Ruth Hayes

Sketches of various creatures seen in Florence this week.

In Florence for the last few days of our trip walking the Cinque Terre. Yesterday we visited the Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David and other works. It’s such a monumental and iconic piece that I decided to just sketch his hand. Then I got interested in the different faces of Madonna’s and Saints.

More reversal/phytogram experiments with nettle leaves on 3383 16mm. This time I used a dilute developer infused with turmeric to paint parts of the film before laying leaves down. Some of the leaves had been soaking in full strength developer for several days. Some were fresh. The explosive looking patterns are from dandelion flower heads spritzed with developer and placed face down. Speckles nearby are from their pollen. I lay strands of the lichen usnea over everything, but that is not so visible. Neither are the hands that I filmed first. I believe I made a mistake when I restarted my phytogramming this spring by tossing out last summer’s developer which was a rich broth of all the plants I’ve soaked in it. the first sequences I made haven’t been so rich in color. This is the fifth test I’ve done and more variety of tones are emerging. I’m beginning to think that the developer is like sourdough starter. It gets more interesting and complex with age. #phytograms #interbaycinemasociety #experimentalanimation #ics_film #directanimation #experimentalfilm #cameralessfilm #16mmfilm #analogdigitalhybrid #reversalprocess #ecoprocessing

Acid Media just released their Spring/Summer line-up of experimental films. I’m happy to have Perilous Experiment included in the mix! https://www.acid.media/videos/perilous-experiment. After I tried to explain to my mother what experimental animation was, she commented that the Latin root of the word experiment is "peri", suggesting a boundary, as in "perimeter." As she described it, experimenting means to venture beyond boundaries, an action potentially full of peril. Perilous Experiment enacts that idea through the direct animation technique of letterpress printing on 16mm film leader. A previous analog version was presented as a live projection performance in 2015. I ran three separate loops containing syllables from the words “perilous” and “experiment” continuously so that, as they went in and out of sync with each other, the syllables lined up slightly differently with each repetition, creating words that sometimes didn’t make sense. This digital version attempts to approximate that effect. Printed on a Vandercook proof press using 10 and 12 point Gothic lead type at Community Print, Olympia WA. Digitally transferred, looped in AfterEffects. Soundtrack by Peter Randlette. #acidmedia #experimentalanimation #letterpress

I tested reversal processing using two different developers but the same film stock (3383) and processing times. The top strip was developed in “beerenol” and the bottom one in cafenol. After bleaching, I did the second development as phytograms. Anyone have any idea why the beerenol strip has so much more color? #experimentalfilm #phytography #analogfilm #ecoprocessing

Fugue State, a project of Disassociative Productions, is a new traveling festival of experimental, radical, political, and avant-garde cinema with previous screenings held at the NY Film-Maker’s Coop, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Elastic Arts Foundation (Chicago), and Comfort Station (Chicago), the festival keeps expanding to new cities, including Cincinnati and Milwaukee for multiple nights of screenings. M Woods, multi-disciplinary artist and founder of the festival, created the platform as a direct attack at the gate-kept, corrupted, and cronyistic film festival circuit. The Fugue State Milwaukee program tosses back and forth between organic, analog, and natural processes to the extremes of the synthetic landscapes, contorting cinematic space and its hyperreal double, at times directly critiquing the parasitic twin that engorges our fascist teleplay. This program showcases some of the best work from the first season of FUGUE STATE in a tumult of medias from mordan-caged 16mm film to computer-generated abstractions. Produced in partnership with @several.references.to.feedback and presented by Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts (@jazzgalleryarts ) 926 E Center St, Milwaukee, WI 53212 FULL PROGRAM: Exo Gestus #2 - Yvette Granata @yvettegranata Gentle Fiddling - Darren Douglas Floyd @darren_douglas_floyd Ammonite - Charli Christine Marker @cookierill Light Hole - Alicia Mujynya @alternativejacket The shape of an unlit horizon - Takahiro Suzuki @thiro.suzuki linea ver - Francisca Duran @franciduran The Beginning - Sage O Tuama @sage720p Session Memory - Dana Dawud @dansdansrev American Foreskin - Sonia Rosa Kahn @soniak.jpg Tulsa - Scott Stark @slugger414 Hemorrhage - Ruth Hayes @randomruth_animation a shifting pattern - Isaac Sherman @isaacalpertsherman What’s in a lamp? - Bennet Pimpinella @bennetpimpinella Patria Im(age)itate - Long Pham @longlolz #contemporaryart #filmfestival #analogfilm #videoart @agitate21c

I’m delighted to learn that “Your First Amendment Rights” made in collaboration with David Mendoza nearly 30 years ago just won Best Educational Short at the Little Penguin online film festival. Some things never get old! Here’s a link to watch it: /204817167?fl=pl&fe=sh

Here’s my 10 second offering to the Fall of Freedom call for short videos to contribute to this urgent nationwide arts movement united in defiance of authoritarianism. Sound by @bongpilot Over 100 artists responded to the call. You can view the entire piece here: /1139013273. Thanks to @LynneSachs @BrettKashmere @CanyonCinemaFoundation @MattMcKinzie @FilmmakersCooperative for organizing it. #falloffreedom #politicalfilm #politicalanimation #experimentalanimation #handdrawnanimation #reproductiverights #reproductivejustice #pregnancyjustice #abortionclinicfilmcollective #prochoiceisprolife #prochoice #womensrights #womensrightsarehumanrights #abortthecourt #Usoutofmyuterus #abortionrights #abortionishealthcare #abortionisawomansright #animateddocumentary #abortion #feminism #womenshealth #abortioneveryday #pregnancyjustice #nationalwomenslawcenter

South Carolina: As if the Grief Were Not Enough. Another Case of Criminalizing Pregnancy Loss This is a trend. Police and prosecutors in several states have been cruelly arresting miscarriage patients and charging them with improperly disposing of fetal remains even though there are no laws that govern that. -20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. -The majority of people criminalized for pregnancy loss are women of color. For more on this story, see /p/another-woman-arrested-for-her-pregnancy. #reproductiverights #prochoiceisprolife #prochoice #womensrights #womensrightsarehumanrights #abortthecourt #Usoutofmyuterus #abortionrights #abortionishealthcare #abortionisawomansright #animateddocumentary #abortion #feminism #womenshealth #abortioneveryday #pregnancyjustice #nationalwomenslawcenter

If you’re in the Wilmington area, here’s an opportunity to see this excellent program of works by the Abortion Clinic Film Collective. It includes my film Hemorrhage. #reproductiverights #prochoiceisprolife #prochoice #womensrights #womensrightsarehumanrights #abortthecourt #Usoutofmyuterus #abortionrights #abortionishealthcare #abortionisawomansright #nationalwomenslawcenter #pregnancyjustice

Georgia: As if the Grief Were Not Enough A Case of Criminalizing Pregnancy Loss. To read more about this case, see /p/georgia-woman-arrested-for-how-she?utm_source=publication-search and visit / for more media about reproductive rights. #reproductiverights #prochoiceisprolife #prochoice #womensrights #womensrightsarehumanrights #abortthecourt #Usoutofmyuterus #abortionrights #abortionishealthcare #abortionisawomansright #animateddocumentary #abortion #feminism #womenshealth #abortioneveryday #pregnancyjustice #nationalwomenslawcenter

Texas: As if the Grief Were Not Enough. To read more about this case, see /p/texas-jailed-a-miscarriage-patient. @abortioneveryday @abortionclinicfilmcollective #reproductiverights #prochoiceisprolife #prochoice #womensrights #womensrightsarehumanrights #abortthecourt #Usoutofmyuterus #abortionrights #abortionishealthcare #abortionisawomansright #animateddocumentary #abortion #feminism #womenshealth #abortioneveryday #pregnancyjustice #nationalwomenslawcenter