Artist Talks, Workshops & Speaking Engagements

Evan Bode, a teacher with glasses, a beard, and a blue shirt, stands in front of a group of diverse students, giving a presentation or speaking to the class. The scene is inside a classroom with large windows in the background.
A group of young filmmaking students is taking photos of a shadow puppet show projected on a screen, with a person's shadow holding a fishing pole, standing on a boat on the blue-tinted illusion of water.
A film teacher holding a frame with a projected black and white image of a textured surface and a head peering over a table, creating layers of shadow.
A film teacher with brown hair, glasses, and a beard smiling while standing in front of a white wall and monitor in a classroom. A large television screen displays a person wearing a bright green, crochet frog hat with eyes on top.
A group of four people sitting at a table, engaged with their devices, with a laptop covered in stickers, some papers, and oranges and lemons on the table. They are in a classroom with a large window and concrete wall.

2025

Art in the Atrium, Community Filmmaking Workshop: “When We Think of Freedom…” with Project Mend

OCAD University, Animation History, Guest Filmmaker: A Spot for Frog and Queer “Outsider Art”

DePauw University, Experimental Animation, Artist’s Talk and Film Screening

Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, “Visualization through Storyboarding”

Syracuse University Museum of Art, Spring Community Day Animation Workshop

2024

Syracuse University, Feminist Film Practices, Artist’s Talk: “Futures Out of Frame: Filmmaking for Another World.”

Syracuse University, Survey of Film History, Artist Talk: Thine Own Self, A Spot for Frog, and Freedom in Filmmaking

Syracuse University, In Our Own Backyards, 2-Part Workshop: “Animating the Everyday” and “Storytelling with Shadows.” Artist’s Talk: “Video Editing, Outside the Box.”

Dignity for Children Foundation, Malaysia, STEP: Videography, Artist’s Talk: “The Freedom of Amateurs: Personal Creative Expression on a Low Budget”

Syracuse University, Smartphone Filmmaking for Artists, Artist’s Talk: “Video Diaries in the Digital Age” + “Stop-Motion Tools in Your Pocket,” and Workshop: “Self-Reflexive Stop-Motion”

2023

Baltimore School for the Arts, Junior Production Studio, Q&A on animating “Out of Frame”

Syracuse University, Hybrid / Experimental Modes of Production, Artist’s Talk: “My Experimental Film Practice”

Syracuse University, In Our Own Backyards, 2-Part Workshop: “Backyard Folklore: Collaborative Storytelling and Animation with Shadow Puppets”

Syracuse University, Physical Aspects of Filmmaking, Artist’s Talk: “Learning to Listen: The Invisible, Essential Role of Sound Design” and Workshop: “Creating a Soundscape.”

Syracuse University, Smartphone Filmmaking for Artists, Artist’s Talk: “Don’t Be Afraid to Animate” and “Bringing Inner Worlds to Light”

WQED Film Academy, with Teen Screen Pittsburgh, Artist’s Talk: “Filmmaking Outside the Box: Telling Personal Stories in Your Own Way”

2022

Cornell University, Film Production, Artist’s Talk: “Animating Inner Worlds” and Workshop: “Anyone Can Animate: Stop Motion Tools in Your Pocket”

DePauw University, Film Production: Creating the Short Film, Artist’s Talk: “Embrace Your Limitations: Creative Approaches to Authentic, Personal Storytelling”

Syracuse University, GUT-C (Give Us the Camera), Workshop for Marginalized Film Students: “Anyone Can Animate: A Hands-On, Accessible, Beginner-Friendly Animation Workshop”

Milwaukee LGBTQ Community Center, Community Screening and Conversation: “Write Yourself In: Breaking Binaries in Queer Storytelling through Animation”

Music Box Theater, Chicago, Pre-Concert Film Screening and Director Q&A: A Spot for Frog

Syracuse University, In Our Own Backyards, Artist’s Talk: “Don’t Be Afraid to Animate” and Workshop: “Animating the Animator: Stop-Motion Self Portraits”

Teaching Experience: High School Programs

In 2024, along with Mišo and Lida Suchy, I co-founded and led a free, collaborative filmmaking workshop for youth in Syracuse, New York. The program has since run for four successful editions, along with hosting public film screenings at museums, a solo gallery exhibition, and other community events. Along with helping to envision and lead workshop sessions, I serve as the program’s video editor, website designer, and social media manager.

Teens with a Movie Camera focuses on community-building through the creation of original short movies and their public presentation, creating an active, supportive environment for self-expression through the arts. We approach filmmaking as a personal, imaginative, and collaborative medium rather than an industrial or commercial product.

We work with tools readily available, such as the smartphones in our pockets. This ethos comes from the tradition of independent cinema and low-budget filmmaking, which requires creative problem-solving and an embrace of limitations. Our workshops aim to highlight the significance of small moments projected large, captured through the eyes of teens and presented to the wider community.

Visit our website to learn more about the program!

https://sites.google.com/view/teenswithamoviecamera

Teaching Experience: University Courses

I served as primary instructor for the college courses below at Syracuse University in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Department of Film and Media Arts. In this position, I developed my own syllabi, lectures, and lesson plans for undergraduate students.

CAR 102: ART AND CRAFT OF ANIMATION

  • Taught 4 Semesters: Spring ‘25 / Fall ‘24 / Spring ‘24 / Fall ‘23

  • 15-week, 3 credit studio course for all experience levels, exploring animation history, theory, and practice, with a strong emphasis on practice through active, hands-on experimentation. Topics include a variety of animation techniques and modalities including stop motion, pixilation, claymation, 2-D hand-drawn animation, cutout animation, and rotoscoping, as well as the art of sound design, culminating in the development and creation of personal short films.

A group of students in a classroom watching a colorful, digital animation display of a vibrant, glowing forest scene projected on a screen, from Evan Bode's "A Spot for Frog."

FIL 124: FILM WORKSHOP: CONCEPTS

  • Taught for 2 Semesters: Spring 2024 + Spring 2025

    15-week, 3 credit studio course for Freshman Film Majors covering the introduction and development of aesthetic and critical concepts of live-action filmmaking, sound and image. Topics include artistic approaches to the range of choices made at every stage of production as a film progresses from idea to completion, as well as the art of healthy creative collaboration practiced through active, hands-on projects.

Presentation in a lecture hall about Maya Deren, featuring a large projection screen displaying her portrait, with film instructor Evan Bode standing at a podium and audience members seated, some taking notes or looking forward.

FIL 223: NARRATIVE FICTION & HYBRID MODES OF PRODUCTION

  • Taught in Spring 2025

  • 15-week, 3 credit studio course for Sophomore Film Majors, facilitating the production of short fictional or hybrid narrative films, from concept to completion. Each student serves as writer-director of their own project, translating an original script to the screen through all stages from pre-production to post-production.

A large lecture hall with audience of film students watching a presentation on a large screen. The slide shows hands with a scribble overlay from Evan Bode's "Anxiety Art."

FIL 221: DOCUMENTARY & EXPERIMENTAL MODES OF PRODUCTION

  • Taught 2 sections, Fall ‘24 [Description forthcoming]

FIL 253: SURVEY OF FILM HISTORY

(Co-Taught, Fall 2023) [Description forthcoming]

CAR 121: EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION

  • Taught in Spring ‘23

  • 15-week, 3 credit studio course for all experience levels, [Description TBA]

COURSES ASSISTED (AS T.A.)

FIL 253: SURVEY OF FILM HISTORY (Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2020)
FIL 226: SURVEY OF FILM THEORY (Spring 2023)
FIL 520: AUTEUR CINEMA (Spring 2022, Spring 2021)

“As a classroom community, our capacity to generate excitement is deeply affected by our interest in one another, in hearing one another’s voices, in recognizing one another’s presence.” - bell hooks

“I celebrate teaching that enables transgressions - a movement against and beyond boundaries. It is that movement which makes education the practice of freedom.” - bell hooks

Evan Bode and an animation student in a classroom at an animation workshop, sitting at the table with a tablet and a stylus, smiling and looking towards the camera, while the teacher stands and leans on the table, both looking happy and engaged.
Evan Bode sits with a student in a small classroom studio, looking at a computer screen depicting a animation program with images of trees and a car.
Evan Bode and one of their film students are holding a backlit screen, creating a shadow art image of a watering can pouring water onto a sprouting plant.

“To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin.” - bell hooks