![Alexandra Konofalskaya](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Alexandra_Konofalskaya.jpg)
Sand animation is the manipulation of sand to create
animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
. In
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
an artist creates a series of images using
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...
, a process which is achieved by applying sand to a surface and then rendering images by drawing lines and figures in the sand with one's hands. A sand animation performer will often use the aid of an
overhead projector
An overhead projector (often abbreviated to OHP), like a film or slide projector, uses light to project an enlarged image on a screen, allowing the view of a small document or picture to be shared with a large audience.
In the overhead project ...
or
lightbox
A lightbox is a translucent surface illuminated from behind, used for situations where a shape laid upon the surface needs to be seen with high contrast.
Types
Several varieties exist, depending on their purpose:
* Various backlit viewing d ...
(similar to one used by photographers to view
translucent films). To make an animated film, sand is moved on a backlit or frontlit piece of glass to create each frame.
History
Techniques of animating with sand were pioneered by
Caroline Leaf
Caroline Leaf (born August 12, 1946 in Seattle, Washington) is a Canadian-American filmmaker, animator, director, tutor and artist. She has produced numerous short animated films and her work has been recognized worldwide. She is best known a ...
when she was an undergraduate art student at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1968. She created her first film, ''Sand, or Peter and the Wolf'' (1968), by dumping beach sand on a light box and manipulating the grains to build figures, textures and movement, frame by frame.
In the 1970s,
Eli Noyes
Eli Noyes (born October 18, 1942 in Amherst, Massachusetts) is an American animator most noted for his stop animation work using clay and sand.
Early life
Eliot Fette Noyes, Jr. was born the son of noted " Harvard Five" architect Eliot Noyes an ...
, another Harvard graduate, created the short film ''Sandman'' (1973) and the ''Sand Alphabet'' (1974), which became a feature on the children's educational television program ''Sesame Street''. In 1977, ''
The Sand Castle'' by Dutch-Canadian animator
Co Hoedeman
Jacobus Willem (Co) Hoedeman (born August 1, 1940 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch-Canadian filmmaker known for his mastery of stop motion animation and technical innovation in films that reveal his close observation of human and social interaction.
Bio ...
won the
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...
.
In 2006, Gert van der Vijver
created the series ''De Zandtovenaar'' ("The Sand Magician") on Dutch national television and since then, animates for the yearly outdoor play ''
The Passion''.
Notable artists
*
Ferenc Cakó
Ferenc Cakó (born 1950) is a Hungarian artist whose specialty is performing sand animation.
He graduated from the College for Creative Arts in 1973 and did amateur animation at that point. His first success was in 1982 and in 1989 he was named ...
*
Su Dabao
Su Dabao is a Chinese performance sand artist. He performs sand painting on stage, adding Music and Lighting. He is a popular performance Sand artist in China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asi ...
*
Co Hoedeman
Jacobus Willem (Co) Hoedeman (born August 1, 1940 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch-Canadian filmmaker known for his mastery of stop motion animation and technical innovation in films that reveal his close observation of human and social interaction.
Bio ...
*
Alexandra Konofalskaya
Alexandra Konofalskaya (born June 11, 1986) is a sand animation artist.
Born in Zhodino, Minsk Region, Belarus, Konofalskaya had always dreamt of stage, and, as a child, she attended dancing classes. Though love to drawing led Konofalskaya to Zho ...
*
Caroline Leaf
Caroline Leaf (born August 12, 1946 in Seattle, Washington) is a Canadian-American filmmaker, animator, director, tutor and artist. She has produced numerous short animated films and her work has been recognized worldwide. She is best known a ...
*
Eli Noyes
Eli Noyes (born October 18, 1942 in Amherst, Massachusetts) is an American animator most noted for his stop animation work using clay and sand.
Early life
Eliot Fette Noyes, Jr. was born the son of noted " Harvard Five" architect Eliot Noyes an ...
*
Kseniya Simonova
Kseniya Simonova ( uk, Ксенія Симонова; married name: Kseniya Paskar, Ксенія Паскар` born 22 April 1985) is a Ukrainian performance artist who does sand animation, graphic design, illustration, cinema, and literature. S ...
*
Ilana Yahav
Ilana Yahav ( he, אילנה יהב) is a sand animation artist from Israel. She has performed in front of live audiences, in video clips and in advertisements.
Career
Yahav studied sand art in Hollywood, New York and London. She later ran a stu ...
References
External links
An explanation of how to make animated films with sand animationMarcos Magalhães' "Animando" at NFB.caCaroline Leaf's film ''The Owl Who Married a Goose'' at NFB.ca
Animation techniques
Visual arts media
Performance art
Animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
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