BRATTLEBORO — Epsilon Spires will present a kid-friendly afternoon of performance and animation on Saturday, Dec. 14, from 2 to 4 p.m.
“Weird Animation for Kids (Of All Ages)” is a 70-minute program of short films from around the world that embrace playfulness and creativity.
The program will feature character animation made using the traditional hand-drawn method - like Ub Iwerks' classic Flip the Frog (1930) and Priit Parn's ...And Plays Tricks (1993).
Other films embrace more experimental methods - like Al Jarnow's Shorelines (1977), a stop-motion film made by animating found seashells, and Ed Ackerman's Primit Too Taa (1988), an animated expression of a Kurt Schwitters sound poem made with a typewriter.
Co-curators Jo Dery, Leif Goldberg, and Erin Rosenthal met in the 1990s as film/animation/video students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The old friends now live in Vermont - Dery in Brattleboro, and Goldberg and Rosenthal in Hardwick.
The event will begin with a 10-minute performance by The Lovelights, a Turners Falls, Mass., based group.
The Lovelights are known for developing a children's television series that celebrates art, music, nature, friendship, kindness, curiosity, and community. The show features a family of quirky, artistic, and magical sisters, who find themselves on a series of adventures when they discover fairies living in their town.
Popcorn and snacks will be available, and the event will conclude with a dance party. Admission is on a sliding scale from $5 to $10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
For more information, visit www.epsilonspires.org or contact co-curator Jo Dery, johannadery@gmail.com, or Jamie Mohr, jamie.mohr78@gmail.com.