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The Whitsell Auditorium and the Northwest Film Center Equipment Room are closed to the public in an effort to further stem the spread of COVID-19. All classes canceled until further notice. Stay connected to art, film, and more by signing up for our newsletter.

An Evening With Joan Gratz

Directed by Joan Gratz

Portland

Showtimes & Past Screenings

The work of Academy Award winner Joan Gratz (Mona Lisa Descending A Staircase, 1992) began as moving paintings, but evolved into the process Gratz pioneered, termed “clay painting,” while working at Portland’s storied Will Vinton Studios. Incorporating improvisational and fine art techniques, Gratz’s work straddles the realm of poetry and storybook as lush moving palettes of color come to life. Films at 7:15pm, but come early for a reception with food and drink at 6pm, included with your ticket. 

Films to be screened include:

Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase, (1992,7min), 35mm

Pro and Con, (co-directed by Joanna Priestley), (1993, 9min)

Dowagers’ Feast (music by Three Leg Torso) (1996, 5min)- 35mm

Puffer Girl (music by Judith Gruber-Stitzer), 2009

Kubla Kahn, (2010, 4 min)

Lost and Found, (2014, 4min)

Work (from feature film Kahlil Gibran’s the Prophet), (2014, 2min)

Night Weaver, (2015, 7min)

Primal Flux, (2016, 3min)

The Second Coming (William Butler Yeats) – WORLD PREMIERE

Genres: Animation

Appears in: Northwest Tracking: Trailblazing Women of Independent Animation in the Northwest

The Northwest Film Center recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples of this region on whose ancestral lands the museum now stands. These include the Willamette Tumwater, Clackamas, Kathlemet, Molalla, Multnomah and Watlala Chinook Peoples and the Tualatin Kalapuya who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and many other Native communities who made their homes along the Columbia River. We also want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.