Hello!
I am a scholar and a practitioner of creativity.
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Teaching at Georgia State University, I learned to move from familiar to relatively novel topics throughout the year to maximize student engagement. Teaching animation history and film history every fall allows me to master certain areas while focusing on teaching techniques. On the other hand, my "Graphic Novel to Film" class has given me an excuse to explore adaptation studies while incorporating critical media theory. Click below to read my curriculum vitae.
What I Do
To complete my doctorate in Film, Media, and Theater, I write an ethnographic analysis of the animation industry in Georgia. This has so far involved over thirty long-form interviews of professional animators, a lengthy transcription and evaluation process, culminating in a paper informed by critical theory as well as my own experiences as a creative professional.
I also work for ASIFA-South, a local non-profit for animators, as a critic for their animation film festival. Over the past several years, I have watched, reviewed, and evaluated hundreds of short animated films from across the world while working with other creative people to define our final program. This positively heterogenous assortment of films has provided me an excellent sampling of the latest strange and wonderful things coming from independent film-poets... as well as inspiring an endless list of projects that I can't wait to try next!
Martin Mull once said "writing about music is like dancing about architecture," which in my mind, hardly goes far enough. As digital technology only promises greater hybridization, we must not only learn how to dance about architecture, but design about philosophy, play about culture and animate at the very edges of human experience. Whether it's working with creative partners or guiding students on their creative careers, I practice, study, and celebrate interdisciplinary approaches to production and pedagogy.
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