Jane Conger Belson Shimané (1927–2002) was an American

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

maker.

Life and career

Jane Conger Belson Shimané was born in Missouri. She studied at the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

, where she met the artist

Jordan Belson Jordan Belson (June 6, 1926 – September 6, 2011) was an American artist and abstract cinematic filmmaker who created nonobjective, often spiritually oriented, abstract films spanning six decades. Biography Belson was born in Chicago, Illinois. ...

. Though she used his name, they never legally married. Her first film, ''Logos'', premiered in 1957 and was screened at festivals in North America, Europe, and Latin America. The animated film featured an electronic score by Henry Jacobs, a sound artist who also collaborated with her husband on the groundbreaking "Vortex" light shows. In 1959 she made ''Odds & Ends'', a short animated film that pokes fun at the avant-garde film culture of the 1950s. To make the film, she combined recycled travel and advertising footage with her own animations — made from paper cutouts, color fields, and line drawings — and added a "faux hipster" narration by Henry Jacobs, with

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

playing in the background. (Jacobs is credited as "Rheny Bojacs," an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of his name.) The narrator natters pretentiously about poetry and jazz, contradicting himself at every turn, one moment claiming that "money doesn't count" and the next mentioning the possibility of grants and subsidies. The satire, which appears to have been aimed at her husband, may have precipitated the end of their marriage. Shimané apparently stopped making films soon after parting with Belson.

Accolades and legacy

In 1960 ''Odds & Ends'' won a Creative Film Award, a cash prize awarded by the film society

Cinema 16 Cinema 16 was a New York City–based film society founded by Amos Vogel. From 1947-63, he and his wife, Marcia, ran the most successful and influential membership film society in North American history, at its height boasting 7000 members. Histo ...

and the Creative Film Foundation (the scholarship established by

Maya Deren Maya Deren (born Eleonora Derenkowska, uk, Елеоно́ра Деренко́вська, links=no;

for experimental filmmakers). Other winners that year included

Robert Breer Robert Carlton Breer (September 30, 1926 – August 11, 2011) was an American experimental filmmaker, painter, and sculptor. Life and career "A founding member of the American avant-garde," Breer was best known for his films, which combine ...

Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933 in McPherson, Kansas.His well- ...

Ed Emshwiller Edmund Alexander Emshwiller (February 16, 1925 – July 27, 1990) was an American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed his illustrations as Emsh but sometimes used E ...

, and

Stan Vanderbeek Stan VanDerBeek (January 6, 1927 – September 19, 1984) was an American experimental filmmaker known for his collage works. Life VanDerBeek studied art and architecture at Manhattan's Cooper Union before transferring to Black Mountain Colleg ...

. Upon receiving the award, Shimané responded, "I don't know just what to say other than I have been extremely impressed with the works of other film makers and 'I just got high and put it together.'" The film is included on Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947-1986, a DVD set published in 2008 by the

National Film Preservation Foundation The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) is an independent, nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Growing from a national planning effort led by the Library of Congress, the NFPF began op ...

. Both ''Logos'' and ''Odds & Ends'' have been preserved by the

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...

, in 2001 and 2006, respectively.

Filmography

*''Logos'' (1957) 16mm, 2 min. *''Odds & Ends'' (1959) 16mm, 3:40 min.

References

External links

''Odds & Ends'' video clip

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimane, Jane Conger Belson American women experimental filmmakers American film directors Drawn-on-film animators Collage filmmakers American women animators American women film directors 1927 births 2002 deaths Women experimental filmmakers 20th-century American women 20th-century American people