XA Artists in Residence 2024 – Lowell Astronomy Discovery Center Grand Opening
Daniel Chit mentored Dine'/Navajo artist Jara Nez, a first-time animator who depicted First Nations mythology through beautiful animations. Zeping Sun created the Universe Theater’s grand finale by sonifying scientific data and is developing a visualization of light traveling from t
Brittaney Smothers (MFA 2) Receives the 2024 SCA Diversity & Inclusion Award!
On April 29, 2024, XA MFA-2 student Brittaney Smothers received the SCA Council on Diversity & Inclusion Certificate for Outstanding Work. The event honored students from each SCA division/program for their “groundbreaking contributions to empowering diverse voices and perspectives.
Time Capsule 2050 Project Launches with a Panel, Pizza, and Workshop
To kick off the year-long, IBM-funded digital Time Capsule 2050 creative projects, XA and IBM hosted a panel and participatory workshop in April 2024 to provoke discussions about what new technologies might potentially enable in the future – in cinema and in life. The panelists– S
Professor Kathy Smith Shares her Research at NVIDIA GTC AI Conference
In March 2024, XA Professor Kathy Smith presented a 50-minute lecture, “Visualizing New Narrative Forms,” at the NVIDIA GTC Conference about her creative research on NeRFs and AI experiments from the XA AI Dream Lab and her signature course “Contemporary Topics: Animation Dreams
First Annual XA Portfolio Day
In March, 2024, XA hosted its first Expanded Animation Portfolio Day in the School of Cinematic Arts Gallery. Bento Box, ShadowMachine, Open the Portal, the Gotham Group, Silverlake Shorts, and Pinkfong were among the 18 studios, galleries, screening venues, advertising agencies, and
XA AI Dream Lab Produces “Coral Banking” AI short
Directed by MFA 2 Sijia Zheng in collaboration with Wrigley Institute for Environment & Sustainability, “Coral Banking” is an entirely AI-animated, science visualization that highlights the research being done to save coral reefs around the world. The AI Dream Lab is funded by the
WIA Scholarship Awarded to XA student Dina Garatly!
Last spring, Dina Garatly (XA MFA ‘24) received a prestigious Women in Animation (WIA) Scholarship award. The WIA Scholarship Program is an annual award for women and non-binary student applicants who demonstrate artistic talent, a passion for animation, and a promising future in an
Professor Lisa Mann’s Sculpture Maps Homelessness
XA Professor Lisa Mann’s artwork “George Wilson: Home (more-or-less)” is on display for three years at Sidney F. Tyler Park, on S. Lake Avenue at Oakwood Place, Pasadena, as part of the Pasadena Rotating Public Art Program Series IV. The audio-sculpture is composed of four, stee
Visions and Voices Animation workshop: Reproductive Rights, Art and Activism
"Our Bodies, Our Battleground" is a compilation of short animations using the ancient art of frottage (rubbing color media on paper over textures) created during a workshop for the USC 2023 Visions and Voices event, "Art, Activism and Reproductive Rights." The workshop was led by XA P
“SPIDER-VERSE” HEAD OF STORY TO TEACH XA MASTER CLASS
USC animation alumnx Miguel Jirón has recently completed work as Head of Story on the critically acclaimed Sony Pictures Animation “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” The 2023 film is the sequel to the Academy AwardⓇ-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” on which
