December 5, 2003 - Today's Other News Items

Film Festival To Honor Ken O'Connell

Thirty years ago, budding video animation artist Ken O'Connell ('72) entered a short film in the first Northwest Film and Video Festival in Portland and won.

He and that year's other winners will be honored at the festival's 30th anniversary celebration, Nov. 6-15 at the Guild Theater in Portland. O'Connell's winning film, "Counterpane," will be screened at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 15.

"It's an old term for quilts," O'Connell, now a UO professor emeritus of art, said of the title. "The film plays on the idea of landscape as a quilt pattern. I rented a plane and took black and white and infrared photos above Eugene and then filmed the still photos and recreated the motion of flying over the landscape. You see what the Willamette Valley looked like 30 years ago. Then, a bedpost comes into view, and you see pillows in place of the Coburg Hills and a quilt. Suddenly, the shocking sound of an alarm clock wakes you from the dream."

"Counterpane" launched O'Connell's film career. After Portland, the film was a highlight at the Columbia University Environmental Film Festival. O'Connell went on to make 16 more animated and experimental films, many still popular in the United States, Japan and Hong Kong.

After 24 years of teaching multimedia design and sketchbook drawing, O'Connell concentrates on making short films on his digital video camera. He is delving into more than 53 sketchbooks and journals completed during his trips throughout the world and transforming them into his own unique film presentations.

"All you need is your digital camera, computer and your imagination, and you can make a movie," he said. "My great satisfaction is launching students into high-tech entertainment through traditional art training enhanced with applications in modern technology."

O'Connell is more passionate than ever about the art of film - a passion fueled by his fascination with new and emerging technologies that expand the boundaries of expression.

"It's just a matter of demystifying the tools and using them to express ideas and give them form," O'Connell said. "We live in a culture that has tremendous access to these tools. There's never been a time like this before. I really love working with beginning students in both drawing and film. I'm an expert on breaking down the barriers that stop people from getting involved in the arts."

During the fall and winter terms, O'Connell teaches drawing for media and animation. In the spring and summer, he travels abroad and presents lectures and workshops in Europe. His films can be found in numerous compilations of computer-animated movies and are especially popular in Japan, where software he developed to help teach English to Japanese youngsters, ALPHAPLANET, is used extensively.

Check out one of O'Connell's most popular shorts, "Chips in Space." (Video requires Quicktime, available here.)