Karen Aqua and Ken Field

Animated Visions/Sound in MotionIn Residence: January 4 - 26, 2006Opening Reception: January 26, 6:00 - 8:30pmExhibition: continues through February 24, 2006Karen Aqua has been making animated films since 1976. Her award-winning films have been screened worldwide, including the New York Film Festival, the Los Angeles Film Exposition and various international animation festivals. Ms. Aqua was a Lecturer in Animation at Boston College and an Animation Instructor at Emerson College. Since 1990 she has produced, directed, and animated over 20 segments for the acclaimed TV program Sesame Street. Boston-based saxophonist, flautist, and composer Ken Field has performed in the US, Canada, France, Spain, Portugal and Japan. He is a member of the modern music ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, and has released several solo CDs of his saxophone compositions. Field has performed for President Bill Clinton and with Peter Wolf and Delfeayo Marsalis. His music is also heard regularly on Sesame Street. In addition to working together for many years on animation and soundtrack projects, Aqua and Field have conducted a series of animation/soundtrack teaching residencies in Utah, New Mexico, New York and Massachusetts.Residency DescriptionDuring their residency they will work with Merrill Middle School students to create a short animated film and original soundtrack based on imagery from the Native American Collection at the Denver Art Museum.  The students will research topics, concentrating on traditional Native American artists, learn basic animation and sound concepts, and create artwork, music, and sound for the film, which will be screened at the International Indigenous Film Festival. While at PlatteForum, Karen and Ken will continue work on their abstract collaborative animated film "Sensorium".  In this project, the artists have constructed a unique vocabulary of visual gestures, each tied to a specific musical motif. By combining and layering these elements into larger sequences, they are constructing a film in which the visual imagery takes on the form of a modern musical composition. Karen will also be working on drawings for her new animated film "Twist of Fate". PlatteForum's gallery will feature drawings paintings and musical performances by the artists throughout their residency, which culminates in the screening in February of the rough-cut animated film created with youth.http://aquak.home.att.net/http://fieldk.home.att.net/