video clip: Jane Wang (MAG)
from telephone wire installation hanging from ceiling
from shoe bomber installation on floorphotos: Bob Raymond (MAG) except as noted
Karen Aqua
felt-tip drawing on canvas shoes
More than any other article of clothing, you can tell a lot about a person by the shoes they wear. Karen Aqua, who usually works in the medium of animated film, has recently expanded her creative expression and love of drawing to a new canvas: the surface of shoes. These shoes were created for Jane Wang expressly for this exhibit.
Karen Aqua has been making animated films since graduating from Rhode Island School of Design in 1976. Her award-winning films have screened worldwide, at festivals in Europe, Asia, North/South America, New Zealand, and the Middle East. She has received fellowships from American Film Institute, the MacDowell Colony, Millay Colony for the Arts, Fundación Valparaíso (Spain), the LEF Foundation, Berkshire Taconic Trust, and the Puffin Foundation. Aqua has taught animation at Boston College, Emerson College, and at workshops and residencies around the US. She has served as a juror for film festivals in Japan, the US, and Canada, and has presented numerous one-person screenings of her work. Since1990 she has directed, designed, and animated 22 segments for "Sesame Street." Aqua's newest film, "Twist of Fate," recently premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.
“Much of the Karen Aqua universe is populated with creatures spawned from a mating between Matisse cutouts and carvings on Incan tombs. Made of neon-bright colors and sharp angles, her exuberant stick figures give off an energy that’s neither entirely human nor entirely animal. What’s more, they’re caught up in a natural system that may be sinister, but never lacks a sense of humor.”
— Robin Dougherty, Boston Phoenix
“Aqua ... is clearly one of the finest animation artists in the country.”
— Michael Blowen, The Boston Globe
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