Photos by Wes Kroninger
Walt Disney once said, “Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation.”
Tracy Miller-Robbins not only creates animation, but shares and teaches her passion to others.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Robbins graduated from the Art Academy of Cincinnati and later received her master’s degree in electronic arts from the University of Cincinnati. The Westerville resident is currently a professor of animation at the Columbus College of Art and Design and an independent animator and artist.
“I’m a visual artist who creates drawings and turns them into animation,” says Robbins. “After graduating, I saw an exhibit by South African animator William Kentridge. They were beautiful, lush animations about apartheid, created with charcoal. It was my inspiration to begin projection animation and a turning point for me and my career.”
While Robbins has displayed her talents at more than 50 exhibitions and festivals, some of her most enjoyable work is sharing her passion for animation with children in the Westerville City School District.
“I have worked with the school district for about four years,” says Robbins. “My first project was at the Hanby Magnet School, working with fourth grade students on creating a Post-it note animation. For 45 minutes, I taught the basics of transforming drawings to animation, and the students did an amazing job.”
Robbins returned to the school the following year to help bring a food web project to life.
“I always made an elaborate report with illustrations whenever I had a project in parochial school,” says Robbins. “I suggested to my son’s fifth grade teacher that I could teach students how to create an animated food web project. We used 2-D claymation so students could also learn about animation in a frame-by-frame format.”
Each student selected an animal, researched its role in the food web and then brought the animal to life though an animated sequence. They designed six frames and met in small groups to combine all the frames into a three-minute animation. It was later screened at the Wexner Center for the Arts Ohio Shorts competition (Youth Division) and the Aurora Picture Show’s Extremely Young Film Festival in Houston.
“The students exceeded my expectations,” says Robbins. “I taught them about animation and transformation, and it showed in their work. It was also the first time I saw a student jump up and down with pure excitement, which often happens when I animate with kids.”
Robbins and her husband, Rob, later worked with a teacher at Heritage Middle School on a project about the cell division process of meiosis.
“Since this was a process that was not visible, it was interesting for my husband and I to see how each student had their own ideas,” says Robbins. “Some groups ran out of time, because they debated on how the process would visually occur. Watching how each student saw the process in a different way was an interesting dynamic that we did not expect. Overall, they did an amazing job with the animation.”
Even though Robbins has not recently worked with the school district as much as she would like to, she wants to continue to expand her work with students on future projects.
“When you make something visible, moving and alive that students have only previously read about, it’s such an engaging experience that becomes real,” says Robbins. “I would love to start a program in schools where animation is integrated, especially in science. Animation helps students create and see how things and processes work.”
Outside of the school district, Robbins’ animation work has been displayed in local, national and even international exhibitions, including in Australia, Brazil, South Korea and Turkey. Her animated project Strange Neighbours was on display on the media facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Croatia as part of Animafest 2014.
But Robbins also helps others showcase their work at no cost through her blog, titled “no entry fee festivals.”
“I started the blog because a lot of filmmakers commented online that they applied to four festivals and gave up,” says Robbins. “They applied to big festivals and paid high fees. But I’ve found plenty of free festivals and venues of all sizes, especially in animation. I research and update my list to share with others.”
Not only is art a career for Robbins, it’s also a common interest with Rob. Both are professors at CCAD, and the couple operates Cartwheel Animation Studio. Rob, who moved to Westerville when he was 12 years old, provides color and design for animation projects.
“We met while I was at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and he was studying at CCAD,” says Robbins. “I was creating a large-scale painting in my studio when he walked in. We ended up talking about painting for the next three hours.”
Robbins has created and taught animation for more than 20 years, and is still excited about its future.
“The technology keeps getting better and individuals have more opportunities,” says Robbins. “Animation is so accessible today, and I see more personal, creative and artistic approaches. It’s become more of a tool for individuals to explore and create.”
Westerville resident Chris Woodley is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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