Video Animation / Motion Works
In 2011 Susan kae Grant began collaborating with visual artist Richard Klein to create video works that combine moving shadows with still images and audio as a way to bring shadows to life on the gallery wall. Their combined creative vision and technical capabilities inspire unique and innovative original works.

They were invited by artist/curator Beck Underwood to join 24 other artists in creating original works for the 2018 Creepy Christmas Online Film Festival. The festival released one original short each day leading up to Christmas. Grant and Klein’s film, Night Before debuted on December 20, 2018.

Night Before (Video 3:15)
Re-contextualizing a classic children’s story, Night Before portrays the innocence of childhood while questioning issues of trust, vulnerability and deception. As the film evolves, the shadow is used to suggest a world of duplicity, trickery, and pretense through the eyes of both child and adult.

By luck of the draw, Grant and Klein were assigned the word, “icicle” as a prompt to inspire the film. Since the artists live in Texas where there are no icicles, they relied on Grant’s fond and vivd memories of the original illustrations in Clement C. Moore’s 1883 book, The Night Before Christmas for inspiration.

Focusing on the theme, “Creepy Christmas”, they began by re-writing excerpts of the original story to portray a sweet dream turned nightmare. The film was then created in the studio by staging shadows of people and props inspired by the re-written text.

Grant and Klein worked collaboratively with Dallas cinematographer Richard Krall to create the film. The soundtrack includes, Scratchy Sanctuary by Richard Klein and Lullaby 6, Arr. Jeff Meegan (BMI), Jullian Gallant )PRS), David Tobin (PRS/BMI) audio network.com. Night Before was produced in December of 2018 by Black Rose Productions, LLC (Susan kae Grant). creepychristmasfest.com

Momentary Notations
Video (2:44) & Gallery exhibition

The video projection, Momentary Notations is a silent film that investigates passing moments of time, associated with memory and recollection. Familiar and differing shadows reflected in the video also appear as framed images within a gallery space. The narrative that unfolds is a silent contemplation portraying a woman entering a dream space, and going further and further into another world and then returning.

Shadows cast on an elevator floor are used to suggest the illusion of riding on a train and looking outside a window. The images moving on the other side of the window represent fragments and recollections from another space of consciousness.

To produce the film, Grant and Klein incorporate moving shadows captured on locations in Japan with still images fabricated in the studio.

Momentary Notations, debuted at Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Texas as part of the 2012 exhibition, Theatrical Realms of the Whimsical and Tragic.