Bachelor of Applied Arts (Animation)
Graduation Year: 2009
Stacey’s student thesis animated film, Tah Dah, has been accepted to 22 film festivals across North America. Festivals in Australia and India have also come calling. Most recently, the film was shown in Hawaii as part of a special encore presentation of the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival in November 2009. Tah-Dah is about a farmer and a bug who struggle to create beautiful music together.
You came to Sheridan after a working as a graphic and web designer in Winnipeg for five years. Why the change?
Animation had been calling my name since I was in kindergarten. I thought, “life is too short, I have to see where this crazy dream will lead me!” So I packed up and came to Oakville, grateful to have been among the 120 chosen to enter the highly competitive program.
What was it like to be back at school?
My dream may never have come true had I not returned to Sheridan. It feels really great to have taken that risk. I remember in my first year I felt like I had no clue what I was doing.
What has been the most fun part of your work so far?
Observing audiences of young and old[er] watching the drawings I have done in my film and smiling at how they move or what they do. I think that’s why anyone gets into animation – to have the ability to make people smile or see something differently because of a few mere drawings! Teaching animation workshops to kids of all ages in Hawaii recently was so much fun. I had the chance to spread the joy of animating! It was a full-circle moment for me.
Stacey is back living in Manitoba and hopes to land a job Pixar’s new animation studio in Vancouver. For more information on Stacey and her work, visit http://staceychomiak.blogspot.com/.