Origins:
The name for the residency: THE GOLDEN SNAIL, is inspired by the nickname for the Russian animator and artist,Yuri Norstein who works very slowly, over years to create his sensual animated films. It may just take our lifetime to create our best works, relationships and deeds. I am also inspired by The Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture where I spent the summer of 2008 learning how to slow down and become more connected to my life's work, self, nature and others whom are pursuing the same. I want to share this gift with artists and other folks who are authentically interested on my own scale. You can be "emerging", submerging, mid-career or almost dead and come to this residency which is off the grid both literally and figuratively.
"The lyrical visual poetry in Norstein’s work is synonymous with his craftsmanship. Norstein uses a technique in which two dimensional flat-art is shot on multiple glass planes – a painstaking frame by frame process employed less and less by modern animator as they turn toward digital image making. In opposition, every aspect of the imagery on screen in Norstein’s films is handcrafted. His refusal to use computers to speed the work earned him the nickname ‘the golden snail’ for his slow, ardent perfectionism and his current project The Overcoat is now into its 20th year of production."
~Film Studies Center, University of Chicago