A Month of Animation During Cosmo Segurson’s Residency

After a month-long residency working with digital arts students, the 2026 Artist in Residence program came to a close with a vibrant reception hosted by artist-in-residence Cosmo Segurson and the Visual Arts Department. To learn more about Mr. Segurson’s background and the Artist in Residence program, please click here.

Since January, Mr. Segurson—an artist, animator, filmmaker, and organist with over two decades in the television industry—taught 7/8 Intro to Digital Design and Film 4, working with students in both Middle and Upper Schools. At the reception, he explained the project students had worked on, and the film and animation techniques he taught them. 

Students created animated self-portraits, using a combination of cameraless animation, a downshooting camera, and an early film technique called pixelation. “I started by thinking about myself in high school, who I was, and the idea of a self-portrait from that time,” Mr. Segurson shared. “In thinking about that, I also thought about three different animation processes that I could teach everyone.”

With Mr. Segurson’s guidance, students used a permanent marker on “60 mil clear film leader” to create cameraless animations. They then used a downshooting camera to create abstract animations of colorful shapes on a tablestop inspired by the practices of Oscar Fischinger, a pioneering abstract animator. Finally, students took photos of each other in a stop-motion style, or pixelation, to capture a key piece of their self-portrait animations. Using Adobe Premiere Pro and the footage from all three methods, students combined the layers and edited their own unique self-portrait animations.

“I really loved it,” MacKensie W. ’31 said of Mr. Segurson’s lessons. “It was so cool because I had never experienced writing on film before or doing anything with film. It was really interesting and then seeing him digitize it was such a new experience for me.”

The reception concluded with students, staculty, and other guests viewing a dynamic presentation of all of the animated self-portraits while Lexi H. ’26 played original music live to accompany the pieces. This was a fitting end to a residency that exemplified the power of mixing mediums and using a variety of techniques to bring a creative vision to life.