Nancy Cervenka

Work: "Wavelength: A Show of Media Art"
When: Opening reception 5-9 pm Wednesday, March 17, 2004, through March 29, 2004
Where: HCC Art Gallery

Nancy Cevenka

Nancy Cervenka holds a MFA in Cinematography from the University of South Florida. She has challenged her vision of the film media by creating exotic, intricate, 8mm and 16mm film sculptures. Her works are shown around the world and win regional, national and worldwide acclaim.

Several of her film sculptures were exhibited during the 2003 HCC Ybor Film Festival installed in the Ybor Square building.

"La Danse du Trois",
8mm movie film/plexiglas, 2003
Nancy Cevenka

From the Artist:

"These sculptures are made of movie film. The colors and texture are the actual characteristics of the various types of film stock, processed and unprocessed, overexposed and underexposed. Some of the footage has been manipulated, bleached, scraped and drawn on."

"I discovered this process while pursuing a masters degree in cinematography. As a filmmaker, I shot, edited and manipulated the film for the sole purpose of projecting it on the screen, yet I was just as fascinated with the material itself. I enjoyed handling the long strands of celluloid, watching the tiny images slide between my fingers, revealing blends of color, movement, patterns and flashes of light."

"Each form is created by spiraling the film. Within each strand of film, time is represented in linear succession as 24 frames per second. Upon closer inspection, the patterns contained within each sculpture reveal themselves as overlapping bands of still images. With the aid of a magnifying lens, recognizable and abstract images are discovered. This information acts as a story line of the artist’s process as a filmmaker, and the ongoing relationship between the filmmaker and the footage."

"The sculptures have become containers of time, fossil like forms made from a disappearing medium—movie film. The process becomes my meditation-documenting my search for center, balance and focus."