Artist Talks, Workshops & Speaking Engagements

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 as 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”

“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
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.

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.

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.

FIL 221: DOCUMENTARY & EXPERIMENTAL MODES OF PRODUCTION
Taught 2 sections, Fall ‘24 [Description forthcoming]
CAR 121: EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION
Taught in Spring ‘23
15-week, 3 credit studio course for all experience levels, [Description TBA]
FIL 253: SURVEY OF FILM HISTORY
(Co-Taught, Fall 2023) [Description forthcoming]
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)

“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
Teaching Experience: High School Courses
{Section Forthcoming]