Profile
I am an LA-based artist, using animation and game platforms to explore the role of fiction in personal, collective, and digital memory.
I examine how identity and social relationships manifest online, through social media, and across gaming platforms.
Education
2019 California Institute of the Arts | Los Angeles, CA
M.F.A. | Experimental Animation
2011 School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL
B.F.A. | Film, Video, New Media & Animation
Awards
2019 Helen Hill Award | Chicago Underground Film Festival
2018 Princess Grace Award | Stephen Hillenburg Animation Grant
2018 Jules Engel Award | CalArts
2018 Best Departures Short | Indie Memphis Film Festival
2018 Best Student Film | Calcutta International Film Festival
2016–2019 CalArts Provost Merit Scholarship | CalArts
2016–2019 CalArts Grant | CalArts
2008–2011 SAIC Merit Scholarship | SAIC
Selected Shows + Screenings
2019
Animated Shorts Block, Slamdance Film Festival, Park City, UT
Tacoma Film Festival, Tacoma, WA
AMBER ROW Demo, C113 Gallery, Valencia, CA
Slamdance Cinema Club, ArcLight Cinema Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA
Shorts Programme: Animation, Raindance Film Festival, London, UK
Animation, Buenos Aires Film Festival, Buenos Aires, ARG
Stockholm Independent Film Festival, Stockholm, SWE
Drunken Film Fest, Oakland, CA
Barcelona International Short and Animation Film Festival, Barcelona, ESP
Chicago Underground Film Festival, Logan Theater, Chicago, IL
Silk Road International Film Festival, Dublin, IRL
Animation Block, PUFF, Hong Kong, CHN
2018
Wet House, The National Taiwan Arts Education Center, Taipei, TWN
Motion Capture Spotlight, CALARTS Digital Art Expo, Valencia, CA
CALARTS Film/Video Showcase, REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA
GIRAF International Festival of Independent Animation, Calgary, CAN
Indie Memphis Film Festival, Memphis, TN
Square Lake Film & Music Festival, Square Lake, MN
Queen Palm International Film Festival, Palm Springs, CA
International Shorts, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, Calcutta, IND
San Diego Underground Film Festival, San Diego, CA
2016
Current Underwater Weather / Roxaboxen Gallery, Chicago, IL
2015
BilBolBul International Comics Festival, Bologna, ITA
Animation Group Screening, Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, Chicago, IL
Chicago International Music and Movies Festival, Chicago, IL
Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation, Rijeka, HRV
2012
Chicago Underground Film Festival, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
Melbourne International Animation Festival, Melbourne, AUS
International Program #3, Australian International Animation Festival, UK
Body Places, BigForever, Chicago, IL
2011
PROXIMITY is there too much, Nightingale Theater, Chicago, IL
On the Other Hand, The Southside Hub of Production, Chicago, IL
Selected Web Premiers
12/05/2019 “How a Road Trip with Dad Led Jenna Caravello to Create “Ominous & Unpredictable” Short ‘Frontier Wisdom’.” Directors Notes.
01/27/2019 “Slamdance 2019 – Frontier Wisdom.” We Are Moving Stories.
05/18/2018 “New Mix: Dirty Projectors, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, More.” NPR.
04/03/2018 “Premiere: Jessica Risker – I See You Among the Stars.” Gorilla vs Bear.
05/25/2016 “Cloud Becomes Your Hand – “Hermit” Video.” Stereogum.
11/25/2015 “PREMIERE: Earring Makes Post-Rock and Reality Weird in ‘Black Chalk’.” Noisey / Vice.
05/06/2015 “Current Underwater Weather.” AdHoc.
12/01/2014 “Film at 11: James Blackshaw.” Magnet Magazine.
11/18/2013 “Video: Ryley Walker, ‘The West Wind’.” The Fader.
08/21/2013 “Premiere: Mines, ‘Hyperovercritical’.” Impose TV (Impose Magazine).
04/29/2013 “New Video: Bemus Has Wings to Fly.” AdHoc.
Panels + Invitations to Speak
2020 Guest Artist Talk / Animation, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MA
2015 Radical Collaboration, The Learning Center, Chicago, IL
2015 Eyeworks Panel, Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, Chicago, IL
2015 Guest Artist Talk, Latin School of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2013 Guest Artist Showcase, Roxaboxen Gallery Chicago, IL
Teaching + Academic Leadership
Fall 2020– Assistant Professor
Design Media Arts, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
2019–2020 Adjunct Professor
Weird Computer, Mundane World (FSFV 620O), CalArts, Los Angeles, CA
2017–2018 Coordinator
Experimental Animation Visiting Artist Series, CalArts, Los Angeles, CA
2015–2017 Founder / Instructor
Figure Drawing with Friends, Hume Gallery, Chicago, IL
Archival Experience
2011–2013 Archivist
Kartemquin Films, Chicago, IL
Identified and organized analog components and digital media assets.
2010–2011 Assistant Archivist
The Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
Built a database and collaborated with international consulates to collect information about foreign filmmakers.
Selected Motion Graphics + Documentary Collaborations
2019–2020 Animation + Design
Feels Good Man, Directed by Arthur Jones
2016–2017 Animation + Game Design
Beyond Blind Interactive, Directed by Matt Lauterbach
2015–2016 Animation + Motion Graphics Design
Unbroken Glass, Directed by Dinesh Sabu
2015 Animation + Motion Graphics Design
Unexpected Justice: The Rise and Fall of John Paul Stevens, Directed by Greg Jacobs
2013–2014 Motion Graphics
Life Itself, Directed by Steve James and Produced by Martin Scorsese
2014 Animation + Motion Graphics Design
The Prosecutors, Directed by Leslie Thomas
2014 Animation + Motion Graphics Design
Almost There, Directed by Aaron Wickenden and Dan Rybicky