I first met Richard Reeves in 1982 when we were living and working in Banff, Alberta. Richard was always drawing, painting, and doing lots of photography to make slide shows.
Later on, we moved to Canmore, and in 1989, Richard became a member of the Quickdraw Animation Society in Calgary, where he attended workshops and studied animation history and techniques.
Between 1994 and 1997, with assistance from a Canada Council for the Arts grant, Richard produced his award-winning debut film Linear Dreams.
Since then, Richard has produced more than two dozen independent animated films, which have won awards and screened at many film festivals around the world. His unique abstract technique of drawing directly onto 35mm film and creating handmade optical soundtracks has led him to present his films and teach workshops across Europe, South America, the USA, and Canada.
Richard worked at the Quickdraw Animation Society as Film Production Coordinator for eight years. He now resides in the Kootenays of British Columbia’s central interior, where he continues to experiment with abstract animation as visual music.
-Written by Darlene Amendt
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Which hood are you in?
I live in BC’s Southern Interior town of Creston.
What do you do?
Besides making abstract animated films, I am also a support worker for a client with autism, a volunteer with Special Olympics, and a member of our community-based film society, frequently offering filmmaking workshops in Super8, 16mm and various animation techniques. I also enjoy biking, hiking and foraging for fine forest foods with my wife, Darlene.
What are you currently working on?
At the moment I am collecting material for another animated project or installation featuring anew experimental soundtrack produced by photographing growth rings of cut trees and playing these shapes through an optical film sound reader…the sound of trees.
Where can we find your work?
Samples of my animation films can be viewed on Vimeo or on my website.
