Several Albertan artists to be featured in Phase Two of The Blackfoot Language Animation Project. (Photo: Calgary Animated Object Society)

By Sarah Jones

Blackfoot language project to be screened at Calgary’s Festival of Animated Objects

Mar 13, 2023 | 3:55 PM

CALGARY, AB – Animators from across Alberta showcasing the Blackfoot language are set to have their work on display at the Festival of Animated Objects in Calgary.

From March 14 to April 2, 2023, a total of 29 new Blackfoot language cartoons will be shown in the second phase of The Blackfoot Language Animation Project.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fort Macleod teacher, Celestine Twigg, said she shared her dream of creating short video clips to teach Blackfoot Language to the Calgary Animated Object Society (CAOS).

In January 2020, CAOS artistic director, Xstine Cook and artist/educator Sandra Yellowhorn made Twigg’s dreams come to life by committing an animation residency for Phase One of the project at Fort Macleod’s F.P. Walshe High School.

Blackfoot language students then recorded the pronunciation of over 80 words and worked together to write, storyboard, and create cartoons to go alongside the project.

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When Phase Two was set to begin in the spring of 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team said they had to get creative in order to continue.

A call went out, inviting interested artists to create cartoons online to help bring Blackfoot expressions to life.

Lists of words and phrases were made and 21 artists took the challenge, ranging in experience from first-time youth animators to experienced professionals.

Media artist Patricia Duquette line-produced the final delivery of the 29 videos, which feature the voices of Blackfoot Language speakers Harrison Red Crow and Celestine Twigg.

The Blackfoot Animation Project will be displayed on digital screens and podiums in venues across the festival and both Phase One and Two can be viewed online at the CAOS website.

The project was funded by the Government of Canada’s Canada Learning Bond Program, Indigenous Languages in Education from Alberta Education and the Alberta Media Arts Alliance.

A full list of venues and artists taking part in the Festival of Animated Objects can be found on the Festival of Animated Objects website.

Read more at Lethbridge News Now.