Award winning animator celebrated in Senedd exhibition

The Senedd is hosting a new exhibition this summer celebrating the work of Oscar nominated film maker and animator Joanna Quinn.

Joanna’s films have so far been nominated for three Oscars and have won three Emmys and four BAFTAs.

The exhibition ‘Affairs of the Art’ shares its name with her latest film, which just missed out on this year’s Academy Awards held in Los Angeles in March.

Over a period of 6 years Joanna created 24,000 drawings for Affairs of the Art and a selection of those will be displayed for the very first time in the Senedd.

They are shown alongside earlier artwork from films and commercials which follow the process Joanna takes from initial idea to the finished film.

The exhibition will feature framed artworks from all of Joanna’s films, some self-cranking flipbookboxes, giant print outs and a mock up animation studio.

There’s also a mini screening area showing clips and interviews.

Following retrospectives of Joanna’s work all over the word, this exhibition is the first major showcase of her artwork in Wales.

Joanna’s animation company is based in Cardiff and was established in 1987 with Writer and Producer Les Mills.

Beryl

The company name, Beryl Productions, derives from their signature character Beryl, a Welsh factory worker who appears in 4 of their films.

The Beryl seriest began with 1987’s Girls’ Night Out, followed by 1990’s Body Beautiful and 2006’s Dreams and Desires: Family Ties.

The latest film is the first co-production between Beryl Productions International and the National Film Board of Canada, and tells the story of Beryl, a 59-year-old factory worker who’s obsessed with drawing and determined to become a hyper-futurist artist.

The Welsh Language version of the film, Y Cythraul Celf, had its TV premiere on S4C on Boxing Day.

“Beryl started as a very one-dimensional character in a comic strip I did at college. She emerged as one of a group of ordinary working-class women coming together socially to go and see a male stripper on her birthday,” Joanna said.

“Audiences seemed to really like the character, and she enabled us to say things about women and society because she’s a typical, normally invisible middle-aged woman. We could play with that, and she surprised people.”

Affairs of the Art is in Senedd Oriel from 22 July – 6 September 2022.