Video & Press

If you're not able to visit the Library Company to see the exhibit, you can watch the finished animation on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/librarycompany/rebelliousbird

 Also, I'd like to share some recent press. This project was mentioned in the New York Times and on the Art Blog.

Reception & Talk!

This Thursday we'll screen the animation and I'll discuss my creative process. Civil War re-enactor Wendy Ramsburg, the subject of my animation, will also speak. Please join us!

Thursday, June 2, 2011—Reception at 5:30 p.m., Program at 6:00 The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Finished

1,676 still photographs of 42 painted backgrounds + dozens of puppets = 1 completed 9-minute animation!

Repeats

I thought I'd show you some shots of my animation backdrops and puppets. To animate facial expressions, hand gestures, and other motion sequences, I make series of replaceable parts. I place each piece on a painted backdrop, snap a photo, swap the piece for another, and repeat. Here are a few examples from the upcoming animation.

The first image is a scene from my interview with Wendy the Civil War reenactor, the second will show a car entering a snowy driveway, and the third image will become a man poking a straw into a takeout cup of orange juice.

Laying Out Exhibition Cases

Reference Librarian Linda August and Curator of Prints and Photographs Sarah Weatherwax are collaborating on a small exhibition to accompany Jennifer Levonian's animated video. Women not only fought as men in the Civil War, they also concealed their gender to fight alongside men during the American Revolution and in other military conflicts. Women went to sea as male sailors, played theatrical roles written for male characters, and in one instance an African-American woman escaped from slavery disguised as a white man. The mannish woman, as well as the feminine man, was satirized in caricatures throughout the 19th century. Using material from both the book and graphic collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia, the exhibition will explore cross dressing and gender identity during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Busy

March is flying by and I've been busy painting the backgrounds for my animation.

Wendy in Disguise

As I continued to read about the topic of women soldiers in the Civil War, I learned that there are a number of women that disguise themselves as men to portray male soldiers in Civil War re-enactments. This discovery led me to the panhandle of West Virginia on a snowy January day to interview Wendy Ramsburg. Wendy has been portraying the role of a Confederate soldier in re-enactments since 1984. Our discussion inspired a portion of my animation. I made this painting of a photograph of Wendy in uniform.