Classes, Workshops and Lectures
Animation is a time-based medium with endless opportunities for learning. Whether I am teaching in person, on Zoom, giving a lecture, or presenting my work onstage—I love to share how handmade animation is a catalyst for creativity.
In my teaching practice I emphasize play and experimentation. I encourage participants to immerse themselves in their creative process by muting their inner editor, and allow the materials to spark curiosity.
I have been on faculty at leading art schools such as the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and the School of Visual Arts (SVA). My specialties include Experimental Animation, Sound Design for Animation, and storytelling through audio and video.
Animation workshop at Girls Write Now, NYC.
Not all of my teaching experience has come from the classroom: I still look fondly on my first job out of college, when I traveled across Chicagoland hosting painting parties for a paint-n-sip company. Over the course of a meal, I brought participants from blank canvas to completed painting. I grew to love the challenge of teaching people who had never held a paintbrush how to complete a painting in under 3 hours—all while keeping the vibes high and the wine flowing. I developed techniques for keeping people engaged with their paintings and encouraged about their progress, despite all the emotions that can surface in art-making. Unknowingly, I was getting great teaching and public speaking experience! A few years later when I started teaching Experimental Animation at SAIC, leading a classroom felt like a breeze.
I am currently in a season of giving animation workshops and masterclasses to students of all ages and stages, at community centers, senior centers, and local businesses in NYC and the Hudson Valley.
To book a workshop for your organization, or to inquire about my educational offerings, email me at anne.h.beal@gmail.com.
Animation workshop at the Gathering Place of Saluda, NC. Photos by Helen Joy.
I provide online classes at Skillshare. Soon I will offer live Zoom workshops and pre-recorded classes on my Patreon page.
Animation workshop at Graveside Variety in Woodstock, NY.
Anne was a presenting filmmaker at Animation Speakeasy, a community-based animation program in Brooklyn. Photo by Michael Dondero.
Anne, at left, presenting at Animation Speak/Easy in Brooklyn
Anne lectures live on SVA BFA Animation’s Twitch channel, during the COVID pandemic when we couldn’t meet in person. In my ‘Experimental Animation Studio Hangout’ I demonstrated painted animation techniques that students could try at home.
Anne, at far right, poses with Lisa LaBracio’s MFA Computer Arts class at SVA. Anne gives an Experimental Animation workshop, encouraging the graduate students to PLAY, each Spring around finals week.