Both Heather Freeman and Steven Subotnick employ personification in their work, utilizing animals to represent human emotions and traits in various scenarios. The series presented by Freeman combines digital imaging with animation to explore personal demons. Utilizing social networking technologies, Freeman asked people to depict their own personal demons. Responses often reflected self-perceived flaws or anxieties. These personal demons, however, often pointed directly to a notable strength or positive quality of the individual. Freeman’s series aims to celebrate self-perceived insecurities as great unbeknownst strengths. Subotnick’s animated films are associative explorations of themes found in history, folklore, and his own unconscious. He treats each film as an intuitive essay on a particular subject.  His techniques are varied, but the poetic quality of the visual image is always his primary concern.  In the case of Jelly Fishers, a hand-drawn animation (music by Igor Ballereau, Kenneth Kirschner, Aiden Baker, and QQQ), Subotnick has created a psychological fantasy about hunger.  A family of anthropomorphic creatures lives in a little house at sea.  They have nothing to eat, but a visit from an irritating fly starts a chain of events which leads to a meal for them all.  Jellyfish are the currency of this world.  They are everything - from clouds to cradles, from fishing nets to food.

Freeman is Assistant Professor of Digital Media at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte where she teaches digital print, animation, video, installation, and drawing. Freeman holds a BA in Fine Art and German Studies from Oberlin College, OH, and a MFA in Studio Art from Rutgers University, NJ.
Freeman’s work has been exhibited regionally and nationally and has appeared in international exhibitions in Canada, China, Cuba, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, Sweden, and Thailand.

Subotnick earned his MFA in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, in 1986. His independent films have screened in festivals, galleries, and curated shows around the world, including at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA and the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cleveland, OH.   He has worked as an animator, director, illustrator, and author, and has taught animation at numerous institutions, including Rhode Island School of Design, Harvard University, and most recently at Wheaton College in Norton, MA.