TAIS is excited to be hosting four Canadian animation media artists in studio for a one-week Intensive Residency: TAIS Animation ABCs

William Allinson
Gustavo Benjumea Cerquera
Laura Dobson
Susan Wolf

For this one-week residency, each artist has been challenged to demonstrate, through animation, how they make their animated art. In other words, to animate how they animate. Under the common concept of a ‘show not tell’ tutorial, each artist will create a short portrait of their process. Working in distinct animation styles and genres, each artist is invited to profile their technical, affective, performative engagement with their practice.

TAIS and the artists are co-hosting an ABCs Studio Drop-in on Saturday, February 20th, from 12 noon until 7pm, 1411 Dufferin Street. All are welcome. The resulting animated work will be exhibited online, and as a window exhibition at TAIS Studio in March.

More information on the artists, and on their projects (as they emerge):

William Allinson is an independent Stop-motion Animator/Filmmaker, living in Toronto. Originally from Kingston, Ontario, William relocated to attend Ryerson University’s ‘School of Image Arts’ where he received a BFA in Film Studies (2007). William has since gone on to create a series of award-winning experimental, narrative driven short films and music videos that have played at various film festivals around the world. William is currently experimenting with the creation and manipulation of larger-scale armatures/puppets and has his sights set on putting a feature film project together in the near future. Some of William\’s past work can be found here, and here.

Gustavo Cerquera Benjumea is a Toronto-based artist, animator and teacher. He works in digital animation, installation, drawing, and sculpture. His work has been exhibited across Canada and internationally, with recent projects at the Niagara Artist Centre, Summerworks, Easter Edge Gallery, and Nuit Blanche Toronto. His animation work has been featured in short films, music videos, and in his directorial-debut – the music video for Lido Pimienta and Chancha Via Circuito’s song, \”Jardines.\” Gustavo currently teaches at OCAD and Brock University. For more on Gustavo\’s practice, visit gustavocerquera.com and here.

Laura Dobson is a self-taught graphic artist whose work exists in the tensions swirling around and between mortality, vice, mental health, gender, youth, rebellion and class. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Issues from Ryerson University and is currently attending OCAD University, majoring in Integrated Media Studies. It is her desire to establish and encourage dialogue on the aforementioned issues via innovative technologies. More information on her work can be found on her website loraxxde.format.com.

Susan Wolf is a multidisciplinary artist working through a broad range of media including animation, movement/performance, drawing, and sculpture. Her animation practice stems from a self-taught process that combines photo manipulation, paper cut-outs, drawing and stop motion. The animations are frequently narratives of resilience, vulnerability, struggle and adversity loosely drawn from real-life stories. Absurd, morbid and playful imagery feature prominently. Most recently, Susan has been exploring intersections of movement/performance, animation and sound through collaboration. Susan earned a BFA from NSCAD University in 2009 and a BA from McGill in 2002. Her work has been presented at screenings and in galleries in Canada and abroad. Examples of Susan\’s previous work can be found here and here.

TAIS project team is Jenn Snider, Managing Director, and Raphael Sanchez, TAIS Programming Intern.

This project is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts