Anne Beal is an award-winning animation filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. Informed by her musical training, Anne’s work embraces the intuitive elements of cinematic language, pairing the rhythm of brush strokes with the harmony—and dissonance—of her color palette. Her approach to visual communication invites the viewer to participate by bringing their own perspective to the work.
In her films, Anne investigates Play, female empowerment, and mental health using experimental animation and sound. She roots her work in watercolors and acrylics, painting on paper and in books. In her teaching practice, she encourages students to develop their stories through experimentation. She emphasizes the importance of allowing room for discovery in the act of making.
Anne is an alumnus of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and recipient of 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.
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 lectured at RISD, Parsons, Pratt, MassArt, Brooklyn College, and SVA. Anne’s films, music videos, and animation work have screened at Ottawa, Annecy, Chicago International Film Festival, and many more.
She is half of ‘Tonal Conversations,’ an ongoing watercolor animation & jazz orchestra collaboration with her husband, composer, Christopher Zuar. The first iteration of the piece premiered at 150 Media Stream, a sculptural video art installation in downtown Chicago, from October 2018 through January 2019. Volume 2 premiered in May 2024 in NYC, live in concert with the Christopher Zuar Orchestra. Anne created live projections of watercolor animation to accompany the performance of Zuar’s new album, Exuberance. For the month leading up to the concert, the body of work Anne developed for Exuberance was on display at the Janet Hennessey Dilenschneider Gallery, called The Animated Art of Exuberance.
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.