Visiting Artist: Steven Subotnick

The Art Department is honored to welcome Steven Subotnick on campus. Steven’s animations
are condensed and poetic. Through an experimental and iterative process of making and
editing, he explores resonances found in subjects as diverse as history, science, evolution, and
religion. His artwork begins in the physicality of materials - paper, ink, paint, paper-mache, rags,
photographs, wood - which are then transformed through digital manipulation. His goal is to
embody ideas in the act of making - a film about evolution is drawn straight-ahead with closed
eyes. Sound is an important part of his filmmaking. He crafts tracks in order to give voice to the
images, and it is the combination of image and sound which creates the film’s full identity.
Steven’s films have screened in festivals, galleries, museums, and curated shows around the
world. He is the recipient of major grants and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship,
an LEF Fellowship, and an AFI Fellowship. His films have won such awards as “Grand Prix” at
the Holland Animation Film Festival and the “High Risk Award” at the Fantoche Animation
Festival. In 2018, he had a retrospective of his films at the Ottawa International Animation
Festival. He has received residencies at the MacDowell Colony and the Yaddo Corporation.
Steven is also a dedicated teacher. He has taught animation for over thirty years at colleges and
universities, including Harvard University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Rhode
Island School of Design, where he currently teaches senior animation thesis projects.