Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

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Animation & Independent Animation 21 Jun 2011 07:04 am About

Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

A site to feature the art,
- Kathy Rose has had a long and esteemed career doing personal animation. She made her animation, work and some of the
name, at first, with the animation style she began at CalArts and continued on into the 70’s thoughts of the artists working at
with her gem of a film, PENCIL BOOKLINGS. She took a 90° turn combining her animation Michael Sporn Animation.
with her dance and performance art via her 1983 piece, PRIMITIVE MOVERS. Since then she
has developed this very personal and individual art form with many more theatrical pieces
and video pieces.

I had a close eye on Kathy’s original animated films, but have lost track of the performance
works. It was with some excitement and interest that I contacted her to ask several
questions about her more current work and have been pleased for the chance to catch up - a
little bit. There are 2,395 posts and 10,011
comments so far.
Q. To begin with, can you tell us about your beginnings; why you gravitated toward
animation in the first place, and what steps you took?
Recent Posts
I was a film major at the
Philadelphia College of Art, and Toot Bd - repost
while there, I saw the animation of Animator Photos
Yoji Kuri, specifically – his film Ai
Awards, Animated Oscars and
(pictured right). I was totally
other movies
enchanted with his work. That and an
interest in photography and collage Jesse Marsh Comics
led me to animation. My thesis Rowland Wilson's Tubby & the
project was a live action film, called Poo-Bah
Portraits, but included pixilation and
UPA Commercial Layouts
some cut out animation which I
projected onto a live face in the film. Search
The project was a series of portraits
of friends, the
last – a self portrait – included Search
excerpts of the other pieces, and finally this projection, all signifying our projection of others
into our self image. Animation Links:

I also was training in dance and performing with a multi-media group in Philadelphia called
Cartoon Brew
Group Motion, started by former students of the great German expressionist dancer Mary
Wigman. This experience would have an enormous impact on me in the coming years.” Cartoon Modern

Michael Barrier
When I left PCA, in 1971 I started to teach myself animation. My father – who was a
photographer – gave me $1000 as a graduation gift to make an animated film. I did several Mayerson on Animation
explorations, using drawing pads to create the animation. Movers (on my site) was the last A Film L.A.- Hans Perk
piece I made in that series before going to Cal Arts.
Disney History - Didier Ghez
Q. You graduated from CalArts in 1974 with a class that produced a number of important Mark Sonntag
non-linear filmmakers, such as Adam Beckett, Dennis Pies, Joyce Borenstein and yourself,
Mark Kausler's It's the Cat
who turned Independent animation on its ear. Can you tell us a bit about those years; was
Yowp! Hanna/Barbera

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Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

there a particular influence on you all?

50 Most Influential Disney
My time at Cal Arts was
Animators
absolutely magical.
When Magoo Flew - UPA site
Especially because prior to
going I had been John Veitch Blog
sequestered, working in an Harvey Deneroff
office in N.Y. while I taught
Skwigly
myself animation. I saw that
Cal Arts had a graduate Tom Sito's Blog
program in animation, and The Thief
thought that would be a
Animation Resources
great way to follow this star.
The whole atmosphere at Cal The Animation Guild Blog
Arts was very exciting – I Animation Who and Where
think it probably still is.
Gene Deitch Credits
Jules Engel was an
amazing teacher. He said Animation Backgrounds
very little, but when he did, Bob Jaques
it turned your life around – I
The Fleischer Museum
am still inspired by his zen
style of teaching. The Ryan Englade's Fleischer blog

department was small – only around 8 people at the most worked in the animation room, and John Vincent
some worked at home. Adam Beckett worked during the night – at home or in the optical
Dan Caylor On Animation
printer room. He and I were in a relationship from 1972-74, and shared a lot about the
Thad Komorowski
animation we were working on. Dennis Pies (now Sky David) also worked in his dorm, as
did Joyce. But we were all drawn together not just in our department, but with the rest of the Lineboil
Cal Arts community. For awhile I took some dance at the school along with another animator Dave Levy - Animondays
Lisa Rose. (no relation). An animator who was very influential on our group of artists was
Signe Baumane
Jim Gore, who was not a student at Cal Arts. Adam had connected with him and his films.
Dream of the Sphinx, and The Letter had a powerful effect on us. It was Jim’s very free, Tom Stathes:Cartoons on Film
metamorphisizing style – which at the time was a revelation and led to a new way. The Ink & Paint Club

Q. We came to know you through your early animation work which was all very non-linear. Conversations on Ghibli
filmically but linear graphically. MIRROR PEOPLE, MOVERS, THE DOODLERS and particularly Elliot Cowan's Blog
PENCIL BOOKLINGS all had a large impact on the Independent movement of the late 70s
Creative Links
early 80s. Can you speak a bit of this period in your work?
Character Design
The wonderful input
Encyc/Disney Shorts
of Jules led me to
MIRROR PEOPLE, Cartoon Snap/Sherm Cohen

THE MYSTERIANS, The Cowan Collection

THE ARTS CIRCUS,
ScribbleJunkies
THE MOON SHOW. I
Andreas Deja's Blog
had graduated and
was working at Cal Hans Bacher
Arts while I made
Animation Blogs:
The Doodlers,
where I used the
Eddie Fitzgerald
Cal Arts facilities.
PENCIL BOOKLIGS John Kricfalusi
was made in N.Y. John K's Cartooning School
with an AFI grant.
Traditional Animation
All these films were
the result of my John Celestri
exposure to the Dr. Grob's Animation Review
fertile atmosphere at Cal Arts, and also my fascination with Yoji Kuri, While I was at Cal
Ian Lumsden's Animation Blog
Arts, I had started to correspond with Mr. Kuri, and he visited with my family in N.Y. at
Thanksgiving. He then came to Cal Arts, and I finally met him. (I even saw him later in 1994 Ward-O-Matic
when I was a judge at the Hiroshima Animation Festival, and visited his studio, was taken to Alan Cook
dinner (with a translator – Yoji spoke no English).
Blackwing Diaries

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Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

Initially, when I first entered Cal Arts, I was sure I did not want to work with narrative, and I Sandro Cleuzo
said so to Jules, who was very amenable. I also missed the experience of dancing, and the
Matt Jones's Blog
music associated with it, especially rhythms. (I am currently studying Japanese Taiko
Will Finn's Blog
drumming).
Oswald Iten's Blog
I think both the dance and rhythmical influences are strongly apparent in these Cal Arts
Pete Emslie's Blog
pieces.
With PENCIL BOOKLINGS, I was moving in the circle of New York animators and I think Mark Kennedy
although the storyboard was designed pretty early on, I was influenced somewhat by these Disney Nostalgia
associations, especially George Griffin’s TRICKFILM.
Tulgey Wood
Q. PENCIL BOOKLINGS was voted one of the 10 Best Films in the world by the Hiroshima Intl AnimalFarmWorld
Animation Festival in 1976. You seemed to have reached the top with this animated form and
Kevin Langley
you moved on to the dance/movement videos. Your 1983 film, PRIMITIVE MOVERS, included
your dancing with a group of animated dancers, very much in your linear style. Can you Ace and Son
speak about what caused your big change - incorporating yourself into the videos. More Mosaics and Stuff

PENCIL BOOKLINGS was definitely an apex for me, and also left me at a decisive point. After Animatsiya In English

I completed it, my father had passed away, and I had taught as a Visiting Lecturer at
Artist & Studio Links:
Harvard for a year, and I was working for R.O. Blechman on his Soldier’s Tale. I knew
only that I didn’t want to return to what I had done, and I was feeling a strong pull to be
Abe Levitow
performing again. But I had never performed solo, and was somewhat lost at what direction
The Art Babbitt Blog
to take.
Seymour Kneitel
At that point, two things
Borge Ring
happened. I was living in
Tribeca, and one weekend I Irv Spector
decided I would just wander Al Eugster
in Soho and see where it led
Vance Gerry
me. I ended up at the
Bleecker St. Cinema where Jan Svochak
there was a Marilyn Monroe John Canemaker
double bill. This told me I
Floyd Norman
wanted to perform again.
(Ironically the first film I Koji Yamamura
remember being taken to as Errol Le Cain
a child was ”Some Like it
Patti Stren
Hot”)
David Nethery
At the same time I received
Larry Ruppel
an NEA grant to make an animated film. I decided to mix the two, make an animated film I
Uli Meyer Studio Blog
would dance with. Jules had actually told me almost 10 years before that he could see me
dancing with my films. At the time I thought he was crazy, but it demonstrates his intuition. Other links:
R.O. Blechman also was very encouraging about the idea of combining these. I began taking
dance classes again, and ended up studying African dance (for 5 years actually). I was very Alltop
interested in the Diaghilev productions and his work with set designers for ballet, and in
Joakim Gunnarsson
particular the costume designs of Sonia Delauney. In addition, Bob Blechman took the whole
studio to see Abel Gance’s Napolean, which was being shown at Radio City Music Hall with a Milt Gray Comic Strip
live orchestra – the score by Carmine Coppola. This production was absolutely amazing to Drawn
me, the effect of the live music on the film made it a dimensional experience, and this was a
Bill Benzon's New Savannah
pivotal moment for me.
I also found seeing Barbara Morgan’s photos of Martha Graham’s PRIMITIVE MYSTERIES Children's Illustration
clicked for me. Until then I hadn’t really connected with what choreography meant to me. Jim Hill Media
But seeing the stunning, visual, and symbolic group formations in this piece, showed me that
Jaime Weinman
dance could be graphic, and this was something I could connect with.
Blueskydisney
I took a year to produce the animation, and mapped out choregraphy as I drew. Originally I
Brian Sibley
thought I was making a 10-15 minute piece, but it turned out to be 30 minutes. I had a
wonderful animation student as an intern – Monica Kendall from Chicago – who worked Mike Lynch Cartoons

with me every day. At this time I was also introduced to Mary Bright who I interviewed to Strippers Guide
design the costume. I knew as soon as I met her at the door, that she was the one. She
Blather From Brooklyn
wore a very big circle earring on only one ear, and that told me everything I needed to know

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Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

about her dramatic graphic sensibility. Categories

The first performance of PRIMITIVE MOVERS was for a private audience, and it was the most Action Analysis (22)
frightening thing I’d ever done. After many performances, I developed my self-confidence
Animation (456)
and it totally altered me over time.
Animation Artifacts (633)
Q. In PENCIL BOOKLINGS your interplay with your characters came by animating yourself as
Art Art (75)
a character in the film. In PRIMITIVE MOVERS the animated characters and shapes move into
your live performance with you as the prime character. Was this part of the goal of the Articles on Animation (171)
change in direction, or was it part of the result of the change in direction? Bill Peckmann (269)

I think in both pieces I am Books (316)

the central character (if you Chuck Jones (10)
don’t count the pencil). The
Comic Art (173)
big difference is that working
with projection on something Commentary (411)

live forces you to work with commercial animation (21)

a very different reality,
Daily post (402)
where everything is not in
Disney (442)
your control. So many
decisions and scenes are the Errol Le Cain (22)
result of the challenges that Events (17)
you meet in integrating the
Festivals (34)
live with the two-
dimensional. In PRIMITIVE Fleischer (40)
MOVERS, I basically had to Frame Grabs (118)
learn to take command, and
Guest writer (7)
be the leader, director in my performance itself – it is related to the central role I play in
PENCIL BOOKLINGS, but has to be acted out in a much more dramatic way. I often had Hubley (106)
friends come to rehearsal, and also used a mirror. The input of certain people was key to my Illustration (301)
development of this genre.
Independent Animation (107)
Q. You started projecting shapes onto yourself, essentially acting as the screen for the John Canemaker (12)
animation. You make it seem as though the garment, itself, is alive and animated. This with
Kentridge (4)
other animated incarnations of yourself moving floating about you.
Layout & Design (77)
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of your live performances but have watched every video
Luzzati & Gianini (12)
clip I can find. I’m sure I’m missing a lot. I wonder if you can talk about the difference
Mary Blair (30)
between the live and the video.
Miyazaki (11)
It has always been a tremendous challenge to communicate the live event through a
Models (105)
basically documentative video. It has actually taken me years to come to terms with it.
Some of my early best video recordings were done by Swiss television, of PRIMITIVE Music (7)
MOVERS, and SYNCOPATIONS. I also found when I worked on my 1999 live piece Norshtein (12)
KLEOPAT’RA, I was creating scenes to be used as film clips to run during the performance
Peet (29)
while I was changing costume off-stage, or to emphasize a stage action, and it allowed me
to refine my approach. Photos (259)

Pixar (8)
Basically, the live
performance of any artist, Puppet Animation (34)
has an entirely different repeated posts (62)
sense of time from a film or
Richard Williams (53)
video. In the live event, we
are more prepared to wait Rowland B. Wilson (47)

for what happens because SpornFilms (99)

we are there, and there is a
Steve Fisher (35)
suspense, an excitement in
Story & Storyboards (146)
the reality of the performer
being there, live on the spot. T.Hachtman (27)
And anything that happens Theater (15)
integrating two-dimensional
Tissa David (47)
imagery seems impossible,
hallucinogenic, and is Title sequences (5)

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Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

therefore riveting. In my Trnka (15)

work it also becomes very sculptural. Often things I thought would be rather ordinary when I
Tytla (7)
shot them as elements, like the floating hair for KLEOPAT’RA (and also QUEEN OF THE
FLUIDS – which is a video re-working of the latter piece). When I projected this imagery onto UPA (47)
a dancer, I was astounded at the architectural event that ensued. I definitely believe in being walk cycle (34)
open, even waiting like a fisherman, for accidents.
Archives
With a video documentation, we tend to assume, in almost a lazy way, that what we are
watching is possible, because it is like any other film. But I have found that I can still July 2012 (2)
communicate the design, the theatrical sense in a video document, and of course its
June 2012 (30)
wonderful to be able to put these things on the web.
May 2012 (31)
Q. The music throughout your pieces is strong. Do you collaborate with your composers or is
April 2012 (30)
it found music (or both)?
March 2012 (32)
I have collaborated with several musicians – C.P. Roth had created rhythms for a piece he February 2012 (29)
was doing for another artist. I heard it when I lived in Tribeca – which was next door to the
January 2012 (31)
Franklin Furnace where thie music was playing. I approached him about using the rhythms
for SYNCOPATIONS. He also composed wonderful music for my performance piece SHE, December 2011 (31)
which I also used for the later video of the same name. November 2011 (30)

Walther Giger in Zurich composed some really great music for me – I used one piece for October 2011 (31)
my performance KABUKIMENKO, and a scene from it for a later video of the same name. I September 2011 (30)
was studying flamenco and he has worked with Spanish guitar so it was a great fit.
August 2011 (31)
Toshi Makaihara created sound for KLEOPAT’RA, and I was permanently affected by that July 2011 (31)
creative experience. It drew me into the idea of pure sound, and since then I have made
June 2011 (30)
most of my tracks using sound from objects, instruments I recorded myself.
Toshi has come to my classes at The University of the Arts, where I have taught a number of May 2011 (31)

courses, most lengthily Image and Performance, an interdisciplinary workshop. He completed April 2011 (30)
charmed the class by playing every object in the roon.
March 2011 (31)

Q. The lively and strong video SYNCOPATIONS has you dancing about projected mirror February 2011 (28)
images of yourself. All the while images are projected onto yourself. The costumes are so January 2011 (31)
vivid that it leads one to believe that the video is making a statement about fashion. I watch
December 2010 (31)
the very dark shadow of the live you falling onto the screen images of yourself and noticing
the strong blacks against the strong luminescent white of your live gown. It’s a stirring video. November 2010 (31)
Any comments about this piece? October 2010 (31)

The integration of the costume with the film projections (it was film then) was very carefully September 2010 (30)
planned. The use of white and black (which is even more important in earlier scenes of this August 2010 (31)
50 minute piece) were absolutely key to the designing.. I worked with several dancers,
July 2010 (31)
having them come to my loft every week, and prepared choreography for them based on a
rough storyboard I had made. Sometimes I shot a film test of their movements. There were June 2010 (30)
seven scenes of which only two are seen on line currently. When I felt the choreography for May 2010 (31)
a section was working, I shot Polaroids (this was 1985-7) and created a storyboard from
April 2010 (30)
those, which I was able to use for the dancers, and cameraman at the final shoot. We had
several shoots, over a year or two. March 2010 (31)

February 2010 (30)
My assistant cameraman, Roger Grange was extremely helpful and competent and I worked
January 2010 (32)
with him in subsequent years, especially on KLEOPAT’RA.
December 2009 (31)
When the film was completed of the dancers, I rehearsed, using a mirror, and choreographed
November 2009 (30)
my movements for the live on stage component. The piece was meant to convey the whole
idea of syncopations, rhythms, both our generic idea of speed in rhythms, but also of the October 2009 (31)
hidden and inner rhythmical universal pulse beyond the obvious. It was about visual rhythm September 2009 (30)
in the form of patterns too, in addition to the aural interpretation.
August 2009 (31)
I was very influenced by some early modern dance, espedially in Germany – a number of
those dancers had used scarves for interpretative dancing. July 2009 (31)

June 2009 (30)
The premiere was in Santa Fe, at the Contemporary Art Center. I traveled with a simple
costume case into which all the costumes went, including the hoop. People were amazed May 2009 (31)
after the shows when I would return this entire magical illusion into a simple 3’’x3’ case. April 2009 (30)

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Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

And I should also mention that all during the time I was doing these performances, from March 2009 (31)

1983, no-one had really seen anything like this before. Later, when I was teaching I February 2009 (28)
discovered a wonderful piece by Robert Whitman called Prune Flat (1965), which was closest
January 2009 (31)
to what I had done.
December 2008 (31)
But my use of animation, and then live action in this very precise way with the live
performer, explored so thoroughly was a very exotic bird, and I had a lot of press with this November 2008 (30)
work. October 2008 (31)

Q. In QUEEN OF THE FLUIDS it would seem that an Oriental goddess gives birth to September 2008 (30)
liquid/smoky characters that float about you. At one point you make yourself the screen as August 2008 (29)
black tears run down your face while liquid characters dance around your head. The imagery
July 2008 (29)
is beautiful and the non-linear story (though I’ve only seen the short excerpts on our site) is
deep. Can you speak of this film and the impetus behind it. June 2008 (30)

May 2008 (31)
QUEEN OF THE FLUIDS
(2003) , which was done April 2008 (31)
with a Guggenheim March 2008 (31)
Fellowship in Performance
February 2008 (29)
Art, was a chance to create
a video using elements and January 2008 (31)

scenes from my live December 2007 (31)

performance -
November 2007 (30)
KLEOPAT’RA,(1999) which I
October 2007 (31)
had worked on for 5 years.
The narrative differed. In September 2007 (31)
KLEOPAT’RA, it opened with August 2007 (32)
the formation of a statue In
July 2007 (30)
film clips (shown while I lay
on the ground hidden in a June 2007 (30)
gold pleated fabric), gold May 2007 (30)
dripped into the body, the eyes dripped on, etc. Then a series of scenes followed with an
April 2007 (30)
imaginary landscape of the queen. I was integrating Egyptology and Japanese aesthetic.
March 2007 (31)
At the end, the gold dripped out, the eyes emptied, and the figure was left vacant, empty,
February 2007 (28)
ready for transport to the other side. There was then a large pyramid, projected onto a veil,
into which she entered signifying her passage from the real world. This piece was generated January 2007 (31)
by my witnessing at her bedside, of my mother’s passing. It was an experience that changed December 2006 (31)
me forever, and which I can never forget. In fact the piece She (the original theatrical work)
November 2006 (30)
was also a result of this.
October 2006 (32)
My description of QUEEN OF THE FLUIDS says:
September 2006 (27)
“Through rain falling backwards a golden queenly being rises up. In a poetic introductory
August 2006 (31)
scene, the gold drips out of her body, and her eyes are shed. Entering through the eerily
empty orbs into her brain, we discover a metaphysical kingdom - a world of liquidity, and are July 2006 (23)
led through the mind into an “under-reality”,arriving in the pure abstraction of consciousness. June 2006 (33)
Finally, in “The Recovery of the Body”, her physical self is re-constructed, leading to “The
May 2006 (31)
Other Side of The Tapestry”, in which we arrive at a kind of “uber-surrealist” view of the
artist and the symbolic mirror of herself.” April 2006 (33)

March 2006 (16)
This video represents a culiminating point in my performance generated imagery, and my
first single channel video. February 2006 (30)
This piece is also influenced by such sources as the Futurist painter Boccioni’s “states of January 2006 (34)
mind” drawings, bunjin-ga - the symbolic landscapes of Japanese art, and a fascination with
December 2005 (32)
puppetry and dolls.

I should also mention re your observation about cgi, that there is something about the reality
of the actual projection (it was film) on the face, with the dripping eye scenes that makes it
more magical. We were not doing it digitally, but in reality – the body was collaborating with
the projection, and this makes it more “unbelievable”. One shot actually took 2 years click for free hit counter
because everytime we tried it, the two would not work together.

Q. Once again, in THE CATHEDRAL OF EMPTINESS, you turn to the oriental art playing off
Bunraku puppets with the hand itself acting as a host of puppets moving around the screen.

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Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

You perform wearing the beautiful white mask. It’s a strong film that clearly shows your love
of the medium. Could you give us a few details about the creation of this piece?

I do love this piece, and feel

good performing it because
it is really quite natural and
organic in its structure. It
does not require a lot of
precise manipulation of
props, costumes, etc. like
the other performance
works. The actual live
performance uses the gold
mask from QUEEN OF THE
FLUIDS, because it turned
out to be very easy to use,
and is quite beautiful. I
started out thinking I would
be making a performance
version of my video THE INN
OF FLOATING IMAGERY. This
transformed a great deal,
and I shot new scenes,
including the trees (branches
from our backyard), and the
falling “petals” (paper strips
that I cut in a form to
extend their flight), etc.

I also used a koto that my

father had bought many
years ago at Bloomingdales I
think. The sound was
constructed by me from this
and other elements.

The title comes from an

article I read in the NY Times by a reporter - who wrote that the bombing in Bosnia had left a
church as an empty shell, like a “cathedral of emptiness”. I am very afraid of thunder, but
enjoy having lightneing flashes and thunderous sounds in my work.

Q. You’ve obviously moved away from the characters in your films and have shifted to
shapes, effects, textures and lighting. This is an interesting evolution and wonder if you’d
care to comment?

This is a very natural

progression really. I feel that
if you are not frightened
occasionally by something
you are making, then you
are not advancing. I think
there is definitely a big
change from the early
animation, to Pencil
Booklings, Then in Primitive
Movers I noticed the
characters/figures seemed to
become older, less childlike,
which I took as a
psychological and artistic
advancement.

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Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

Each piece led me further

and further along, and I find
that abstraction I made in
some of the performance pieces interests me by itself as well. More and more, I am
influenced by the Japanese aesthetic, and my current project THE METAPHYSICAL PAINTINGS
(a video) features mostly asian faces – quite often students of mine.

I also spent some time away from animation in the early 1990’s, working with only
choregraphy and lighting design. The daunting precision of working with projections got to
me and I needed a rest. I returned from this by doing Oriental Interplay.

Q. Where do you hope to go with future pieces?

I expect to continue to make videos, and performances. It is not really possible to predict
what they will be, as the work changes by itself, and I follow it.

However I am also finding I am interested in creating projection design for other directors for
theatrical, and dance productions, as well as for architect/designers.

I have also created some really beautiful installation pieces, and carrying out work like this,
or projection design for architecture would make me very happy, because then I can see the
work myself and enjoy the dimensionality.

Q. I know your website offers dates of your upcoming performances. Do you have any
specific performances upcoming that you’d like to note? Do you find that booking
performances is easier/harder/just different to navigate than the early days of sending out
films to festivals?

Booking performances was always a lot of work – I had an agent in Europe for a while who
got me a lot of work there, and I moved to Zurich for a while. I do find it is much more
difficult now, largely because the economy is so bad. I performed for museums, film and
dance festivals, universities, etc. (Performed for the Hiroshima Aniimation Festival, Cardiff
Animation Festival, etc.)

I have kept up performances, and have exhibited my videos extensively in dance video
festivals – which seem to be very open to a liberal interpretation of movement in media.

Of course the wonderful thing now is you can promote what you do easily. I used to cart
around giant film cans for performances, and vhs tapes, even dvds would pile up as demo
samples. Now we can send flyers in a paperless environment, and with one click, send
people to websites with video clips.

Q. Do you have any thoughts about the current state of animation you’d like to share?

The web is really amazing because you can see all kinds of really unusual work. This is very
good for animation, and really any kind of expressive video-making. I find when I teach,
more and more, I show my classes things from the web, and they show me work also.

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Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

I think the whole thing has resulted in a very creative, positive exchange. It is probably very
healthy and nourishing for artists of all genres. And probably there is less of a categorization
– on sites like vimeo you can see any kind of really progressive interesting work, some
animation, or film graphics, or installation related projection. It is a challenge to us all, but is
a positive environment.

Early animation

“Syncopations” excerpt

Go here to see more samples of Kathy Rose’s performance/animation samples.

One Response to “Kathy Rose -

Filmmaker/Performance Artist”

1. David Nethery said … on 21 Jun 2011 at 11:21 am

Wonderful interview. I’m glad to catch up on what Kathy Rose has been doing. I have
never had an opportunity to see one of her live animation/dance performances , but the
clips are fascinating. This is what keeps me coming back to your blog every day: one day

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2668[2/07/12 22:33:25]
Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Kathy Rose - Filmmaker/Performance Artist

we get screen shots and analysis of classic-era Disney studio Multiplane shots in
Pinocchio , the next day an interview with independent animator/performance artist
Kathy Rose. Variety the spice of life. (and inspiration for the artist).

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