Faculty

Leslie Bishko’s work centres on the dynamics of expression through movement in animation, influenced by abstract experimental animation and Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies, which are the focus of her research and teaching. Leslie is currently writing Laban for Animators to broaden the language of movement in animation education and the animation industry. She also teaches Pilates and studies flamenco dance.

Since graduating from Emily Carr University in 1984, Darren has worked in various roles in animation studios around the world. He is passionate about helping student storytellers bring their ideas to life in animation and storyboarding.

Carlo Ghioni is an Italian-born cine-maker, animator and educator whose work bridges the cultural spaces between Europe and North America. He has directed and produced award-winning films, documentaries, and animated shorts for CBC, RAI, Arte, France3, Discovery and SKY. His recent work explores stop-motion, marionette theatre and VR storytelling. His projects, funded by the Canada Council, Telefilm, BC Arts Council and the Venice Biennale, reveal a deeply humanist and multidisciplinary approach to visual narrative.

Éléonore Goldberg illustrated the comic book “La demoiselle en blanc”, wrote the novel “Maisons fauves”, and wrote and illustrated the comic book “La fiancée”. She has directed several short films, including Wandering, The Filmmaker, My Yiddish Papi and Hibiscus Season, which won the Prix Iris du Gala Québec Cinéma for best animated short film, and best animated short at the Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma. Currently, Éléonore is illustrating an album by Michèle Smolkin for Midtown Press and developing a new short film. She is also collaborating with Charlotte Schallié (University of Victoria) and Duncan McCue (Carleton University) in a SSHRC-funded project.

Dr. Jordan Gowanlock’s work focuses on the interaction between technology and creative practice in the history of animation, special effects and games. He has a PhD in Film and Movie Image Studies from Concordia University and was a Visiting Researcher at University of California Berkeley, with support from the Fonds de Recherche sur la Société et la Culture. Jordan has published in the academic journals Animation, Technoculture and Navigationen and has published a monograph through Palgrave Macmillan titled Animated Unpredictable Effects.

Ewan Green is an animator and illustrator with a diverse range of feature and television credits in 2D animation, including animation, design, FX, editing and animation revisions. His main role has been Harmony Builds Supervisor, and his most recent credit at the time of writing was Key Posing Artist on the feature ‘Tangles’ at Giant Ant.

Lucas is a Vancouver-based animator and illustrator. A prairie boy turned west coast wanderer, Lucas collaborates with clients around the world to create striking, character-driven visuals for film, TV and print. He is the co-creator of the webcomic The Constant Star and illustrator of the award-winning graphic novel King Warrior. His work in film and TV includes the SyFy series Vagrant Queen and Astrid and Lilly Save the World, and Tubi Originals Z-Suite, Slay, Invasive and Invasive II: Getaway.

Sara is an animation artist, storyteller and poet. She holds a BA in Visual Communications and an MA in Animation from Tehran University of Art and is nearing completion of a degree in Art Therapy. She has been a longstanding faculty member in the MA Animation department at Tehran University of Art. Sara has supervised over 70 practical and theoretical animation theses. She has directed short animations, written scripts and contributed to numerous animation projects and workshops.

Kora is a visual development illustrator who primarily works as a colour and lighting design concept artist for animation. She graduated from then animation program at ECU (then known as the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design) in 2007 with a Bachelor degree in Media Arts. Kora’s credits include character work and art direction for various animated series, as well as concept art for 2D and CG projects.

Rubén Möller works as an independent animator in Vancouver. He pursues film and digital production to evolve his theory and practice of new media structures. Through his own production company along with television and theatrical organizations he branches out these ideas into industry and education.

In addition to working in education, Martin Rose has been part of the animation community for many years, primarily in the cultural sector. He was involved with numerous projects at the National Film Board of Canada, both as a director and animator, and for a three-year period, as the interim animation producer at the NFB’s studio in Vancouver.

Vanessa Schwartz is an animator and educator whose films have earned international recognition. She received her MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts and won multiple honours, including a 1994 Academy Award nomination, a Student Academy Award and Best First Film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Vanessa worked as a 3D character animator on Antz at Pacific Data Images (now DreamWorks) before moving into teaching. She has taught animation at several California institutions and now teaches gesture drawing and animation at ECU, where she has also led life drawing workshops for Pixar employees.