
Sarah E. Jenkins

Sarah E. Jenkins (they/she) is a queer Appalachian artist and experimental animator from central Pennsylvania.
Their recent work explores extraction, hidden labors, and disappearance via both in-studio and site-responsive stop motion animation. Their work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Art Boston, ICA/Boston, Emerson Contemporary, and the Torrance Art Museum. In 2023, the Ciné Culture Series at Massachusetts College of Art and Design offered a screening retrospective of Jenkins’ moving image work. Jenkins's work has also been screened with The Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany, Wonzimer, and at independent theaters including the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts. Jenkins’s residencies include MacDowell, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and the Santa Fe Art Institute’s 2023 Thematic Residency: Changing Climate. There will be a six-month solo exhibition of Jenkins’ work at the Boston Children’s Museum opening September 2023. Their work is included in the forthcoming book Queering Appalachia's Visual History: A Collection of Queer Appalachian Photographers, University of Kentucky Press (2024).
When she isn’t teaching or making art, Jenkins spends time taking meandering walks around Northampton with her adventure cat, Nessie.
Recent and Upcoming Courses
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This studio course focuses on experimental and non-traditional methods for creating 2D animation. Experimental animation may be non-narrative, abstract, or difficult to define. It may be created with techniques that reimagine or revolt against traditional animation practices, ideas, and narratives. In the course, we will cover a breadth of introductory and Intermediate 2D animation techniques, including analog hand drawn animation, digital hand drawn animation, digital puppetry, and compositing. We will also cover sound recording, mixing, and editing for animation. The course consists of screenings, discussion, technical demos, weekly projects, critiques, and a final short film project. Students will need an external hard drive for this course. Animation is a time-consuming art form. Expect to work a minimum of 10 hours outside of class time every week. Keywords:animation, moving image, filmmaking, experimental
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This studio course is for artists and creatives interested in reimagining and recontextualizing their work frame by frame with animation. Students working in sculpture, painting, photography, performance, drawing, or other media will explore the possibilities for animating their work and learn a variety of techniques to integrate animation into their art practice. Multiple animation techniques will be introduced, with a focus on experimental and transdisciplinary methods and ideologies. This course is designed for second year Div 2 and Div 3 students with an active creative practice who would like to integrate animation into their work. The course is particularly suited for students who would like to integrate animation or moving images into their Division 3 work. Animation is a time-consuming art form. Expect to work a minimum of 10 hours outside of class time every week. Keywords:animation, moving image, filmmaking, experimental, transdisciplinary
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Animation is an art of transformation, metamorphosis, and amalgamation. Animation is both anti-technology and hyper digital. Animation is subversive, magical, and expansive. In this course, students will be introduced to an array of foundational animation ideas and techniques. Students will gain hands-on experience with stop motion animation, hand drawn animation, 2d digital animation, sound recording, and hybrid analog/digital techniques. The course will include screenings and discussion, technical demos, studio work, and critique. We will use the following gear and software: Digital cameras, smartphones, sound recorders, Dragon Frame stop motion, Adobe Premiere, Animate, and Photoshop. Animation can be a time-consuming process, please plan to spend a minimum of 10 hours per week working outside of class. Some weeks this will be less, often it will be more. Students will need an external hard drive. Keywords:animation, video, filmmaking, stop motion, moving image
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In Advanced Animation Projects, students will create long-form, independent animation projects. We will begin with ideation and pre-production, moving into production, post-production, professional practices, and ending with a screening & critique. This course is well-suited for advanced Div II and Div III students with prior animation experience and an interest in creating a robust, semester-long animation project. Students should expect to work a minimum of 10 hours per week outside of class time. Students will need an external hard drive. Keywords:animation, film, video, moving image, sound
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Octavia E Butler's Earthseed science fiction series envisioned a future devastated by climate change, wealth disparity, violence, and political injustice. Published in 1993, Parable of the Sower places us in a dystopian 2024, where we follow the journey of Lauren Oya Olamina, a black teenage girl with hyper-empathy syndrome and an idea for a new religion called Earthseed. In this hybrid seminar/studio course, we will begin with a reading and analysis of Butler's Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998). Afterwards, students will imagine & create animated projects that conceptually tie to the themes present in Octavia E Butler's work, including afrofuturism, climate change, and political injustice. This course is limited to Division II and III students. Students should have a working knowledge of Dragon Frame, Premiere Pro, Sound recording, and traditional or digital 2D animation. Expect to spend 8-12 hours per week outside of class time. Students will need an external hard drive for this course Keywords: Octavia E Butler, Animation, Science Fiction
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This course explores the possibilities of animation outside the confines of the traditional studio. We will screen & discuss experimental and nontraditional works that explore pixelation, outdoor animation, site-responsive animation, and hybrid approaches to moving image art. In addition to reading, writing, and discussion, students will work collaboratively to create their own animations in the wild. Please note that we will be working outside in this course Keywords: animation, moving image, art
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This course will take students through a comprehensive history of animated films, artists, and processes, beginning with pre-film animation devices of the 1800s and moving into the current millennium. Students will reflect upon the ways that animation intersects with social issues, politics, cultural ideas, and technological innovation across time and geography. We will cover both independent practices and commercial studios, with a breadth of genres and styles of work that includes both traditional narrative animation and art that questions how we define animation in the first place. Keywords:Animation, History, Film, Media The content of this course deals with issues of race and power.