Priestley’s artistic origins were as a printmaker and painter, and her first film was made using rubber stamps. She says that she has been strongly influenced by the work of Canadian animator Norman McLaren whose films were each different, technically and thematically, covering everything from mathematics to dance. Since each short film (5-7 min.) takes upwards of two to five years to create, Priestley continually explores and challenges her own imagination through subject matter that is personally rewarding.

The 16 short films and four mini-documentaries of the anthology comprise almost two-and-a-half hours of viewing. Relative Orbits has eight of Priestley’s earlier films, and Fighting Gravity has eight of her newer works.

Grown Up (1993) explores the pleasures and perils of becoming middle-aged, combining drawings with bubble wrap, Priestley’s own hands and (in some cases) instruments of surgery.

Relative Orbits
All My Relations (1990) utilizes drawings on index cards to satirize the pitfalls of romance, upward mobility and other dilemmas of buying into the American dream. As a characteristic of much of her work, Priestley likes to frame her animation within a pixilated milieu of found objects or the organic world. In part, this technique adds another layer of possible meaning to the animation, though, more simply, Priestley is interested in the boundaries of things, where realities meet and come together. Regardless, All My Relations leaves a knowing smile on one’s face. (The film was supported by a grant from the American Film Institute in association with the National Endowment for the Arts.)

Pro and Con (1992) is an interesting collaboration with Joan Gratz, briefly discussing the world of our penitentiary system and the need for reform. A corrections officer offers her pro(fessional) perspective, and an inmate offers his con(vict) perspective. The film uses a variety of techniques including object animation, puppets, drawings on paper and clay, and includes self-portraits and contraband weapons and crafts confiscated from inmates. Some of the puppets were made out of gum wrappers and chunks of paint. (The film was funded through the Metropolitan Arts Commission of Multnomah County, Oregon.)

Grown Up (1993) is also a highlight of Priestley’s compilation of classic films, humorously discussing the wonders and horrors of, egad, becoming middle-aged. At the ancient age of 40, issues of friendship, career and body are somehow more poignant, yet the narrator remarks at her relative amazement for how alive, comfortable and brave she feels in her autumn years. (The film was produced through a grant from the Independent Television Service, with additional funding through Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowship.)

Fighting Gravity
Surface Dive (2000) was inspired while exploring an underground river in the Yucatan, Mexico. Priestley wanted to recreate the feeling of observing such a fantastical, alchemical world. During brief moments in the film, Priestley’s homemade multiplane stand is shown as three layers of artwork are invisibly brought to life. More than 200 glass pieces, 600 sculptures and 2,200 pastel and watercolor images were used for the film’s drawn, object and replacement animation. Watching the movement through bits of glass provides an interesting, watery effect, and Priestley rummaged through dumpsters, contacted stain glass suppliers and picked up broken windshields off the street to find her materials.

The sculptures were made from Sculpey and surrounded with a silicone mold, and then 15 to 25 duplicates were made with Magi-sculpt to make an animated sequence for each. The sculptures were sanded, gessoed and painted with acrylics. (The project was funded through the Creative Capital Foundation for the Arts.)

Andaluz (2004) was created with Karen Aqua while part of a fellowship at Fundacíon Valpariso in Spain. Using prismacolor pencils on paper, Priestley and Aqua worked with a lot of improvisation and spontaneity. The final film is a beautiful “love letter” to Andalusia, Spain, which Priestley describes as a “powerful intersection of desert landscape, cobalt sky, golden sun and turquoise sea.”