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In the News: Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, Kaho Yoshida, D. Vanessa Kam, Tessa Reed, Gio Swaby

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Gio Swaby, New Growth 1, 2020. (Courtesy Claire Oliver Gallery)

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By Perrin Grauer

Posted on | Updated

This week: Academy Award nominations, animated films, artist catalogues, cat ceramics and a spotlight from Gagosian!

Welcome to our semi-regular feature, the 麻豆视频 News Roundup.

We鈥檝e linked to each article below so you can explore all the fantastic news our community has been creating.

Thanks, as always, for reading!


Flying Sailor Flying High

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From Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby's The Flying Sailor. (Image courtesy the artists / National Film Board)

Wendy Tilby (alum 1986) and Amanda Forbis鈥 (alum 1988) award-winning animated short The Flying Sailor continues to wow audiences and critics around the world.

As in Animation Magazine, the film won awards for Best Character-Based film and Best Experimental film at the Los Angeles Animation Festival in late 2022. It also at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival; has been screening in the ; was on Short of The Week; and is currently for Best Short Subject at the 2023 Annie Awards.

Film Carnage, meanwhile, 5 stars and a 10/10, writing that Amanda and Wendy 鈥渂ring everything you didn鈥檛 know you needed to life with this story, making something wholly original, entertaining and touching.鈥 Animation World Network likewise delivered .

To top it all off, the film is for 鈥楤est Animated Short Film鈥 at the 2023 Academy Awards. The renowned artists count a pair of prior Oscar nominations among their accolades, for 1999鈥檚 When the Day Breaks and 2011鈥檚 Wild Life

鈥淲e are absolutely blown away by this fabulous news and, like our sailor, we鈥檙e flying high!鈥 Wendy and Amanda . 鈥淭he National Film Board of Canada has our endless gratitude for their unwavering support, and for making films like ours possible in the first place. We share this honour with our stellar creative team, especially producer David Christensen and sound designer Luigi Allemano.鈥

Luigi, a composer as well as a filmmaker in his own right, is also an 麻豆视频 alum, having graduated with a BFA in 1997.

Visit 麻豆视频鈥檚 website to read our feature interview with Wendy and Amanda from last year. Hear from Wendy and Amanda themselves in Sundance Institute鈥檚 . Read more about the pair鈥檚 recent Oscar nomination .

Learn more about studying in 麻豆视频鈥檚 world-class 2D + Experimental and 3D Computer animation programs today, at ecuad.ca.


Kaho Yoshida in It鈥檚 Nice That



Arts and culture publication It鈥檚 Nice That recently published on the work of artist and animator (BMA 2015).

Her recent film, Tongue, 鈥渂ites back against the racialized and gendered stereotypes imposed on Asian women,鈥 the article says.

鈥淔irst and foremost, I would like people who share the experience of being fetishized to feel seen and validated,鈥 Kaho tells It鈥檚 Nice That.

鈥淚 have learned that the more authentic and vulnerable I am, the more people seem to connect with my stories.鈥

Watch the film online via . Visit to learn more about Tongue and get a behind-the-scenes look at Kaho鈥檚 concept and process artwork.


D. Vanessa Kam in ArtAsiaPacific

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Martin Wong鈥檚 Untitled (Self Portrait), c. 1974-75. (Courtesy鈥痮f鈥痶he Martin Wong Foundation鈥痑nd P路P路O路W, New York)

A in contemporary art publication ArtAsiaPacific noted the launch of the (MWCR). The free, online resource provides detailed records of more than 800 works by Chinese American artist Martin Wong.

The catalogue also includes new essays by scholars and curators, including an introduction by D. Vanessa Kam, co-editor of MWCR and electronic resources librarian at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

鈥淥ur goal for this project was that the sum of all the elements of the MWCR would bring the work of Martin Wong to a broader audience, while providing sustenance to the viewers who already have reasons to revere this highly prolific, influential, and inimitable artist,鈥 Vanessa writes in the introduction.

now via the Stanford Libraries website.


Tessa Reed in Vancouver is Awesome



Vancouver is Awesome (VIA) recently featured artist Tessa Read (BFA 2017) in exploring their wildly popular cat-themed ceramics.

Tessa鈥檚 cat, Charlie, is a central source of inspiration for the work Tessa produces out of Tessaramics studio. Though Tessa notes their work is also inspired by themes of queer identity.

鈥淚 love to see queer celebration and that queer joy or gay joy or trans joy 鈥 for the queer audience to appreciate it and not for people to be thinking deeply or sadly about the struggles in the world,鈥 they tell VIA. 鈥淏ecause, at the end of the day, ceramics is made to be interacted with, and it鈥檚 made for day-to-day life, which should be full of love.鈥

Follow Tessa and and visit to see more of their wonderful work.


Gio Swaby in Gagosian Quarterly

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Artist Gio Swaby with one of her works. (Image courtesy Claire Oliver Gallery)

Artist Gio Swaby was the subject of a in the Winter 2022 edition of Gagosian Quarterly.

In an essay titled 鈥楻oot of Black Joy,鈥 writer and author Brooke C. Obie discusses 鈥渢hemes of finding play, connection and joy in the midst of tragedy鈥 in Gio鈥檚 work.

鈥淲e鈥檙e bombarded with images of Black people suffering and experiencing trauma. It affects you; it takes a toll to see it over and over again,鈥 Gio tells Brooke, adding that trauma is far from the only historical legacy of Black communities.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 at the crux of what I鈥檓 doing. I talk a lot about the work being about joy, but you find that joy through healing. The work I鈥檓 making does not disregard that trauma; it鈥檚 thinking about how we can heal. For me, finding joy is a way to do that.鈥

Visit to see more of her work. Read our 2022 story about Gio now via 麻豆视频鈥檚 website.