AYINANEW, (eye niye nayo), Eight

Dave Cunningham

The Aboriginal Multi-media Arts Program (AMMP) was a bridging program designed to encourage Aboriginal youths between the ages of 18 and 24 who have an interest in Multi-media, to take the next step towards an education or career in the industry. Becky and I ran the program from 2003 till 2010. In this animation workshop students developed 8 short story sequences, then worked co-operatively to link them all together as a single loop of action. we call the project Ayinanew (Eye-niye-nayo) or Eight in Cree. Each student created their own clay actors called armatures & then directed their activities on 8 miniature sets. By video tapping the action one frame at a time, characters were made to move and interact. The process took over 600 hours of student work to create this 11minute piece.