TITLE: A Small Comfort
By Debra Lowman
Soundtrack by Pamela Bublitz

Computer Animation
2 minutes 40 seconds
Mastered on Betacam SP

CONTACT INFO:
Debra Lowman
950 S. Oak Park Ave #9
Oak Park, Illinois 60304
Phone: (708) 445-9673
Fax: (312) 413-7585
email: lowman@evl.eecs.uic.edu
http://evlweb.eecs.uic.edu/lowman




CURRICULUM VITAE

I am currently in the process of completing my Master of Fine Arts degree at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. From May 8 to May 15 of this year, my thesis work, which consisted of a computer-generated short feature and a virtual reality environment, was on display at Gallery 400 in Chicago, Illinois. In the past I have taken courses in traditional animation, computer animation, computer programming, and computer graphics. I have enclosed my current resume for more details.




ARTIST'S STATEMENT

"A Small Comfort"

"A Small Comfort" is a story of life, death, transformation and regeneration. An imprisoned woman gazes through the window of her cell at a surreal landscape filled with gently undulating life forms. She dreams of freedom, but even more so, for a companion to ease her solitude. Through a mysterious process she is transformed into a cat, her alter ego, and her freedom is granted. However, while free she commits an act of violence against one of the environment's inhabitants, a curious, friendly creature. Her freedom is taken from her again, but she does get her companion, the "small comfort" of the title.

The woman and the cat are similar in appearance, a hybrid of the living and robotic. Rings of metal encircle their necks, adding another element of confinement. This is in contrast to the "small comfort" who is soft, organic, and infinitely deformable. In many ways, the woman and her cat are trapped; by their prisons, by their bodies, and by their basic natures. The small comfort is free, exuberant, and everlasting. It regenerates itself, no matter what evil befalls it, and forgives. Perhaps it is simply naive, but I think not; in it willingness to give the woman a second chance, it shows great understanding.