Joanna Priestley (born November 25, 1950) is an American contemporary film director, producer, animator and teacher. Her films are in the collections of 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 Los Angeles and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York. Priestley has had retrospectives at the British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art and Hiroshima International Animation Festival in Japan. Bill Plympton calls her the "Queen of independent animation". Priestley lives and works in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

Early life and education

Priestley was born in Portland, Oregon to Mae Irene and Arthur James Priestley. She grew up in a wooded area near the Willamette River with horses, dogs, a cat and a huge collection of comic books. Priestley began experimenting with animation early in her life. In an interview with Harvey Deneroff, she explained: "One of the first toys I was given was a zoetrope, which worked on a little turntable and had little zoetrope strips with it. I loved it! I'm sure I became an animator because of that toy. Then I started drawing on the corners of my textbooks in grade school, and later studied art in high school and college, where I specializing in painting and printmaking."

Education

Priestley studied painting and animation at

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

and received a BFA in Art (with a minor in Art History) from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

, graduating with honors. During her final year there she produced thousands of posters used in protests against the Vietnam War and she was the Art Department representative to the Ad Hoc Committee to End the War. Priestley received a Master of Fine Arts in Experimental Animation from the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

, where she received the Louis B. Mayer Award. For two years she was the teaching assistant for famed abstract animator

Jules Engel Jules Engel (born Gyula Engel, March 11, 1909 – September 6, 2003) was an American filmmaker, painter, sculptor, graphic artist, set designer, animator, film director, and teacher. He was the founding director of the experimental animation ...

. Priestley made the first computer-animated film at Cal Arts, ''Jade Leaf'' (1985), using the Cubicomp, early animation hardware that was purchased by Cal Arts in the fall of 1984. Priestley and Engel co-directed ''Times Square'' (1986), also using the Cubicomp to generate images and recording them on a 16mm Bolex camera on a tripod, positioned in front of the monitor.

Career

In 1977, Priestley co-founded and co-directed (with Martha Kelley) ''Strictly Cinema'' in Bend, Oregon. They presented film festivals in Bend and weekly film screenings at Bend and Redmond High Schools. She became the regional coordinator, editor of ''The Animator'' and coordinator of the Northwest Film and Video Festival at the

Northwest Film Center PAM CUT–Center for an Untold Tomorrow, formerly the ''Northwest Film Center'' is a regional media arts resource and service organization based in Portland, Oregon, United States that was founded to encourage the study, appreciation, and utilizat ...

at the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum beca ...

from 1978 to 1983. Gene Youngblood, one of the jurors of the Northwest Film and Video Festival, encouraged her to apply to Cal Arts, which she did in 1983. In 1988, Priestley founded ASIFA-Northwest with Marilyn Zornado. This ASIFA chapter included the northwest region of the United States which comprised Portland, Seattle, Vancouver B.C., and the areas in between. Priestley was president of ASIFA-NW for four years. The organization is now known as ASIFA-Portland. In 1985 she founded her own company, Priestley Motion Pictures, where she has directed, produced and animated 31 short films, the IOS app Clam Bake (2014) and the award winning abstract feature film North of Blue,. ''Animated Women: Joanna Priestley'', a short documentary with three of Priestley's films, was broadcast on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

and BBC2 in 1995–96. Priestley has directed animation segments for ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

'' ("“The Lumps: Rejection Victories” and “The Lumps: Social Skills”, 1990), and directed and animated music video sequences for

Tears for Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new ...

(“Sowing the Seeds of Love”, 1988) and Joni Mitchell (“Good Friends”, 1985) and a PBS series title: “Making Peace” (1996). After directing and producing short films from 1979 to 2015, Priestley made an abstract feature film, '' North of Blue'', which premiered at the Annecy International Animation Festival in France in June, 2018. North of Blue has won multiple awards, including Best Experimental Film at the Indie Film Awards (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Best Animated Film at the Yosemite International Film Festival (CA, USA), Best Feature Film at the Los Angeles Animation Festival (CA, USA) and Best Sound Design Award and Best Feature Original Score Award at the Local Sightings Film Festival, NW Film Forum (Seattle, WA, USA). Priestley has received fellowships from

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

, National Endowment for the Arts (USA), American Film Institute (USA), Fundación Valparaíso (Spain), Millay Colony (USA), Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (Canada) and the Caldera Arts Foundation (USA). She was awarded the 2007-08 Media Arts Fellowship from the Regional Arts and Culture Council and her films are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, USA), the Academy Film Archive (Los Angeles, CA, USA) and the Library of Congress (Washington DC, USA). Priestley's influences include

Hilma af Klint Hilma af Klint (; 26 October 1862 – 21 October 1944) was a Swedish artist and mystic whose paintings are considered among the first abstract works known in Western art history. A considerable body of her work predates the first purely abstra ...

, Mary Ellen Bute,

Jane Aaron Jane Frances Aaron (April 16, 1948 – June 27, 2015) was an American filmmaker and children's book illustrator, best known for her work on ''Between the Lions'' and ''Sesame Street''. Aaron mixed live-action shots and animated images to teach ...

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

Evelyn Lambart Evelyn Lambart (23 July 1914 – 3 April 1999) was a Canadian animator and technical director with the National Film Board of Canada, known for her early collaborations with Norman McLaren as well as her later films, as sole director. In 19 ...

, Norman McLaren,

Len Lye Leonard Charles Huia Lye (; 5 July 1901 – 15 May 1980) was a New Zealand artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives including the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, M ...

and

Antoni Gaudi Antoni is a Catalan, Polish, and Slovene given name and a surname used in the eastern part of Spain, Poland and Slovenia. As a Catalan given name it is a variant of the male names Anton and Antonio. As a Polish given name it is a variant of the fe ...

. She has taught animation, portfolio design and cinema history at the

Pacific Northwest College of Art The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine ...

Art Institute of Portland The Art Institute of Portland was a for-profit art school in Portland, Oregon, which briefly operated as a non-profit institution before it closed in 2018. The school was one of a number of Art Institutes, a franchise of for-profit art colleges ...

and

Volda University College Volda University College ( no, Høgskulen i Volda or HVO) is one of the no-tuition state institutions in the system of higher education in Norway. It is located in the town of Volda, Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. History HVO was established ...

(Volda Norway) as well as teaching animation workshops throughout the US and in Canada, Germany and Norway. She is an active proponent of animation as an art form and has worked throughout her career to improve the status and exposure of animation in academia, museums, galleries and the media worldwide. Priestley has presented two papers at the Society for Animation Studies Conference, including "Creating a Healing Mythology: The Art of Faith Hubley" in 1992, which was published in the Spring 1994 issue of ''Animation Journal''. Priestley has been an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1992 and the Short Films and Feature Animation Executive Committee (2018 to 2022). She has served on the board of the Regional Arts and Culture Council and been a member of the Public Art Committee in Portland, Oregon.

Filmography

*'' The Rubber Stamp Film'' (1983, 7 minutes, stamps on paper) *'' The Dancing Bulrushes'' (1985, co-directed with Steven Subotnick, 5 minutes, sand animation) *'' Voices'' (1985, 4 minutes, drawings on paper) *''Times Square'' (1986, co-directed with Jules Engel, 4 minutes, computer animation) *''Jade Leaf'' (1985, 5 minutes, computer animation) *''Decanter'' (1986, co-directed with Jules Engel, 03:12, 16mm, silent, 2D computer animation, not in distribution) *'' Candyjam'' (1988, co-directed with Joan Gratz, 7 minutes, drawings, puppets and object animation) *''She-Bop'' (1988, 8 minutes, drawings and puppet animation) *''

All My Relations ''All My Relations'' is a 5-minute short animated film from 1990, directed by Joanna Priestley and made from drawings on paper with 3-D frames. Summary It satirizes the pitfalls of romance, from marriage, childbirth and upward mobility to the disi ...

'' (1990, 5 minutes, drawings on paper with 3-D frames) *''After the Fall'' (1991, 6 minutes, drawings on paper, location shooting) *''

Pro and Con ''Pro and Con'' is a 1993 9 minute 16mm short animated film produced, directed and animated by Joanna Priestley and Joan Gratz using drawings on paper, pixillated hands and object animation. The "Pro" section of the film was written by Barbara C ...

'' (1993, co-directed with Joan Gratz, 9 minutes, 2-D puppets, drawings and clay painting) *''Grown Up'' (1993, 7 minutes, drawings on paper, pixillated hands and object animation) *''Hand Held'' (1995, 7 minutes, drawings on paper with pixillated hands) *''Utopia Parkway'' (1997, 5 minutes, drawings on paper and replacement animation) *''Surface Dive'' (2000, 7.5 minutes, 1.85:1, drawings on paper and replacement sculptures) *''Kali Yuga'' (2000, 04' 13", 2-D computer) *''Andaluz'' (2004, co-directed with

Karen Aqua Karen Aqua (February 2, 1954-May 30, 2011) was an American filmmaker and animator. Early life Aqua was born in 1954 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and grew up in the nearby town of Forty Fort. She graduated in 1972 from Wyoming Valley West Senior H ...

, 6 minutes, 1.85:1, drawings on paper) *''Dew Line'' (2005, 4.5 minutes, 2-D computer) *''Extended Play'' (2007, 4 minutes, 2-D computer) *''Streetcar Named Perspire'' (2007, 6.5 minutes, 1.85:1, 2-D computer) *'' Missed Aches'' (2009, 03' 53", 16:9, 2-D computer) *''Eye Liner'' (2011, 03' 53", 16:9,2-D computer) *''Out of Shape'' (2011, 01' 00", 2-D computer) *''Choking Hazard'' (2011, 01'30" 16:9, 2-D computer) *''Rumpy Pumpy'' (2013, 01'47" 16:9, 2-D computer) *''Dear Pluto'' (2012, 04' 13" 16:9, 2-D computer) *''Split Ends'' (2013, 03' 37" 16:9, 2-D computer) *''Bottle Neck'' (2013, 04' 13" 16:9, 2-D computer) *'' North of Blue'' (2018, 01:00:05 16:9, 2-D computer) *''PDX PIX'' (2018, 02' 04" 16:9, Super 8 film transferred to HD digital file) *''Jung & Restless'' (2020, 06' 06, 16:9, 2-D computer) *''Fleeting Marvels'' (2022, 04:28 16:9, live action an 2-D computer animation)

Music videos

*"Good Friends" (Joni Mitchell, 1985, photocopy animation), sequence director/animator for Blashfield and Associates *"

Sowing the Seeds of Love "Sowing the Seeds of Love" is a song by English pop rock band Tears for Fears. It was released as the first single from their third studio album, '' The Seeds of Love'' (1989). The song was a worldwide hit, topping the Canadian '' RPM'' Top Sin ...

" (Tears for Fears, 1988, photocopy animation), sequence director/animator for Blashfield and Associates

Television

*Sesame Street Productions: "The Lumps: Rejection Victories" (1990, 30 seconds) *Sesame Street Productions: "The Lumps: Social Skills" (1990, 30 seconds, drawings on paper with 3-D frames) *

Series Title: "Making Peace" (1996, 60 seconds, drawings on paper)

DVD compilations and iOS app

*''Fighting Gravity'' DVD (2005, 67 min.), ten short films by Priestley *''Relative Orbits'' DVD (2005, 78.5 min.), eight short films and two documentaries produced and directed by Priestley. *''Best of Tricky Women 2009'' DVD (2009, 60 min.), contains ''Streetcar Named Perspire'' by Priestley *Clam Bake (2012, iOS app for iPhone/iPad/iPod, 2-D computer/experimental flash art) *''Escape Velocity'' DVD (2015, 39 min.), nine animated short films produced and directed by Priestley *''Venus Twist'' DVD (2015, 55 min.) seven animated short films produced and directed by Priestley, with a behind the scenes documentary

Retrospectives

*2019. Fantoche International Animation Festival (Baden, Switzerland) *2017. An Evening with Joanna Priestley (NW Film Center, Portland, OR) *2017. British Film Institute, National Film Theater (London, UK) *2017. Stuttgart International Animation Festival (Stuttgart, Germany) *2016. Tricky Women Animation Festival (Vienna, Austria) *2015. Art Education Conference (Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA, USA) *2015. Cinema Pacific Festival (Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR) *2014. POW Festival (Portland, OR) Received POW Festival Pioneer *2013. Sisters Movie House (Sisters, OR) *2013. Northwest Film Center, Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR) *2009. Cinemateca Santa Ana (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico) *2009. Redcat (Los Angeles, CA) *2005. American Cinematheque (Los Angeles, CA) *2005. Jeonju International Film Festival (Jeonju, Korea) *2005. Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN) *2003. Northwest Film Center, Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR) *2000. Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY) *2000. Masters of Animation (Trivandrum, India) *2000. Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, CA) *1995. Animerter Dager (Oslo, Norway) *1994. Stuttgart International Animation Festival (Stuttgart Germany) *1990. Center for Contemporary Art (Warsaw, Poland)

Awards/accolades

* 2018: Los Angeles Animation Festival (USA): Best Feature Film for North of Blue 12-1-1 * 2018: Yosemite International Film Festival (USA): Best Animated Film for North of Blue 11-2-18 * 2018: Local Sightings Film Festival (Seattle, USA): Best Sound Design Award and Best Feature Original Score Award for North of Blue * 2018: European International Film Festival (Saint Petersburg, Russia): Finalist for North of Blue * 2016: Hiroshima International Animation Festival (Japan): Best of the World Program for Bottle Neck * 2014: Black Maria Film Festival (USA): Director's Choice Award for Split Ends * 2014: POW Fest (Portland, OR, USA): Priestley given the Pioneer Award * 2013: Ann Arbor Film Festival (MI, USA): Art & Science Award for Dear Pluto * 2012: ASIFA-San Francisco Film Festival (CA, USA): First Place, Independent Animation for Dear Pluto * 2011: USA Film Festival (Dallas, TX, USA): First Prize for Eye Liner * 2011: Black Maria Film Festival (Jersey City, NJ, USA): Second Prize for Eye Liner * 2009: Black Maria Film Festival (Jersey City, NJ, USA): First Prize (Jury Award) for Missed Aches * 2009: USA Film Festival (Houston, TX, USA): Finalist for Missed Aches * 2008: Regional Arts and Culture Council (Portland, OR, USA): Priestley awarded the Media Arts Fellowship * 2005: Big Muddy Film Festival (Carbondale, IL, USA): First Prize for Dew Line * 2004: Black Maria Film Festival (Jersey City, NJ, USA): Director's Choice Award for Andaluz (co-directed with Karen Aqua) * 2004: ASIFA Festival (USA): Excellence in Experimental Techniques Award for Andaluz (co-directed with Karen Aqua) * 2001: Tricky Women Animation Festival (Vienna, Austria): First Prize/City of Vienna Prize * 2000: Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (South Korea): First Place Award for Expression for Surface Dive * 2000: World Animation Celebration (Los Angeles, CA, USA): Second Prize: Best Experimental Film for Surface Dive * 1998: Northwest Film and Video Festival (Portland, OR, USA): Judges award for Utopia Parkway * 1997: San Francisco International Film Festival (CA, USA): Golden Gate Award for Utopia Parkway * 1997: Big Muddy Film Festival (Carbondale, IL, USA): Best of Festival for Utopia Parkway * 1995: Marin County Film Festival (CA, USA): First Prize for Hand Held * 1995: Northwest Film and Video Festival (Portland, OR, USA): First Prize for Hand Held * 1994: Northwest Film and Video Festival (Portland, OR, USA): First Prize for Grown-Up * 1994: Marin County Film Festival (CA, USA): First Prize for Grown-Up * 1994: Worldfest Houston (TX, USA): Gold Award for Grown-Up * 1993: Sinking Creek Film Festival (USA): Best Animated Film for Pro & Con * 1993: Black Maria Film Festival (Jersey City, NJ, USA): Director's Choice Award * 1993: Cindy Competition (USA): Gold Award for Pro and Con * 1993: CINE Competition (USA): Gold Eagle Award for Pro and Con * 1991: National Independent Film Competition (USA): Grand Prix for After the Fall * 1991: Athens Film and Video Festival (USA): First Prize for After the Fall * 1991: Northwest Film and Video Festival (Portland, OR, USA): First Prize for After the Fall * 1990: National Independent Film Competition (USA): Grand Prix * 1990: Black Maria Film and Video Festival (Jersey City, NJ, USA): Jury Award for Excellence for All My Relations * 1990: Big Muddy Film Festival (Carbondale, IL, USA): First Prize - Animation for All My Relations * 1998: National Independent Film and Video Competition (USA): Grand Prix for She-Bop * 1998: Black Maria Film Festival (Jersey City, NJ, USA): Director's Choice Award for She-Bop * 1998: San Francisco International Film Festival (CA, USA): Special Jury Award for She-Bop * 1998: National Educational Film Festival (USA): Special Merit Award for She-Bop * 1988: Black Maria Film Festival (Jersey City, NJ, USA): First Prize for Candyjam * 1985: National Short Film and Video Competition (USA): Judges Special Prize for New Animation Talent for The Dancing Bulrushes * 1985: National Independent Film Competition: First Place (USA) for Voices * 1985: National Educational Film Festival: First Place for Voices * 1985: Algarve Cinema Festival (Portugal): Best Animated Film for Voices * 1985: Tel Aviv International Film Festival (Israel): First Place for Voices * 1985: Big Muddy Film Festival (Carbondale, IL, USA): Best of Festival for Voices * 1985: Canadian International Animation Festival (Canada): Special Merit Award for Voices * 1985: Northwest Film and Video Festival (Portland, OR, USA): Best of Festival for Voices * 1985: Chicago International Film Festival (IL, USA): Bronze Hugo Award for Voices * 1985: Odense International Film Festival (Denmark): Special Jury Prize for Voices * 1983: New York Independent Filmmakers Expo (NY, USA): First Place for The Rubber Stamp Film * 1983: Motion Picture Sound Editors (Los Angeles, CA, USA): Golden Reel Award for The Rubber Stamp Film * 1983: Northwest Film and Video Festival (Portland, OR, USA): First Place for The Rubber Stamp Film

Personal life

Priestley's interests include hiking, medicinal herbalism and designing and producing performative events for Burning Man and

All Hallows Eve Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

. She is married to award winning animation director and production designer

Paul Harrod Paul Harrod is an American animation director, production designer, and art director with a special emphasis on stop motion. Early life Paul Harrod was born in Menlo Park, California on February 5, 1958, to Lee and Betty Harrod. Education Pa ...

(''

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ha ...

'', ''

Wendell & Wild ''Wendell & Wild'' is a 2022 American stop motion animated horror comedy film directed by Henry Selick from a screenplay written by Selick and Jordan Peele (who are also producers), based on Selick's and Clay McLeod Chapman's unpublished book ...

'', and ''

The PJs ''The PJs'' is an American adult animated stop-motion black sitcom created by Eddie Murphy, Larry Wilmore, and Steve Tompkins. It portrayed life in an urban public housing project, modeled after the Cabrini–Green housing projects in Chicago. ...

'').

References

External links

Joanna Priestley website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Priestley, Joanna American animated film directors American women film directors American animators Film directors from Oregon Filmmakers from Portland, Oregon American women animators Pacific Northwest College of Art faculty Rhode Island School of Design alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni California Institute of the Arts alumni Historians of animation Living people American women experimental filmmakers 1950 births American people of English descent American women academics 21st-century American women