A Beautiful Friend and a Moral Force: JoAnn Verburg Remembers Sally Dixon
While many remember Sally Dixon, who passed away November 5, as a tireless champion for artists, Minneapolis-based photographer JoAnn Verburg recalls her deep creativity, passion, and conviction. "Many of us, myself included," she writes, "know Sally is part of what made us who we are and are grateful to her for being a dear devoted friend and a moral force."
Remembering Sally Dixon, a Champion of Avant-Garde Film (1932–2019)
Sally Dixon—founding curator at the Carnegie Museum of Art's film program; interim director of Film in the Cities; and a champion of avant-garde filmmakers including Stan Brakhage, Bruce Baillie, and Carolee Schneemann—has passed away at age 87. Walker Moving Image Senior Curator Sheryl Mousley remembers her friend and colleague.
Film in the Cities (1970–1993) was one of many diverse grassroots media arts centers developing around the country. Together these centers formed an informal movement to support non-commercial media-making, peer education, and leveraging funding to further their development. Karon Sherarts discusses the evolution of FITC as the national arts funding landscape changed from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Close Ties: Melinda Ward and Emily Galusha on Film in the Cities and the Walker
Former Film in the Cities board members Melinda Ward and Emily Galusha discuss the programming connections between the Walker Art Center and Film in the Cities and the importance of media education for youth.
Small-Gauge Alchemy: Super 8 Filmmaking Across Generations
"The built-in limitations force students to slow down, to treat every second of film as precious, and to participate in more face-to-face interaction and conversation." In anticipation of the April 11 screening of rare Super 8 films made by teen students at Film in the Cities in the 1970s, Minneapolis-based artist and educator Sam Hoolihan muses upon the unique qualities and limitations involved in working with the small-gauge film format.
Against a Passive Eye: Tom DeBiaso on Film in the Cities
Film in the Cities shaped our region's film community and industry by teaching, exhibiting, and producing film from 1970 to 1993. FITC founder Tom DeBiaso reflects on the organization's founding and impact nearly 50 years after its inception: "It legitimized the creative impulse to work in film, photography and video as an art form, and as part of a cultural community in this area."
"Oh transparent hallucination, superimposition of image, mirage of movement, heroine of a thousand and one nights..." So begins "The Camera Eye," a chapter from experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage's hugely influential (and long out of print) Metaphors on Vision. To celebrate the republication of the 1963 book—and in advance of a special January 25 screening of Brakhage's work—we share this excerpt from Metaphors on Vision.
