{"id":76685,"date":"2026-01-07T08:01:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=76685"},"modified":"2026-01-07T08:01:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:01:40","slug":"nature-animated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nature-animated\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature animated"},"content":{"rendered":"

A multi-modal exhibit\u00a0opening\u00a0on\u00a0Jan. 12\u00a0at the School of Communication gallery examines the fragile connections between humans and the natural world through a combination of hand-drawn animation, large-scale prints, video\u00a0displays\u00a0and interactive components.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The project, conceived by\u00a0<\/span>Chris Johnson<\/span><\/b>, a professor\u00a0of visual communication, is based\u00a0on\u00a0a close encounter\u00a0he had\u00a0with bears\u00a0in\u00a0Alaska.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was filming a coastal brown bear in Katmai,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThere were about a dozen bears in the area, but one passed within 20 feet of me, then suddenly turned and walked back toward where I was standing. That moment of fear shifted into awe and respect, and it sparked the idea of turning environmental encounters into tangible art objects.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Animation<\/a>The interactive exhibition\u00a0titled\u00a0\u201cThe Immensity of the Search\u201d\u00a0showcases\u00a0printed scrolls with animations, a\u00a0kestrel\u00a0that can simulate flight when turning a crank, salmon rubber\u00a0stamps\u00a0and hand-drawn studies from sketchbooks, among other elements.\u00a0Johnson\u00a0said his goal was to create work that invites viewers to slow down,\u00a0observe\u00a0and reflect on the deep connections between species,\u00a0places\u00a0and technology.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis project is about reimagining animation,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI want people to think about animation as something you can hold and touch, experiencing\u00a0the physical\u00a0space, not just on the screen.\u00a0I have been working with Blender and Procreate Dreams, with relief print stamps, projection\u00a0mapping\u00a0and physical computing to trace and look at the relationships between animation, space, ecology,\u00a0memories\u00a0and storytelling.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Animation<\/a>Several endangered Arizona species appear throughout the exhibition, including the southwestern\u00a0willow\u00a0flycatcher and the Mount Graham red squirrel, honoring the region\u2019s rich biodiversity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want the work to create a sense of reverence for species we often overlook\u2014and to show how animation can be both poetic and physical, technological and deeply human,\u201d Johnson said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Immensity of the Search\u202fexhibit will be\u00a0on view\u00a0Jan. 12-Feb. 27\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0School of\u00a0Communication<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Gallery\u00a0(Bldg. 16),\u00a0on the second floor.\u00a0An\u00a0opening reception will be held\u00a0from 4-7 p.m.\u00a0on Jan.\u00a022.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A multi-modal exhibit\u00a0opening\u00a0on\u00a0Jan. 12\u00a0at the School of Communication gallery examines the fragile connections between humans and the natural world through a combination of hand-drawn animation, large-scale prints, video\u00a0displays\u00a0and interactive components.\u00a0 The project, conceived by\u00a0Chris Johnson, a professor\u00a0of visual communication, is based\u00a0on\u00a0a close encounter\u00a0he had\u00a0with bears\u00a0in\u00a0Alaska.\u00a0 \u201cI was filming a coastal brown bear in Katmai,\u201d Johnson…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":76686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}