Overview
This collection contains films made by animator Karen Aqua (1954-2011). A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design in 1976, Aqua completed 12 independently produced animated films during her career. In addition to these films, which screened at festivals and cinemas all over the world, Aqua taught animation to college students in the Boston area, participated in a number of animation workshops for elementary and middle school aged children throughout the United States, directed and animated over twenty segments for Sesame Street, and contributed to a number of commissioned and collaborative animation works. This collection of motion picture film print and pre-print elements, video masters and video viewing copies, and original audio recordings represents all of these aspects of Karen Aqua's artistic career.
Dates
- Creation: 1975-2011
- Creation: 1975-2011
Language of Materials
Material is in English.
Access Restrictions
Access by appointment only. Applications to consult this material should be directed to the staff of the Harvard Film Archive.
Film prints are made accessible in close consultation with HFA staff. Although materials do not circulate for individual use, students, filmmakers, artists, and researchers are encouraged to use the collections on-site.
Use Restrictions
Reproduction and/or publication of materials subject to copyright requires written permission from a) the copyright owner, his/her heirs or assigns and from b) the Harvard Film Archive, owner of the original material.
Extent
1 collection (35mm, 16mm, and super 8mm film elements ; U-Matic, BetacamSp, Digital Betacam, VHS, HDCam, open reel, and DVD video elements ; 1/4-inch reel to reel audio elements)1 collection (35mm, 16mm, and super 8mm film elements ; U-Matic, BetacamSp, Digital Betacam, VHS, HDCam, open reel, and DVD video elements ; 1/4-inch reel to reel audio elements)
This collection contains films made by animator Karen Aqua (1954-2011). A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design in 1976, Aqua completed 12 independently produced animated films during her career. In addition to these films, which screened at festivals and cinemas all over the world, Aqua taught animation to college students in the Boston area, participated in a number of animation workshops for elementary and middle school aged children throughout the United States, directed and animated over twenty segments for Sesame Street, and contributed to a number of commissioned and collaborative animation works. This collection of motion picture film print, negative, and workprint elements, video masters and video viewing copies, and original audio recordings represents all of these aspects of Karen Aqua's artistic career.
Biography
Karen Aqua completed 12 independently-produced animated films and one collaborative animation/live action video since graduating from Rhode Island School of Design in 1976.
Her award-winning films have screened worldwide, at festivals in Europe, Asia, North/South America, New Zealand, and the Middle East. She has received fellowships from American Film Institute, the MacDowell Colony, Millay Colony for the Arts, Fundación Valparaíso (Spain), New England Film/Video Fellowship Program, Berkshire Taconic Trust, LEF Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation.
Aqua has taught animation at Boston College and Emerson College, and at workshops and residencies around the United States. She has served as a juror for film festivals in Japan, Canada, and the US, and has presented numerous one-person screenings of her work.
In 2005, a special program of Aqua's animated films was presented at the Tehran International Animation Festival, Iran.
Since 1990 she has directed/animated 22 segments for the acclaimed children's television program "Sesame Street."
Aqua's film, "Twist of Fate," was screened at Telluride Film Festival, Starz Denver Film Festival, Kos Ippokratis International Health Film Festival (Greece), and international animation festivals in Ottawa, Hiroshima, and Annecy (France). It has received awards at Ann Arbor Film Festival, James River Film Festival, and Black Maria Film & Video Festival.
Her final film, "Taxonomy," debuted at the ICA/Boston three weeks before her untimely death on May 30th, 2011. Karen was notified that she had been named a Fellow in Film & Video by the Massachusetts Cultural Council three days prior to her passing.
--Biography courtesy of Karen Aqua's website: http://karenaqua.com/bio.html
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
- I. Animated Shorts
- II. Sesame Street Animation
- III. Student Workshop Films
- IV. Compilations and Commissions
- V. Documentaries
- VI. Miscellaneous and Unidentified Materials
Acquisition Information
Karen Aqua's films were donated to the Harvard Film Archive by Ken Field in 2011.
Processing Information
Processed & encoded by: Amy Sloper, December 2011 - January 2013
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Aqua, Karen, 1954-2011. Karen Aqua Collection, 1975-2011 : Film Guide
- Author
- Harvard Film Archive, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hfa00021
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard Film Archive, Harvard Library, Harvard University Repository
The Harvard Film Archive is one of the largest university-based motion picture collections in the United States, with a collection of 40,000 audio visual items, a growing number of manuscript collections, and nearly one million still photographs, posters, and other promotional materials from around the world and from almost every period in film history. The HFA's collection of paper materials, including the documentation of individual filmmakers as well as promotional materials such as posters, film stills, and ephemera are accessible to Harvard affiliates as well as to outside researchers.
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