Visiting Artist Workshop
2026 Visiting Artist & Master Workshop Series
Howard Community College’s Art & Design Department presents an annual Visiting Artist & Master Workshop Series. With a focus on community and student enrichment, the series annually features a guest artist presenting on a specific topic related to their work. Students and community members have an opportunity to participate in a credit or non-credit capacity.
About The 2026 Spring Visiting Artist - Corrie Francis Parks
Corrie Francis Parks is an inventor of animation techniques. Adopting an investigative studio practice where subject collides with substance, each project builds upon the discoveries made in the previous, making the arduous process of frame-by-frame creation engaging. The results of this studio research manifest not only in short films, but in expanded animation projects that involve projection mapping, site-specific installations, augmented reality and collage.
In addition to her award-winning short films, which have screened at Annecy, Hiroshima, Ottawa, Zagreb, and other major festivals around the world, Parks has created projection-based installations for Light City Baltimore (2016), International Media Art Biennial SEE DJERBA in Tunisia (2019), UnDARK Festival in Russia (2019), "The People's Projector" at the Daniels & Fisher Tower in Denver (2021), and the Water Light Festival in Italy (2024).
Parks has been artist in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Bogliasco Foundation, subnet Austria, Fundación Valparaíso and Klondike Goldrush International Historic Park. She has received Fulbright Fellowships to New Zealand and Austria and is a recipient of a 2019 Maryland Individual Artist Award. Her book, Fluid Frames: Experimental Animation with Sand, Clay, Paint and Pixels (2016) explores the tactile nature of moving malleable materials directly under the camera, bringing together traditional and digital workflow through interviews with contemporary animators and workshop-style exercises.
Parks has been creating animation since her teenage years. She designed her own major in Animation at Dartmouth College (2001) and subsequently received her MFA in Animation and Digital Arts from University of Southern California (2006). She is now an Associate Professor of Visual Arts at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where she encourages animation students to expand their understanding of the art of movement.
Exhibition
January 12 - March 15, 2026
The Rouse Company Foundation Gallery
Open Daily 9 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Free Public Lecture & Reception
Monday, February 9, 2026
5 - 6 p.m. Lecture in the Monteabaro Recital Hall
6 p.m. Reception
One-Day Sand Animation Workshop with Corrie Francis Parks
Saturday, March 7, 2026
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Lunch Break at 12:30 p.m. Bring your own brown bag lunch.
Supplies Fee: $25
Registration will open in Mid-December.
This workshop will guide participants through the intuitive process of working under the camera creating frame by frame stop-motion with sand. Thinking simultaneously as a sculptor and a painter, participants will shape and form sand on a light table, animating with light itself. We will examine the variable qualities of different types of sand, the appropriate tools for sand animation, and how to apply animation principles to this unusual material. During the workshop, participants will create a short sand animation. Participants are encouraged to sign up with a friend, as some of the creation is best done in pairs.
Credit Course Spring 2026
ARTS-129 CREATIVITY: THE ARTIST'S PROCESS
VISITING ARTIST: CORRIE FRANCIS PARKS, MEDIA ARTIST AND ANIMATOR
January 26 - March 14, 2026
Monday and Wednesday from 2 p.m. - 5:50 p.m.
Artist in Residence from February 11 - February 25
Through lecture, discussion, critique, and the creation of original artwork, students will gain a better understanding of the creative process, as presented by a master artist working in their respective medium, while developing their creative and critical thinking skills.
Corrie Francis Parks brings life to the inanimate through frame-by-frame manipulation of physical materials. In collaboration with the artist, students will investigate experimental animation techniques using malleable material such as sand, paint, and clay directly under the camera. Through visual research, experimentation, and self-directed discovery, students will come to better understand the artist’s process.
Required materials (textbook and art supplies) will be provided under the HCC Course Materials Program. For more information, please visit www.howardcc.edu/campus-store/
Students will use their smartphones to film animation in this class. Students will need to purchase and install the Stop Motion Studio Pro app for $5.99 (available on iPhone and Android) to complete assignments. https://www.stopmotionstudio.com/
Please contact Steven Silberg (ssilberg@howardcc.edu) for more information.
To register, call 443-518-1240 or email RegistrationOffice@howardcc.edu
HOROWITZ CENTER OPERATING HOURS
- The Box Office is open for in-person and over-the-phone ticket purchases, Wednesday through Friday from 12-4p.m. Contactless purchasing is preferred. Online ticket sales are available 24/7.
- E-tickets, also known as print-at-home tickets, are preferred. These tickets can be scanned through a contactless transaction either on your phone or on a paper you print at home.
CONTACT US
PHONE: 443-518-1500 EXT 0
EMAIL: boxoffice@howardcc.edu