Corrie Parks

About the Artist

Corrie Francis Parks brings life to the inanimate through frame-by-frame manipulation of physical materials. Her films and installations dance the fine line between the haptic and the digital, demanding an inspection of details. She is an Assistant Professor of Animation at University of Maryland, Baltimore County and author of the book, Fluid Frames: Animating Under the Camera with Sand, Clay, Paint and Pixels. Parks has been an artist in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Fundación Valparaíso and Klondike Goldrush International Historic Park, a Fulbright Fellow to New Zealand, and a grant recipient from the Montana Film Office. Her award-winning animated shorts have screened at Annecy, Hiroshima, Ottawa and Zagreb and at major festivals on every continent except Antarctica.

Artist's Statement

My early 16mm film work in traditional sand animation has recently led me to develop a hybrid digital-physical practice that allows for more complexity and versatility with this ephemeral material. This work has subsequently evolved into an examination of individual grains in multi-media installations, emphasizing the metaphorical connection of group homogeneity and personal individuality. When seen in a pile, sand presents itself as uniformity: black sand, red sand, fine sand, coarse sand. But upon close inspection, even the most homogeneous manufactured sand disperses into individuality. We like to categorize and quantify, which is easy enough with inanimate objects. Numbers make it easy to pass judgement and pass policies. But when a grain of sand is animated, it reveals its inner motivation and we catch a glimpse of its story. It transforms into an unquantifiable encasement of life.