Deanna Morse is an independent American experimental filmmaker and media artist.[1][2][3] Her work is included in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[4][5][6]

Deanna Morse
Born (1950-02-26) February 26, 1950 (age 74)[1]
NationalityAmerican
Known forAnimation

For the period of 2022–2024, she is president of the International Animated Film Association.[7] She has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2020.[8][9][10]

Early life and education

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Morse graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in telecommunicative arts and distributed studies in 1972. She received an M.A. in film and teaching at Goddard College, and in 1992 received a Master of Fine Arts (art and technology), with a merit scholarship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.[citation needed] In 1995, she was awarded an outstanding alumni award by Iowa State University.[11] [12]

Career

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After graduation she became an assistant editor at WGBH-TV in Boston,[13][14] and also worked as a scriptwriter for the Virginia Department of Education,[13] and on a series about desegregation for Virginia PBS. She was then hired as an artist in residence for the South Carolina Arts Commission,[13] where she taught for four years, and was filmmaker-in-schools in 1975–1976.[14][15]

She taught at the College of Charleston, at Regis College, and then at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, for thirty-three years, retiring as an Emerita Professor in 2013.[16] During her time at GVSU, she released the retrospective and interactive DVD Move Click Move in 2001[17] and used the proceeds to fund scholarships.[16] There she also created, together with some of her students, a Flash animation for the international participatory project Flag Metamorphoses[18]

Her film Lost Ground was part of the 1992 SIGGRAPH Art Show.[19] She was chair of the SIGGRAPH 1994 Art and Design Show,[20] and a juror for the art show in 1998.[21][22]

She has judged festivals and computer graphics competitions including the Hiroshima International Animation Festival[23] in Japan and the Ann Arbor Film Festival.[24]

She has published articles in Animation World Network.[25][26][27][28]

Filmography

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She has made several films for Sesame Street,[3][2] including Dogs (1991),[1] Monkey's T-Shirt (1991),[1][29] and Night Sounds (1992).[1][2]

Hyperallergic wrote about her 1989 animated film Plants that "The play of light, color, line, and shape can be mesmerizing ... vegetal patterns move and spin to evoke plants".[30] Plants was also reviewed by the Chicago Reader, which noted that she " ... creates still-life portraits of flowers using rudimentary (but then-sophisticated) computer drawing tools".[31]

Year Film Format
2017
Clear, Deep, Quiet
Video installation
2015
Angels in Maui
DVD
2015
Bird Dreams
DVD
2014
Animation Collaboration
DVD
2014
Perch
DVD
2013
Mindful
DVD
2013
Whispers of the Prairie
DVD[29]
2013
This present moment
DVD
2012
Skin
DVD
2012
Kindred
DVD
2012
Skies of Mist
DVD
2011
Wish you were here
DVD
2010
Traces of Light
DVD
2009
Breathing Room
Video installation[1]
2009
Ancient Woodland
DVD
2007
Forced Perspective: Odessa
DVD
2007
Time Flights
Video installation[1]
2007
Postcards from my backyard
DVD[1][29]
2002
Kitchen Creature Feature
Film[2]
2001
Move Click Move: a DVD Compilation
DVD[2]
2000
A Mother's Advice
Film[2]
1993
Digital Aquarium
Video installation
1992
Lost ground
Computer animation[2]
1992
Sandpaintings
Film
1991
Self Portrait: Artist With Pets
Film
1991
Dogs
Film
1991
Night Sounds: Imagination
Film
1991
From The Sand
Video installation
1990
The A.M. Dream
Computer animation[2]
1990
Monkey's T-Shirt
Film[29]
1989
Plants
Film[30][31]
1991
Artist In The Schools
Film
1988
Main Street M
Film
1987
The Lumberyard
Film
1985
August Afternoons
Film[1][2]
1984
Camera People
Film
1982
Hand
Film[1]
1981
Reality Check
Film[2]
1981
Recycle
Film
1981
Help!...I'm Stranded...
Film
1980
Charleston Home Movie
Film[1]
1978
Starcycle
Film[2]
1978
Jimmy Brown The Newsboy
Film
1978
Ranky Tanky
Film
1978
Cats At The Door
Film
1975
The Midnight Dance
Film
1972
Marriages
Film
1972
Dejeunez, Mon Amour
Film

Awards

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  • 1993 - Named a distinguished professor by the Michigan Association of Governing Boards of State Universities.[32]
  • 1995 - Outstanding Alumni Award from Iowa State University[33]
  • 2002 - Addy Award for Move Click Move DVD[34]
  • 2003 - Omni Award for Move Click Move DVD[35]
  • 2005 - Selected as an outstanding woman in the arts by the YWCA[36]
  • 2015 - Hyperion Award, 9th Eclipse Awards honoring Michigan's filmmakers and television creators[37]
  • Honored in the Plaza of Heroines at Carrie Chapman Catt Hall at Iowa State University.[38]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bendazzi, Giannalberto (2015). Animation: A World History: Volume III: Contemporary Times. CRC Press. p. 46. ISBN 9781317519881. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Davis, Juliet (Winter 2006). "Reviewed Work: MOVE-CLICK-MOVE by Deanna Morse". Journal of Film and Video. 58 (4). University of Illinois Press on behalf of the University Film & Video Association: 46–48. JSTOR 20688539.
  3. ^ a b Sullivan, Karen; Schumer, Gary (2013). Ideas for the Animated Short: Finding and Building Stories (2nd, revised ed.). Taylor & Francis. pp. 139–141. ISBN 9781136141973. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  4. ^ Morse on cutting edge of filmmaking, Grand Rapids Press, November 9, 2001
  5. ^ N.Y. Museum Adds Local Film To Collection, Grand Rapids Press, November 2, 1986
  6. ^ MOVE-CLICK-MOVE by Deanna Morse, Review by Juliet Davis, Journal of Film and Video, Vol. 58, No. 4, winter 2006, University of Illinois Press, pp. 46-48
  7. ^ ASIFA: Board Members
  8. ^ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: new members in 2020
  9. ^ Grand Valley State University: VMA faculty member emerita joins Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, August 5, 2020
  10. ^ Grand Valley Lanthorn: Professor Emeritus joins the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  11. ^ Iowa State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Alumni: Citation of Merit
  12. ^ Iowa State University, Plaza of Heroines: Deanna Morse
  13. ^ a b c "Filmmaker Head Named for S.C." The Times and Democrat. Orangeburg, South Carolina. 18 November 1974. p. 5B. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  14. ^ a b "Super 8 Films Featured". The Greenville News. Greenville, South Carolina. 23 May 1976. p. 16B. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  15. ^ Todd, Sharon (6 June 1975). "Artistic Uses Of Film Explored". The Greenville News. Greenville, South Carolina. p. 43. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  16. ^ a b "Deanna Morse Says Goodbye". dot[COMM] The Official Blog of Grand Valley State University's School of Communications. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  17. ^ Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre: DVD Move Click Move
  18. ^ Flag Metamorphoses, 2005-2014
  19. ^ SIGGRAPH 1992: Art Show
  20. ^ SIGGRAPH 1994: Art and Design Show
  21. ^ SIGGRAPH 1998: Touchware
  22. ^ SIGGRAPH 1999: technOasis
  23. ^ Hiroshima International Animation Festival Juror, August 1998
  24. ^ 41st Ann Arbor Film Festival Juror, March 2003
  25. ^ Pre-Cinema Toys Inspire Multimedia Artist Toshio Iwai, Animation World Magazine, February 1999
  26. ^ Secrets from the Selection Committee: Zagreb Animafest 2004, Animation World Network, June 14, 2004
  27. ^ Love and Peace: Hiroshima International Animation Festival 2006, Animation World Network, September 14, 2006
  28. ^ Animation at the Ann Arbor Film Fest: Bending Minds and... Uncensored... Since 1963, Animation World Network, April 25, 2007
  29. ^ a b c d "Let's Watch with the Ann Arbor Film Festival - Deanna Morse". CTN Ann Arbor. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  30. ^ a b Larkin, Daniel (December 9, 2015). "A Taste of Four Decades on the Fringes of Animation". Hyperallergic. Brooklyn, New York.
  31. ^ a b Sachs, Ben (5 November 2015). "Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation". Chicago Reader.
  32. ^ Grand Valley Forum, Volume 17, No. 39, May 1993
  33. ^ Iowa State University, Citation of Merit, Recipients
  34. ^ YouTube: Video News Release announcing the Addy award for the animation collection Move Click Move
  35. ^ Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre: Deanna Morse
  36. ^ Grand Valley Forum, Volume 30, No. 14, October 2005
  37. ^ "2015 Hyperion Award". The 9th Eclipse Awards. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  38. ^ "Deanna Morse".

Further reading

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  • Giannalberto Bendazzi: ANIMATION: A World History, Volume 3, Contemporary Times, 2015. P. 46: Women in the Limelight, Deanna Morse[1]
  • Karen Sullivan, Kate Alexander, Aubry Mintz and Ellen Besen: Ideas for the Animated Short: Finding and Building Stories, Focal Press, 2013, pages 139–141[2]
  • Juliet Davis: Review of MOVE-CLICK-MOVE by Deanna Morse, Journal of Film and Video, winter 2006.[3]
  • Pilling, Jayne, ed: Women and Animation: a Compendium. British Film Institute, 1992. ISBN 0-85170-377-1
  • Russett, Robert; Starr, Cecile: Experimental Animation, origins of a new art. Da Capo Press, New York, N.Y., 1988. ISBN 0306803143 (p. 22-23)
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