Ball Lightning: Educating through the Production of an Animated Film
Ball Lightning is a nearly 12-minute experimental fine art, frame-by-frame 2D animation. Both a memoir and biography, it is a personal narrative about a child's love for a surrogate parent and that parent's love in return. It tells the story of Gusta, a refugee forced to give away her infant daughter as she fled East Germany at the end of WWII, who becomes the motherly caregiver to the narrator. She serves as a role model and example of survival, resilience and kindness.
During this Thought Leadership Series event, Lesley University Associate Professor Catriona Baker and the Ball Lightning team will talk about the experience of creating the film. They will discuss how the production process provided a practical learning experience that affected the professional growth for all members of the team and illustrate how the animation medium and pipeline builds community and collaboration.
Catriona Baker, associate professor and co-chair of animation and VFX at Lesley University's College of Art and Design, is a fine art experimental animator, book artist, and painter. Her work focuses on issues of social justice such as sexual assault, domestic violence, trauma, immigration, women empowerment, and factory farming. Her work explores the visual juxtaposition between traditional mediums and digital processes. Her Animations range in mediums from 3D, 2D digital to hand drawn/painted frame by frame animation.
Catriona holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College in Studio Art: printmaking, a BFA from Maine College of Art in painting and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in animation and painting. Her works have been shown nationally and internationally in screenings, galleries, and corporate collections. Her animations have been internationally recognized with an International Platinum Pixie and two International CINDY (Cinema in Industry) awards.
Register here to attend this event.
Thursday, March 27, 2025
4:15-6:00 pm
University Hall – Porter Campus
Lower Level Screening Room, L-030
1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140