 seconds
Film Description:
Made at Calgary’s own Quickdraw Animation Society, K. Lee Kain’s darkly comedic short subject Watch Your Step (2016) is a cautionary tale about the dangers of prat falls speaking too soon. This incredibly brief jaunt through a crude, hand-painted landscape plays with the vaudevillian logic of cartoons and the aesthetics of the 1930’s. Also, there’s a cat in it.
Artist Bio:
K. Lee Kain is an Ohio-born emerging artist and student operating in Calgary, Alberta. Her work is highly influenced by her love of classic cartoons, kitschy horror films and absurdist humour. Through her animation and illustrative work, she enjoys exploring the blithely bizarre and the amusingly bleak. Currently, she is studying at the Alberta College of Art and Design.
11. Film Title: M22.079 by Joel Hamilton
2015, Calgary
3:16 minutes
Film Description:
In this short piece, we take a look at Machinery; a Shipyard; and Ecosystems living in a Class M Star.
Artist Bio:
Joel Hamilton is a dedicated film buff. He is also passionate about art, science and literature. He has a background in animation, theatre, photography, critiquing films, writing and film production. Joel has taken the following courses at QAS: Animation Fundamentals; Experimental Animation; Intro to Stop Motion and Advanced Animation. M 22.079, won Best of Alberta at the 23rd annual $100 Film Fest, and was shown at festivals both locally and internationally.
12. Film Title: Dark Dreams by Cameron Ross
Film Length: 1. 14
Film description:
The story depicts a person experiencing a series of surreal episodes which eventually turn out to be a nightmare. The scenario ends when the person wakes up in bed in a state of distress. This film was produced, using cut-out animation under the camera (Oxberry stand and Dragon Frame software).
When and where was, it created:
First year studies at Concordia University, Montreal (February, 2017)
Artist Bio:
Cameron Ross is a student at Concordia University in Montreal where he is studying for a BFA Degree in Film Animation.His is shaped by my international upbringing which facilitated considerable travelling. He is currently exploring experimental forms of animation however his real passion is commercially produced cartoons. Recently, he has been experimenting with cut out animation with a monochromatic aesthetic.
13. Film Title: Art of War by Jesse Gouchey
Film Length: 5.32
Film Description:
Ruggy Bear is a role model to the youth in the city of Cow Town, his crew of aerosol artists “Lil Buddies” paint the city in a positive way to spread love and peace to the community. On the other side of the tracks is “Mad Seedy”, a rival gang of thugs and drug dealers lead looking to expand their empire using the towns youth. Ruggy Bear gets framed for a crime, the lil buddies have to prove his innocence to set him free.
When and where it was created:
2010 at Quickdraw Animation Society as part of the Aboriginal Youth Animation Project
Artist Bio:
Jesse Gouchey is a 35 year old self taught emerging visual artist and award winning animator/film maker from Central Alberta. His wide rang of skills include illustration, paintings, graphic design, photography and animation. His main focus is on large scale spray painted murals, he also teaches mural and animation workshops with all age groups across Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Combining mural skills and animation to make a unique style of stop motion animation, he then made “Spirit of the Bluebird”. After working as an apprentice animator with the National Film Board of Canada, he was chosen to make a short film in collaboration with ImagineNATIVE Film Festival for the Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative. He’s currently working on his 6th short animation film painting commissions and teaching workshops.
14. Title: Georgie by Kathryn Wiggill
Film length: 1 minute 14 seconds.
Film Description:
A little girl and her dog move from South Africa to Canada and discover the wonders of a new place together.
Georgie was made with charcoal on paper, using Dragonframe at Quickdraw Animation in Calgary during the Lockdown animation event.
Biography:
Kathryn Wiggill immigrated to Canada from South Africa as a child, grew up in British Columbia and now lives and works in Calgary. With an artist as a mother, she has been encouraged to make art and be creative from the beginning. She’s new to animation and looks forward to learning more.
15. Film Title: Illuminated Coloring Book
Film Length: tbd
Film Description:
Illuminated Coloring Book had over 800 collaborators during 2016’s BeakerHead Four to Six event. Set up on Calgary’s Stephen Avenue, willfull foot traffic grabbed paint and were given a frame of animation, the result is a dazzling display of flashing color and psychodellic collaboration through the Art of Animation.