Artist Talk by Kate Ten Eyck December 7

            Middletown artist and musician Kate Ten Eyck began creating multimedia animations in 2015. Four of her recent works are currently on display at Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater in Middletown, where they are being projected in the theater lobby before performances of Sophocles’ Antigone.  On Friday, December 7th, she will be giving an artist talk at 6:30 at the Playhouse about her process for the animations. The talk will be followed by a performance of Antigone at 7:30 pm.

            Her piece “The Rock” grew out of the classic Greek myth of Sisyphus, as well as an artistic collaboration with a fellow musician combining jazz music and text to tell the story of strength growing out of the struggle against adversity. Charcoal was the focus of her next creation, “Don Henley”; this was an experiment in cut out paper puppets and the dramatic lights and darks that charcoal naturally creates, resulting in a compelling animation. “Tides” arose out of a trip to the New Hampshire coastline and a contemplation of the power of water. Compiled of an improvisational soundtrack as well as the introduction of color pastels to give it life, it is an animation of nature and the future that climate change holds for it.

It was a long artistic process to create “Firebird”, intended to be a music video animation composed of shadow puppets. When one of the singers on the project was killed, the themes of personal transformation and the importance of community came to the forefront of the animation and compelled Ten Eyck to finish the project and dedicate it to the memory of Claire Randall. Every piece is different, inspired by something new and takes on a shape of its own during the artistic process.

Kate Ten Eyck has been generating visual art, music, and performance from her Middletown studio for the past 22 years. Once an Oddfellows kid creating sets for shows and performing as part of the circus band, she now works for Wesleyan University as the Art Studio Technician and teaches classes in drawing and printmaking. Her work has included sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and most recently she has been focusing on animation.

This is a unique opportunity to hear a prolific local artist speak about her work - be sure to stick around to see her animations in person and enjoy the 7:30 showing of Antigone! The talk is free and tickets for Antigone are $15/$8 for adults/students. There will be one additional performance of Antigone on Saturday, December 8 at 7:30 pm.

            For more information about Kate Ten Eyck, please visit www.kateteneyck.com.

For details on the Artist Talk, and to reserve tickets, call (860) 347-6143, email info@oddfellows.org, or go to www.oddfellows.org. Oddfellows Playhouse, founded in 1975, is a youth theater which promotes the growth of young people - in skills, knowledge and self-confidence through the performing arts. Oddfellows Playhouse is located at 128 Washington Street, Middletown CT.