Experimental animator Jordan Belson passed away of heart failure at his San Francisco home on Sept. 6, 2011, reports The Center for Visual Music. He was 85 years old.

He produced over 30 short films over his career, which began in the 1940s. His abstract work combined morphing colors and shapes often creating a filmic kaleidoscope set to music. His influences included yoga, Eastern philosophies and mysticism, astronomy, Romantic classical music, alchemy, Jung, non-objective art and mandalas. His most well know works include MANDALA (1953), ALLURES (1961), CHAKRA (1972), NORTHERN LIGHTS (1985), MYSTERIOUS JOURNEY (1997) and EPILOGUE (2005).

During the 1950s, he worked at the Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco designing the Vortex Concert series. In the special effects world, he created space effects for THE RIGHT STUFF and proteus monitor footage for DEMON SEED.

Born in Chicago, he started his education at the California School of Fine Arts and later earned a fine arts bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley.

His partner, Catherine Heinrich, survives him.

For more information about the artist, visit http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Belson/.