Strata-Cut Workshops with Steffie Yee

April 30 & May 1, 2022

Design and create your own strata-cut animation in a step-by-step workshop with animator, designer, and director Steffie Yee. In this experimental workshop, participants will explore the foundations of different kinds of pattern using the strata-cut clay animation technique, as seen in Yee’s animation featured in the continuum: Independent animation from Japan and Australia exhibition.

Participants will have the chance to create patterns, slice, and shoot their own plasticine creations. The outcome of the workshop will be a screening of everyone’s stop-motion animations compiled into one experimental short video that will also be shared online.

The workshop on April 30 (Saturday) is suitable for ages 15 and over
The workshop on May 1 (Sunday) is suitable for ages 8-14

STRATA-CUT ANIMATION

Strata-cut animation is a form of stop-motion animation using clay or other malleable materials such as plasticine and wax. The strata-cut method consists of photographing built-up layers of coloured and patterned clay, which is sliced thinly piece by piece to reveal the movement of the internal images within the loaf-like form. Each camera frame is then played back to create a vivid animation sequence of interesting abstract shapes and images. This experimental animation technique has featured in many music videos, television shows and commercials and was first dabbled with by the German abstract animator Oskar Fischinger in the 1920s and 1930s. Not until the mid 1980s was the technique revived, developed and fastidiously refined by American animator David Daniels.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

STEFFIE YEE
Steffie Yee is an animator, designer and director working in Sydney (unceded Gadigal land) and in the Hunter Valley region of Australia (unceded Wonnarua land). Yee sees animation as a combination of visuals with sound. She works with materials such as plasticine, ink, pencil and 2D & 3D animation. Her work has screened internationally at film festivals, including the Atlanta Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and Palm Springs ShortFest, where her film The Lost Sound (2018) received two nominations for Best Animated Short and Best Animated Student Short. Yee has created visual installations for live music events and worked on music videos for major artists including Sam Smith, The Free Nationals, Justin Bieber, TOKiMONSTA and The Naked and Famous. Her other clients include ABC TV, McDonald’s, Red Bull Music, the University of Technology, Sydney and Opera Bar Sydney, among many others.