Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Aleyce Roma
Hi Sara Aleyce, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
The path to making art, making a living creatively, and finding community has never been straight-forward or obvious. Today I can say I am a motion designer, filmmaker, artist, curator, and event programmer. But it was through all these different mediums of art, fears and chance encounters that any of these titles came to fit me.
I grew up in the midwest in a house filled with sci-fi books, kitsch statues, and crafts, but found my contact with the WORLD thru the internet. On the computer I was able to learn HTML on neopets, discover animation through freeware, and trade youtube videos with friends. Somewhere in this childhood exploration I abandoned publishing a novel by 14 in favor of animation.
With this goal in mind I attended the Savannah College of Design. Through my classes I quickly realized I didn’t want to work on Pixar films; I was drawn to film and animation technology itself and the experimental art that it could produce. This led me to study Motion Design and to discover a love of facilitating events, workshops, and exhibitions.
Fueled by art, confusion, youth, the unknown, money, and ideas; I grew by way of stumbling. I freelanced on documentaries making title cards and explainer videos, founded the my first art collective- the Bad Art Collective, and on graduating lucked into an internship in Austin in 2018 and later a job with PBS digital studios.
With the assurance that I could make money with motion design, I committed to making art in my freetime. I pursued poetry, print-making, stop-motion, interactive installation, music videos, and live video-mixing, performing visuals at various venues and collaborating with the tech art collective Vurv.
In 2020 I decided to freelance full-time as a motion designer and, thanks to friends made through my art activities, I was able to work primarily on music content, creating lyric videos for big names like Courntey Barnett, Adriana Quesada, and the Jonas Brothers, as well as local artists like JJS.
While navigating taxes, client emails, and being my own business, I filmed my first short film since college: an experimental stop-motion art film titled “A Problem” made almost entirely with lemons. Abandoning my previous work with interactive installation and tech art I focused on the slow processes of animation and compositing. The film has since been shown in multiple festivals and galleries across Texas, Michigan, New Mexico and New York.
Today while I’m still a motion designer, I also commit my time to creating works as a new media artist, curator, and event programmer. In my solo work this has been reflected in art residencies at the Museum of Human Achievement and art collaborations with friends. In my community work I founded the loose art collective Favored Channels and facilitate 4D Theory Thursday with local art publication Concept Animals.
Favored Channels is an amorphous art collective and curatorial force that produces multimedia events. They are responsible for the East Side Studio Exhibition “Portal Fishing” and Contracommon exhibition “Inventory-ing” as well as a number of music, poetry and art events.
With 4D Theory thursdays I channeled my desire to create opportunities and programs often gated by institutions and MFA programs. Produce by Concept Animals 4D Theory Thursdays invites the public in on on-going art theory discussions facilitated by myself and rotating local artists.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There’s all the usual struggles artists face: money, fear of not being booked, and all the general feelings of self-doubt. That will always be a balancing game. But learning how to separate the art I do for myself and the art I do for money has helped me preserve what originally drew me to art while allowing me to be more responsible with projects.
Early on in college mental health was a big struggle of mine. Anxiety, depression, late projects, etc. Eventually I would learn that I couldn’t force work by sitting at the desk alone and that, instead, my creativity was directly linked to how I was treating my body and mind, from movement, to food, to friends. Through a number of inspiring people I slowly learned how to be more comfortable in my skin, to combat anxiety, and live with the cycles of emotions within my body. Movement became a part of my process and I learned how better to communicate.
Today I continue to work towards a balance and have found a lot of meaning in helping others find inspiration and motivation to make art. I still grapple with being interested in too many things and self-doubt around my pursuits, but those feelings also fuel my desire to keep exploring art and community.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a motion designer, filmmaker, artist, curator, and event programmer.
Because I straddle the commercial world and the fine art world with separate pursuits, I am able to bring something to both that is unique.
As a motion designer I edit videos, animating graphics, and make a variety of works from explainer videos, ads, and music videos. This is how I pay the bills! Both working at a start-up and doing freelance gigs. Of my commercial works I’m most proud of a lyric video I created for Courtney Barnett’s cover of Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror”
As an artist and curator I specialize in multimedia art, including: animation, video art, projection, stop-motion, performance, and poetry. In the community I’m known for my facilitation of art theory discussions (4D thursday) and production of multi-faceted art and music events (favored channels). Some may even remember my days as a VJ in various bars downtown.
Out of all of my fine art I’m most proud of my short film “a Problem” a surreal stop-motion of lemons which interrogates how we go about identifying problems and the complications of individual perception. In other art-news you may also see me in gallery spaces performing “enmeshment” a live microscope camera face-painting performance and video piece.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Being read to at night. Making up art classes for my younger brother. Walking on the ice of a frozen suburban pond. Wandering rocky hikes in Colorado and Wyoming. LAN games with my family. Long roadtrips with the radio and our gameboys. Playing toe jam and earl in my parents friends basement surrounded by strange exotic pet enclosures.
Pricing:
- For animation and video projects reach out for a quote
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sara-roma.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chromaglyphs/
- Facebook: https://www.are.na/favored-channels/channels
- Other: https://www.chromaglyphs.xyz
