mari jaye blanchard
As an artist and film maker, I employ old and new technologies to create visual experiences inviting shifts of perspective and empathetic engagement. From vintage machines to virtual reality films, animation lives at the heart of each work. Disseminated nationally and internationally, each project has promoted within my own practice a dedication to learning that has greatly influenced my scholarly and pedagogical approach.
After receiving my MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, and working for over a decade as a commercial muralist, I traded my brushes for a digital drawing tablet. Along with several of my own shorts, which have screened worldwide including festivals in Annecy, Melbourne, Paris, and Berlin, I have produced animations for Sesame Workshop, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).
mari jaye circa 1980
I am a NYFA Fellow, an Asian American Arts Alliance Urban Artist Initiative (UAI) Fellow, an ASIFA-Hollywood AEF Grant recipient and a co-founder of the NYC animation collective Family Camp.
While I continue my own independent work, I get daily inspiration from my students and colleagues at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where I am an Associate Professor in the College of Art and Design’s School of Film and Animation.