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
2022–23 UCLA Society of Hellman Fellows Award | University of California, Los Angeles
2022 Faculty Development Award | University of California, Los Angeles
2021 Cinema Eye Honors Award | Outstanding Achievement in Animation
2020 Instructional Improvement Grant | University of California, Los Angeles
2020 Top 10 Title Sequences of 2020 (#4) | Art of the Title | https://www.artofthetitle.com
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
2024
lovelike (2023) | Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA | Feb 15
2023
lovelike (2023) | 2220 Arts + Architecture, Los Angeles, CA | Aug 18
Go Slow (2021) | Salon de Physique, Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics, Fort Bragg, CA | July 22
2022
CANTO IX: Apartment (2021) | Design in Motion Festival (DEMO Fest), Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, NL | Oct 6
Frontier Wisdom (2018), Mirror Image Animation Exhibition, Comfort Station, Chicago, IL | May 18
2020
O.T.O. Revised (2019) | Chicago Underground Film Festival, Online Stream | Nov 15
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.
Invited Interviews, Lectures, Workshops, + Panels
Feb 22, 2024 Panelist, Career Motion Paths | CalArts
Nov 11, 2023 Guest Artist Speaker + Workshop Department of Experimental Animation | CalArts
Sept 21, 2023 Guest Artist Speaker, IML 466 Digital Studies Symposium | USC
Aug 14, 2023 Interviewee, Boiled Over Animation Podcast, Season 2 Episode 2
Jun 26-30, 2023 Guest Workshop, Stop Motion Animation | Anderson Ranch Arts Center | Snowmass, CO
April 21, 2023 Guest Artist Speaker, Core Studio 4D PUIL 2116 | Parsons
Sept 14, 2022 Guest Artist Speaker, IML 466 Digital Studies Symposium | USC
Mar 22, 2022 Guest Workshop, 2D Character Sprite Animation | CULTUREHUB
April 06, 2022 Guest Speaker, UCLA XR Day Lightning Talk | Narrative Frameworks in VR | UCLA
Oct 15, 2021 Interviewee, Down a Rabbit Hole | Killscreen (website)
Mar 29, 2021 Guest Artist Speaker, ART 420 – Animation | Pepperdine University
April 10, 2021 Panelist, Conversation On: Games! | CULTUREHUB
Nov 23, 2020 Panelist, 10 Questions: Reckoning / What is Loss? | UCLA
Nov 20, 2020 Interviewee, PBS SoCal / KCET Southland Sessions: Can Online Avatars Define Us? | Online
Oct 18, 2020 Guest Artist Project-in-Progress Presentation, Imagine Science Films: Origins
Dec 07, 2020 Guest Artist Speaker, MFA3 Thesis Class Critique, Experimental Animation | CalArts
April 09, 2020 Guest Artist Speaker, SWAN ARTIST TALK: Animation and Building your Career in the Arts | Morgan State University, Baltimore, MA
2015 Guest Artist Speaker, Radical Collaboration, The Learning Center, Chicago, IL
2015 Panelist | Eyeworks Experimental Animation Festival, Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, Chicago, IL
2015 Guest Artist Speaker, Latin School of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2013 Guest Artist Speaker, Animation Showcase, Roxaboxen Gallery Chicago, IL
Teaching + Academic Leadership
2020– Assistant Professor | UCLA | Department of Design Media Arts
S 2023 Senior Capstone, Interactivity and Games (DESMA 172) Design Media Arts, UCLA
W 2023 Virtuality (DESMA 252C) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Interactive Animation (DESMA 155) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Undergraduate (DESMA 199), Aidan Strong, Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Undergraduate (DESMA 199), Max Gruber, Design Media Arts, UCLA
F 2022 Graduate Critique (DESMA 403) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Interactive Animation (DESMA 155) Design Media Arts, UCLA
S 2022 Senior Capstone, Interactivity and Games (DESMA 172) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Graduate (DESMA 596) Isaac Ruder, Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Graduate (DESMA 596) Bobby-Joe Smith III, Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Graduate (DESMA 596) Krista Ramirez-Villatoro, Design Media Arts, UCLA
W 2022 Graduate Critique (DESMA 403) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Virtual Reality and Worldbuilding (DESMA 172) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Undergraduate (DESMA 199) Gwydion Brain, Design Media Arts, UCLA
Undergraduate Internship Supervisor (DESMA 195B), Joy Yang, Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Graduate (DESMA 596) Bomi Yook, Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Graduate (DESMA 596)Ariel Uzal, Design Media Arts, UCLA
F 2021 Graduate Tutorial (DESMA 404) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Interactive Animation (DESMA 155) Design Media Arts, UCLA
S 2021 Hybrid Animation (DESMA 160) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Undergraduate (DESMA 199) Danielle Kim, Design Media Arts, UCLA
Independent Study, Graduate (DESMA 596) Don Edler, Design Media Arts, UCLA
W 2021 Storytelling in Virtual Spaces (DESMA 289) Design Media Arts, UCLA
Digital Vessel: Designing Avatars (DESMA 172) Design Media Arts, UCLA
F 2020 Graduate Tutorial (DESMA 404) Design Media Arts, UCLA
2019–2020 Guest Lecturer Professor | CalArts | School of Film/Video
Weird Computer, Mundane World (FSFV 620)
2017–2018 CalArts Visiting Artist Coordinator
Experimental Animation Visiting Artist Series, CalArts, Los Angeles, CA
2015–2017 Drawing 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