Eric Waldemar? » Harry Smith

The Living Carry the Dead

Eric — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:10:14 +0000

Continuing to pull one image after another from the archive, looking back at threads and continuities, and at how much has changed.

None of us have come through this all alone, and as we celebrate the present and the future, we also animate the carcass of the past. I am grateful to particular individuals that lived hundreds of years ago (Breughel, Hakuin, Rembrandt…), mentors like Stan & Harry, and friends still living, some of whom I haven’t seen in 30 years. And some who didn’t make it through. Carrying what I’ve got of you, too, Tucker.

Early Abstractions has gone to the Getty.

Eric — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:19:01 +0000

I had Harry Smith’s own 16mm print of Early Abstractions for about 20 years, since he got it out from under the bed at his little apartment on the Naropa Institute grounds. I just passed it off to Rani Singh of the Getty Museum and Harry Smith Archive. Sad to see it go, as it’s a relic from one of the people who has meant the most to me. It’s a treasure, though, and it deserves a better archival situation than I can provide. The Getty is comparing all the available prints to the 60-year-old original hand-painted 35mm film (and the later parts) and making a “definitive” new restored version. Rani took great care of Harry during his last years, and I know the movie is safe under her guard. In any case, the color and condition are far better than the print used for the Getty’s current working DVD version, which I recently saw for the first time. Hopefully, my print (Harry’s print) will make the restored version better than it would have been. That’s better than having it in my closet for an occasional screening, and waiting for vinegar syndrome to bloom. I miss you, Harry. Thanks for trusting me with your movie for a while.

How to Make Things Move: Animation as a Fine Art

EW — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:11:23 +0000

On the 23rd of September, at the Art Students League of Denver, I’ll be screening films by two of the people who showed me how to make movies, Stan Brakhage and Harry Smith. I’ll also be giving a brief sketch of the history of animation as an art made by individual artists, rather than by commercial enterprises. In the other arts, this distinction is usually fairly obvious, but in film, most people assume that a movie director is something like a special, glamorous CEO. They’re usually right. There’s a whole other world of cinema, though, and if you’re not aware of it, you need to cancel your plans for the 23rd and get to this screening. Besides Brakhage and Smith, I’ll show a few bits of my own, as well as relevant bits from the history of cartoons, "visual music," and various peculiar moving images that show the vast possibilities of solo animation. This talk and screening will introduce an 8-week course at the League, which starts two weeks later. That series will include more screenings and a whole lot of hands-on moviemaking. It’s reasonably priced and will transform your conception of time and space permanently. Trust The Thinking Truck to bring you to worthwhile destinations, now and always. To get a seat for the screening or sign up for the course, go to www.asld.org or call 303 778 6990, x100.

For all the info you need, have a look at the flyer (PDF) . It has pictures, a few words about Stan and Harry, and a few more about me. Print it out and tack it in some public place, or on your refrigerator.