CREATIVE ARTS & TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS ACCEPTED INTO ANIMATION FESTIVAL
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May 8, 2002, Bloomfield, NJ -- Eleven students in the Creative Arts &
Technology (CAT) program at Bloomfield College had their animation selected for
the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International “Call for Entries Anthology”
program. The work will be shown at various times throughout the May 17 - 19
festival in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The students whose work was accepted into the festival are: Keisha Greenway, Tishon Henry, Jill Hurtuk, Ronan Joseph, Amber Newell, Quen Nai Grahm-Powell, Cecilia Sarmadi, Jose Torres, Raymond Vazquez, Chris White III, and Oden White. The students are taught by Bloomfield College animation instructors Lynne Oddo and Vincent Potuto. |
Kalamazoo will be hosting the Midwest’s first animation festival of its kind during the weekend of May 17-19. The Kalamazoo Animation Festival International will be a weekend of seminars, screenings, and friendly competition designed to bring together the best of the world’s animation and artists.
“Our mission is to provide a public forum for animation screening, encourage and showcase animation artists, promote animation as an art form, and offer educational outreach to both media artists and the public,” said event spokesperson Marilyn Schlack.
Bloomfield College’s Creative Arts & Technology program exposes students to traditional fine arts training and promotes creativity while giving them a sense of mastery of the latest technology in the arts and communications fields. The program offers concentrations in animation, computer graphics, video production, fine arts, interactive multimedia, fine arts education, music technology, and theatre.
CAT students in the animation concentration take classes in drawing, design, sculpture, movement, 2D and 3D animation, modern arts and the history of cinema, in addition to the traditional CAT course work. The animation curriculum has been developed in accordance with the requirements of employers who believe that, for animators, artistic ability and an in-depth knowledge of art is as important as knowing the necessary software.
“The objective is to teach technical skills while developing competency and understanding in the aesthetics of a time-based art,” said Lynne Oddo, assistant professor of animation and the coordinator of the program. “Being an animator requires mastery at storytelling, represented by graphics; timing, as witnessed by editing; and the heightening of other sensory perceptions like drama, as experienced with synchronized audio and motion.”
Last fall, the Bloomfield College CAT Division also launched a new certificate program in Digital Media, designed for students who may already have a bachelor’s degree or be interested in a shorter program of study.
“We give our students the cutting-edge skills they need to compete in today’s job market,” said John Towsen, professor of theatre and multimedia. “We teach for the career and not just for the job; for life-long skills and not just the latest software. It’s easy to teach which buttons to push, and we do that, but we work to develop the whole person and to ignite their innate creativity.”
For more information about the Creative Arts & Technology program at Bloomfield College, please call professor Lisa Rabinowitz, chairperson of CAT, at 973-748-9000 ext. 555 or the Office of Admission at ext. 230.
