Jules Engel in his studio, 1949. Courtesy of Tobey C. Moss. Photo credit: Lou Jacobs Jr.

In the fall of 1990, I transferred into the Experimental Animation department at CalArts after studying foundation art at Pratt Institute in New York. I had a sense that I was entering into a unique program. Judging from the work on the walls, I knew this was a place where special and interesting things had happened in the past. Walking around the room, I could see interesting work in progress on every desk. It wasn't until I started taking classes that year, however, that I truly understood that the foundation for all of the work I saw was in large part due to the amazingly supportive environment that was created for these students by my mentor Jules Engel.

Whether he was teaching the fundamentals of animation, showing us incredible and rare films from all over the world or just sharing his own body of work, Jules was a kind and constant force for good. To be honest, it took me quite some time to realize just how incredible he was since I was young and not ready for all he had to offer. I came to CalArts hoping to learn enough about animation to land a job on The Simpsons, but what I discovered through Jules' example was that there was a whole universe of possibilities in animation and that as a means of personal expression it was unparalleled. I was hooked on the idea of exploring anything and everything it had to offer, hoping that I could follow in his footsteps and the other faculty in striving to make films "of consequence." It's something that stays with me almost every day in my work. Am I doing something worthwhile here? Is there a good reason for me to spend all this time, energy and resources on this project? If the answer isn't yes, I refocus and find a way to get there.

Once I started to open my mind, I tried to write down a lot of what Jules said so that hopefully in time I could have a chance to fully comprehend the wisdom he imparted with each class. Primarily, his personal work was a tremendous inspiration to all of us artistically. The majority of Jules' work was what would be described as "visual music." Each film was a three to five minute poetic, abstract expression of an idea or theme. Each also had such a strong character of its own. Each one was like a different painting from the MOMA brought playfully to life. Jules would explain to us where each work came from and what was in it personally for him. With each example, I could begin to see how big ideas could be explored, yet boiled down into the simplest of expressions. There was such joy and abandon in his work; each film being a new world onto itself.