Joanna Priestley: Fighting Gravity

Dubbed “the queen of independent animation” by Bill Plympton, Joanna Priestley unveils her new short Missed Aches (2009, 4 min.), a humorous rant about the need for proofreading. This can’t-miss program for animation buffs also includes a series of animated gems representing the range of the artist’s techniques: Voices (1985, 4 min.), Grown Up (1993, 7 min.), All My Relations (1990, 5 min.), Streetcar Named Perspire (2007, 6:30 min.), Utopia Parkway (1997, 5 min.), Candyjam (1988, 7 min.), She-Bop (1988, 8 min.), Pro and Con (1993, 9 min.), and Dew Line (2005, 4:30 min.). Mentored by Jules Engel at CalArts, Priestley had previously made 19 award-winning films about subjects such as varied as relationships, plants, magic, menopause, abstraction and prison. Retrospectives of her work have been presented at The Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center, and American Cinematheque, among other venues.

In person: Joanna Priestley. Curated by Maureen Selwood and Bérénice Reynaud.