Stillness has potential for movement; it just needs a push. My work is that push and is inspired by both literal and implied motion. It guides my practice to blend animation and traditional media while encouraging a dialogue between contrasting materials.

     Creating is a personal act of curiosity and a way of communicating beyond the limits of language. It draws me to the energy of motion and the stories that emerge when action is implied. Solid art pieces are often a depiction of a single idea or moment. My traditional media work seeks to create movement within a stationary object to tell a more animated story.

     I recently earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in animation from Auburn University. Alongside my studio practice, I have worked as an art gallery assistant on campus, where I discovered the joy of composing spaces that invite others into dialogue with art. That experience continues to inspire me and fuels my aspiration to one day create challenging exhibitions of my own that are centered around motion and playful mixed media works.

     With my growing interest in the conversation between contrasting materials, such as permanence versus the temporary, silence versus rhythm, and stillness versus energy, I prefer to create work that communicates through both the medium and the visual experience. A recent example is my ongoing ceramics project, in which a wheel-thrown pot acts as a translation of animation through a zoetrope-inspired surface design, combining stoneware and technology to explore the tension between stillness and motion. Animation remains central to my work because of its unique momentum. Bringing images to life allows motion to carry meaning and enables stories to unfold where traditional media is limited to a single moment. I strive to break the boundaries of a solid object’s limitation to a single moment and to incorporate movement into all of my work.

     Whether through traditional media, digital materials, or a combination, I aim to create work that captures the energy of movement and the power of storytelling within a multimedia practice.

Morgan Sanders