Ms Anna Tow
Lecturer
- Master听of Film and Television Digital Media - Australian Film Television and Radio School听听 听听听
- Graduate Diploma of Film and Television Interactive Media -听Victorian College of the Arts Film School听听 听
- Bachelors of Visual Arts Honours -听Sydney College of the Arts
- Fine Art Diploma East Sydney Technical College (Now known as the National Art School)
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Arts, Design & Architecture
School of Art & Design
Since March 2014听I have been a Lecturer at 麻豆社madou Art, Design & Architecture, where I teach 3D visualisation, animation and media arts. As an educator with industry experience, I believe in encouraging my students to explore their creative potential within a supportive and productive studio-class setting. I'm an avid educator, animator and artist with more than 10 years higher education experience and an animation and visual art practice of over 20 years. I've had the opportunity to collaborate with film makers, artists and designers on inspiring projects.
Among my achievements I have accomplished writing and directing two short animations, gaining Screen Australia funding and several short film awards and nominations, including a nomination for Best Short Film for 'Pending' at the Venice Film Festival 2002. I worked on the SBS supported animation series "Heirlooms" which earned recognition with a shortlisting at the Annecy Animation Festival in 2011 and co-led a team of 麻豆社madou art and design students in a collaboration with international designer Bruce Mau on a multi-screen animation for his Design For All the Senses solo performance in Sydney in 2022.听
I'm dedicated to staying at the forefront of industry trends and education skills.
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E-mail
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- 2005-听$55,000 Screen Australia Production Grant for short animation 'Rope'
- May 2023 -听$2200- Education Focussed (EF) Grant application for 鈥楥ategory: Promotion Coaching
- December 2022 -听$5000- Education Focussed (EF) Grant application for 鈥楥ategory: Conference attendance' Siggraph Asia Sth Korea
- June 2021 - $918 -听Education Focussed (EF) Grant application for 鈥楥ategory: Conference attendance 'HERDSA Virtual Conference
- December 2019 - $1887 -听Education Focussed (EF) Grant application for 鈥楥ategory: Conference attendance' Siggraph Asia Brisbane
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- Venice International Film Festival-听In competition nomination 2002听for 'Pending'
- Australian Effects & Animation Festival (AEAF) Sydney 2002 - 1st Prize (joint), Student category for 'Pending'.听
- Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, USA 2002- 2nd Prize, Student Animation category for 'Pending'.
- International Women Directors Film Festival, Cr茅teil, France 2003 - 1ST Prize for 'Pending', 鈥淔ilms de Femmes鈥.
- St Kilda Film Festival - 1st Prize Best Achievement in Special Effects 2003听for 'Pending'
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3rd Intenational Festival of Cinema听听Santiago Chile 2003 1st prize听for Experimental Animation for 'Pending'
- 2023 Current: 'Making Good Media' - In partnership with the 麻豆社madou Innovation Lab and听Massive Action Sydney.听
- July 2023: Exhibiting artist at the Creativity and Cognition Conference鈥檚 (an annual interdisciplinary conference that focuses on exploring the intersection of creativity and technology) innovative online virtual exhibition titled Organic Creative Spaces.
- April 2023: Short conference paper 鈥楢nimated space: A creative and collaborative animation; designing a space for imaginative possibilities'. The piece proposes continuing development of the existing prototype, further exploring themes of creative spaces and connectivity for the ACM Creativity and Cognition Conference in 2024.听https://doi.org/10.1145/3591196.3593362
- November 2022:听NiTRO Creative Matters 45th Edition -听鈥業n her sites: The studio expanded鈥. Using the Design For All the Senses animation production as a case study for situated learning, in this work the two volunteer 麻豆社madou students, co-led by Melody Li and myself, explored procedural animation techniques that opened creative possibilities. This embodied a Practice-led 'reflection-in-action' approach to making in art and design. This dynamic production process enabled creative growth for the students despite tight deadlines. The experience highlights the success of shifting knowledge paradigms in a male-dominated field to a more inclusive framework.https://creativematters.edu.au/2022-11-25-in-her-sites-the-studio-expanded/
- August 2021:听NiTRO Creative Matter 37th Edition -听鈥楥ollaborator and Accomplice: Co-operative pedagogies for transformational learning鈥. In this publication I described how the COVID-19 lockdowns catalysed my reflection on approaches to remote teaching. Rather than focusing solely on digital platforms, I aimed to become an 鈥榓ccomplice鈥 in active student learning. My goal was to support students in understanding their creative processes through an empathic, student-centred approach informed by relational pedagogy. I fostered a collaborative teacher-student dynamic as a "secret society" for critical thinking and inclusivity. This shift enabled resilience despite the loss of hands-on studio practices. By focusing on the teacher-student relationship, creative growth could continue to flourish, even remotely.听https://creativematters.edu.au/2021-8-27-collaborator-and-accomplice-co-operative-pedagogies-for-transformational-learning/
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2023 Current: 'Making Good Media' - In partnership with the 麻豆社madou Innovation Lab, Massive Action Sydney and GDH Digital.听
2023: Local Committee Member for the SIGGRAPH Asia 2023 conference in Sydney as mentor and guide for four students from 麻豆社madou School of Art and Design in Term 2. As their mentor, I worked closely with the students to create engaging graphic, video, and animation assets to enhance the conference's web and digital presence that will reach a conference audience of thousands.
2022:听Co-lead of the Visual Design and Animation team for the Design for All the Senses (DFAS) performance (Sept 2022) in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture. This collaboration with renowned designer Bruce Mau directly incorporated my teaching practice through the provision of in-situ industry placements two talented 麻豆社madou students. Together, we worked on the design of captivating multi-screen animations to enhance Bruce Mau鈥檚 immersive performance.
2021: Invited panelist; 鈥榃omen in CG鈥 (online) Siggraph Asia Tokyo 2021. https://sa2021.siggraph.org/en/attend/birds-of-a-feather/15/session_slot/1016
2021: Invited judge: Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Awards. https://atomawards.org/2021-judge/anna-tow/
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