blueshift

Blue is the color of our future, the shift in frequency of light of objects in space moving towards us. Blueshift considers unreachable hypothetical stars. It offers a new view of that which we cannot see with the naked eye, where images sent back from the outer reaches of space are not seen as mere scientific truth but deeply layered with our collective curiosity. Using light as tool for image making, this sequence of cyanotypes embraces marking time, improvisation, and action with UV rays. Connecting the inner reaches of the subconscious and the outer reaches of the conjectural universe, these indigo celestial bodies represent a speculative archaeology.

This production of this work was supported by a Leland Ironworks Residency in May 2016, the PNCA Print Studio, and with generous support from the McGeady Faculty Fellowship.

Laura Heit employs stop-motion, live-action puppetry, hand drawing, and computer animation in her short films. Her work has screened at museums and film festivals around the world including; Walker Arts center, MOMA, Guggenheim, Anthology Film Archives, Millennium Film Workshop, Annecy, Rotterdam, Taiwan, Ann Arbor, and London International Film Festivals, Black Maria, PBS, and others. She also works in puppetry, experimental theater, and live performance. Her acclaimed puppet-show-in miniature, The Matchbox Shows, in which Heit plays ringmaster to a tiny cabaret, has been touring for over ten years, St. Ann’s Warehouse Brooklyn NY, REDCAT, and Walt Disney Concert Hall Los Angeles, CA. She has been the recipient of awards and grants from; Mac Dowell Colony (2007, and 2009), Channel Four Television London, British Film Council, Durfee Foundation, ARC grant, Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, and MTV. She has a BFA in Film from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA from Royal College of Art, London. From 2007 – 2011 She was co-director of the Experimental Animation Program at Cal Arts in Valencia California.