Maynooth, Cintiqs and Art of/and Psychology Seminar

Busy day yesterday! First, I presented the latest version of 'anatomy of an internet series' to Barry McCabe's final year Digital Media students in Kairos in Maynooth. Thanks to Barry for the invite again!

Returned to IADT around lunchtime to discover that Dee Mc was the first of our 4th year students to get a Cintiq working! Later in the day, Anita emails me to say...

'I've been using it for an hour or so and I've done more than I'd have done in a day on a tablet (And it looks infinitely better too!)'

Woohoo! Success!

In the afternoon, in the Drawing Project in Dun Laoghaire, Brendan Rooney and Nicola Fox Hamilton present 'Art of/and Psychology' seminar.

Psychology of engaging with Film, Art and other visuals.

Dr. Brendan Rooney and Nicola Fox Hamilton (IADT Lecturers), introduce and explore some ways in which psychologists can explore human engagement with film, art, graphic or other emotional information. What do we know about the way humans engage with this art and entertainment and how can we apply this knowledge?

The session discusses the aims of psychology of art, film and design. Explore areas such as persuasive, emotional or universal design. Using research on film, the session will explore the interaction between our automatic emotional responses towards film (or art) and our thinking about the film (or art). Followed by some collaborative discussion and Q&A.

Excellent presentations and a pointer to future interdisciplinary potentials for our institute.

State of play of the European Qualifications Framework implementation

Really fantastic European Parliamentary Research Service webpage on the current status of EQF implementation. Some great paratextual resources here!

http://epthinktank.eu/2013/10/02/state-of-play-of-the-european-qualifications-framework-implementation/

http://ec.europa.eu/eqf/home_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/eqf/compare/ie_en.htm#comparison

Farewell Jimmy Murakami!

Thanks to Barry O Donoghue for telling me about the passing of Jimmy Murakami, aged 80. Not only one of 'the founders of Irish Animation', but a truly global animation star, working for UPA, Toei and George Dunning's TVC as he criss-crossed the planet as a journeyman animator. With Fred Wolf, he setup Murakami-Wolf in 1965, the studio becoming one of the busiest commercial studios in the US. Murakami came to Ireland in 1971 and was supervising Director on 'The Snowman' in 1982. In Dublin, the Murakami-Wolf studio became synonymous with the 'Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtle' tv series.

Murakami had an unshakable belief in the importance of art in animation and in the necessity for individual animators to make strong, personal, uncompromising and challenging statements through animation. In Ireland, we depended on Jimmy for his advice and guidance on all matters of animation education, art and business.

Thank you Jimmy! We shall all miss you.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/rip/when-the-wind-blows-director-jimmy-murakami-rip-96140.html

Animation At The Cutting Edge - An Alphaville Symposium UCC 150214

Thanks to all at Film Studies in UCC for organising an excellent Alphaville Symposium last Saturday afternoon. Some great presentations, especially Paul Ward's 'Animation as Atavistic Magic' and Helen Haswell from Queen's University on Hand-drawn aesthetics and Affection for the past in Pixar's Pioneering Animation'.

Thanks also to Yuanyuan Chen (UCC) for her presentation on Bu Hua's animation, and for assembling the Bu Hua screening after the presentations.

Some great potential linkages into the future. Excellent!

Paul Ward sets up his 'Animation as Atavistic Magic' presentation

The  Film and Screen Media Auditorium, Windle Building, UCC

http://animationcuttingedge.wordpress.com/programme/

http://www.buhua.com

http://www.buhua.com/flash.html

WIT Mentoring Certificate

This morning a very pretty parchment arrives in the post from the Academic Awards Office of Waterford Institute of Technology. My 10 credit, Level 9 Certificate in Mentoring, a component of my LIN Flexible Pathway Postgraduate Diploma in Learning Teaching and Assessment. Thanks to Sean Moran and his WIT team, as well as my fellow Mentoring colleagues, for all their assistance on this excellent module.

Sadly, the powers that be in IADT have decided that the LIN postgraduate Diploma is an 'intermediate' qualification, is not an 'appropriate' postgrad qualification (as they'd previously agreed), and therefore does not make me eligible for progression to Lecturer. I now have to wait for the completion and conferring of my Masters, sometime in November 2015, for my progression application to be even considered again. A valued member of the Institute team? It certainly doesn't feel like it.

Good and Maybe Not So Good

Today, I handed back a Volkswagen Passat (my purgatory car) after six months and reclaimed my Subaru Legacy - with a new 2 litre flat four engine installed, all good. I also started two weeks break on 'stress related' leave from college - not so good.

My GP tells me I probably just need to recharge my batteries. I sincerely hope that in two weeks time, I'll be strong enough to do the job to the best of my abilities again. At the moment, I don't feel that way. I feel rinsed out, emotionally exhausted. I will be fine!