Shawn Atkins

For over a decade, Shawn Atkins has been developing a distinct style of handmade animation to visually narrate dreamlike journeys of inner transformation. In addition to receiving three Film Fellowships from NYFA, Atkins has been awarded funding for her work from NYSCA, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Jerome Foundation and Experimental Television. Her films have played in museums, film festivals, public libraries, homeless shelters, on PBS and the Internet. Her work was been awarded Best Animation at the Thaw Experimental Festival; Best Experimental Film in the Uruguay International Film Festival, has received an Animation Jury Award from the NY Expo of Short Films and was a finalist in the HBO/Planet Out Short Movie Awards. Her films are in the collections of the New York Public Library and the Ontario College of Art and Design. In addition to making her own films, Atkins teaches animation as a form of artistic activism to homeless, low-income and at-risk youth. For 2 years, Atkins taught a weekly workshop at Safe Space Homeless Youth Services, and has held shorter workshops at Safe Home, Hetrick-Martin Institute, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Montefiore Hospital and St. Francis Residence for the Poor. She currently teaches 3rd and 7th graders in afterschool programs in the New York City Public School system. Her youth-produced animated public service announcements have played on Time Warner Cable networks, as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art, MOMA, Museum of TV & Radio, and DIA Art Center.