Sponsor
U-M Center for Japanese Studies
Donor
Wendy Lawson
Move-Click-Move is a diverse program of 18 animated and experimental films by Deanna Morse. From Sesame Street to the Odessa Steps to the Everglades and the computer lab, Morse has created at least one film poem each year since college. This work explores materials and techniques, shifting time and space by considering what is between the frames as we celebrate seasons, people, change, and nature. Collaborating with children, musicians, and puppeteers using pioneering computer animation techniques, time-lapse, kinestasis, or simple cutouts, her visual poems are like postcards. A postcard message that says, “Wish you were here,” often sharing common surroundings. Move, click, move.
How Animation Works: "Move-Click-Move"
Deanna Morse
Grand Rapids, MI | 2001 | 2 | digital
The introductory signature video for the award-winning retrospective DVD Move-Click-Move, published in 2001. An interactive journey through the artist’s cluttered desktop.
Help! I’m Stranded…
Deanna Morse
Spartanburg, SC | 1981 | 5 | digital
Help! I’m stranded… in a Spartanburg motel room with: 1. a broken TV, 2. some note cards, and 3. a red crayon. It’s a true story. A rubbing film, a sound-image guessing game.
Container Loss
Deanna Morse & Jane Flint
San Francisco, CA | 2022 | 3 | digital
Climate crisis, gyres, garbage patches, natural phenomena, human response, hope, loss, optimism, equanimity, integrity, awareness, and responsibility. Reminders. Cutout animation and time lapse. Animated with Jane Flint. Music by Chris Gagnon.
Sandpaintings
Deanna Morse & Jane DeKoven
Palo Alto, CA / Chicago, IL / Grand Rapids, MI | 1992 | 8 | digital
Two Navajo-inspired figures explore symbols and their meaning. Piano music by VR inventor and philosopher Jaron Lanier. A pioneering film using VPL DataGlove motion tracking to animate the sign language hand. Art is not to be feared.
The Gift
Deanna Morse
Grants Pass, OR | 2019 | 2 | digital
Celebrating Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday, and his poem “To a Certain Cantatrice.” This multigenerational female family reading honors Whitman’s point that basic needs belong to everyone. Food, nature, creative expression, art. Yes, they belong to everyone. Original music by Edie Herrold.
A Mother’s Advice
Deanna Morse
Lake Forest, IL / Grand Rapids, MI | 2000 | 8 | digital
Body images and a rite of passage. Based on a story by Beth Isacke, inspired by her hair. Created during an artist residency at Ragdale Artists Colony, Illinois. Sound design by Edie Herrold.
Skin
Deanna Morse
Everglades National Park, FL | 2012 | 5 | digital
Thick skinned, thin skinned. The first line of defense. A surface archive. Created as an artist-in-residence at the Everglades National Park, Florida. Trees. Many trees. Mosquitos, too. Sound design by Edie Herrold.
Breathing Room
Deanna Morse
El Mojacar, Spain | 2009 | 4 | digital
Examining nature through the lens of time. Light sweeps languidly across the tiles in a room. Outside, the flowers erupt in a riot of color. Created at Fundacion Valparaiso, an artist colony in Mojacar, Spain. Music by Edie Herrold.
Whispers of the Prairie
Deanna Morse
Grand Rapids, MI | 2013 | 4 | digital
The first American Iawn: prairie. Back to our roots, to the medley of native flowers that thrive in our forests and our sustainably landscaped lawns. In contrast, manicured green unsustainable turf grass. Music by Edie Herrold.
August Afternoons
Deanna Morse
Charleston, SC | 1985 | 5 | digital
Sunlight and shadows whisk through time. Optically printed from Super 8 footage. Charleston, SC, with Randy Buggs and Ray Harvey.
Lost Ground
Deanna Morse
Chicago, IL / Grand Rapids, MI | 1992 | 3 | digital
A modern love story. Michigan to Chicago by train in 1992, early 3D animation.
Plants
Deanna Morse
Oakville, ON, Canada | 1989 | 4 | digital
A lifelong obsession revealed. Created with NeoVisuals Software at Sheridan College, using clunky code (keypad entry—before menus, trackpads, and the mouse). Plants can’t walk. Plants don’t talk. Plants can’t see. Plants don’t have legs. Music by Jim Barfuss with Chloe Willey.
Monkey’s T-shirt
Deanna Morse
Grand Rapids, MI | 1991 | 2 | digital
Animated short for "Sesame Street." An embedded figures puzzle, animated by Deanna Morse and Rose Rosely. Sound by Billy Vits. Look! The animals are hiding! Can you find them?
Night Sounds: Imagination
Deanna Morse & Rose Rosely
Chicago, IL / Grand Rapids, MI | 1992 | 1 | digital
Animated short for "Sesame Street." A little girl is so scared by the night sounds, and she is not the only one! Animation by Deanna Morse and Rose Rosely, with sound by Billy Vits.
Dejeunez, Mon Amour
Deanna Morse & Mark Henriksen
Ames, IA | 1970 | 3 | digital
Close-up vision of American consumption. Before tattoos were all the rage, filmmakers Mark Henriksen and Deanna Morse had a vision. And some food. And some stock music. One of my earliest films, student-produced at Iowa State University.
Forced Perspective: Odessa
Deanna Morse
Russia / Ukraine / Grand Rapids, MI | 2007 | 5 | digital
My visit to the real steps at Odessa was affected by the Odessa Steps sequence from Sergei Eisenstein’s "Battleship Potemkin." Media images have power. They shape our real-life experiences.
Postcards from My Backyard
Deanna Morse
Grand Rapids, MI | 2007 | 5 | digital
An exploration of a single space over two years’ time—the seasons of Michigan. Incorporating time-lapse footage, motion graphics, and my own musical soundscape, this video poem considers growth, decay, and transformation.
Charleston Home Movie
Deanna Morse
Charleston, SC | 1980 | 5 | digital
Memories and images of Charleston, South Carolina. Rotoscope animation of significant friends and moments. Film is represented in several collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Music by Keith Jarrett, used with permission.