Lisa Crafts is an American animator and moving image artist whose interdisciplinary work has addressed issues of environmental uncertainty, sexuality, creativity and chaos.

Practice

Her current body of work focuses on a series of short moving image pieces about the

Anthropocene ''Anthropocene'' is a term that has been used to refer to the period of time during which human impact on the environment, humanity has become a planetary force of change. It appears in scientific and social discourse, especially with respect to ...

, revealing the horror, beauty, humor and loss of the epoch. Crafts' work blends animation, video, photography, drawing, painting and sculpture. It has been exhibited in galleries, museums, theaters and film festivals including the Museum of Modern Art, Film Forum, Slamdance, Tribeca Film Festival and

La Luz de Jesus La Luz de Jesus Gallery is a art museum, commercial art gallery located in Los Angeles, California. It is closely associated with the Lowbrow (art movement), Lowbrow Art Movement, Kustom Kulture, and pop surrealism. It is located on the top floo ...

. She is a 2012

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

and has received grants from the

Jerome Foundation James Jerome Hill II (March 2, 1905 – November 21, 1972) was an American filmmaker and artist known for his award-winning documentary and experimental films, one of which won him an Academy Award. Career Hill was the child of railroad executiv ...

New York State Council on the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) serves to foster and advance the arts, culture, and creativity throughout New York State, according to its website. The goal of the council is to allow all New Yorkers to benefit from the contribution ...

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

and

The MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The program was founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowe ...

. One of Crafts' best known works is ''Desire Pie'', a feminist erotic animation which screened widely; was "banned in Boston"; was lost, found, and restored; and ended up in the permanent collection of 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 (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York. Crafts teaches in the film-video department of

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

in Brooklyn, NY. Crafts has collaborated with documentary filmmakers to create animation of dreams, memories and hallucinations. Notable work includes Michel Negroponte's ''Methodonia'' and ''I'm Dangerous With Love'',

Cindy Kleine Cindy Kleine is an American film director, producer and video artist. She grew up on Long Island. In 2000, she married actor and filmmaker Andre Gregory. Kleine's 2013 documentary '' Andre Gregory: Before and After Dinner'' is about him. It was ...

’s ''Phyllis and Harold'' and ''André Gregory: Before and After Dinner''. She has also created animations in collaboration with Ken Brown for ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, 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 Worksh ...

'',

American Movie Classics AMC (an abbreviation of the channel's original name, American Movie Classics) is an American basic cable television channel that is the flagship property of AMC Networks. Launched in late 1984, the channel aired classic films prior to the 197 ...

, MTV and VH1. One of her ''Sesame Street'' animations, done solo, features the voice of the then-unknown anime voice actor

Steve Blum Steven Jay Blum (; born April 29, 1960) is an American voice actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, his roles include Spike Spiegel from the anime series ''Cowboy Bebop''; Amon from ''The Legend of Korra''; Heatblast, Ghostfreak, and ...

Selected Animation and Moving Image Works

*''Season of Wonder','' 2015 *''Still Life with Golden Apple,'' 2014 *''Spitopia,'' 2014 *''Oil Spill With Bird'', 2013 *''3 Natures Mortes,'' 2010 *''Overgrowth'', 2009 *''The Flooded Playground'', 2005.''The Flooded Playground'' awards, Internet Movie Database
/ref> *''Shout!'', 1985 *''The Octopus's Exultation'', 1984 *''Glass Gardens'', 1982 *''Pituitary'', 1979 *''Desire Pie'', 1976

References

External links

Lisa Crafts official site
*
''The Flooded Playground'', Internet Movie DatabaseReview: "Cartoons: No Laughing Matter?" by Michael Atkinson, ''Village Voice'', May 2, 2006Review: "Cartoons: No Laughing Matter?" by Ed Gonzalez, Slant, April 28, 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crafts, Lisa American animated film directors American women film directors Living people American women animators Year of birth missing (living people) American women experimental filmmakers