Anne Beal is an animation filmmaker and multimedia artist whose work merges experimental animation, painting, and sound. Informed by her musical training, she embraces the intuitive elements of cinematic language, finding rhythms in the interactions of brush strokes and pigment.
Anne roots her animation work in watercolors and acrylics, painting on paper and in books. She investigates Play, female empowerment, and mental health, collaging her soundscapes from archival recordings and original compositions.
In her teaching practice, whether at the collegiate level or in community workshops, Anne encourages students to develop their stories through experimentation. She emphasizes the importance of allowing room for discovery in the act of making.
Anne earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she received the John A. Chironna scholarship for Creative Excellence. She has been been awarded artist residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Hambidge Center for the Arts and Sciences in support of her current multimedia production. Her work has screened at Ottawa, Annecy, Chicago International Film Festival, and many more.
Anne taught animation in the Film/Video/New Media/Animation department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) from 2014-2017 and has since lectured at RISD, Parsons, Pratt, MassArt, Brooklyn College, and SVA. She lives and works in NYC where, in addition to making commissioned work and teaching, she collaborates with her husband, Christopher Zuar, on the GRAMMY-nominated jazz orchestra and animation project, Tonal Conversations.
Anne Beal presenting at Girls Write Now, an organization that provides writing and storytelling workshops for underserved high-school girls+femmes in NYC // 2.2020
Anne Beal poses beside her piece, Wall Flowers, dozens of 4.5”x6” watercolor paintings that make up an animation Anne created in 2018.