Sherwood HS Grad, Sharon Louden, Curates Abstract Animation Prescreening

The National Gallery of Art hosted the screening of Ciné-Concert: Abstract Animation Since 1970 as a part of its Art Films and Events Program on Sunday, September 8, 2013.  The program featured the selection of recent abstract animations chosen by artist Sharon Louden to demonstrate the emerging works in contemporary nonfigurative cinema, and included the premiere of Community, a new animation by Louden.   

Artists in the program were drawn from across the U.S. and Europe to include the following: Stan Brakhage | Paul Glabicki | Sky David | Larry Cuba | Michel Gagné | Chris Casady | David Brody | Adriano Abbado | Amy Yoes | Amelia Winger-Bearskin | Dannielle Tegeder | Phil Docken | and Sharon Louden.

The animation was set to music to create an abstract animation performance.  Composer and pianist, Andrew Simpson, developed and performed new music arrangements to accompany the program.  Simpson is professor and chair of the division of Theory and Composition at The Catholic University of America.  He is an active silent film composer, pianist, and organist and Resident Film Accompanist at the National Gallery, in addition to performing compositions at major arts venues in the Washington area, New York, and beyond.

Ciné-Concert: Abstract Animation Since 1970 will travel to Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio and other museum venues in 2014.

Of special note for Montgomery County residents, Sharon Louden grew up in Olney, graduating from Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring.  She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1988 and MFA from Yale School of Art in 1991.  Louden’s works have been exhibited widely, including the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Carnegie Mellon University, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.  Her art is in public and private collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.  Louden is married to jazz musician and composer, Vinson Valega, who was born in Silver Spring and grew up in a musical family in Olney. The couple now live and work in New York City.

See Q & A after Ciné-Concert: Abstract Animation Since 1970 screening, moderated by Margaret Parsons, Head of Film Department, National Gallery of Art