Who I aM
As a visual artist, my artwork traverses many disciplines including drawing, animation, and video. While it may appear playful, my one central interest is to reveal danger in seemingly safe places.
My artwork and animated films have been shown in exhibitions and film festivals across Canada and internationally and my work is held in public and private collections. I hold a B.Sc in Biology from Western University and an MFA in studio art from the University of Ottawa. I blog at Animation World Network.
My vision
It continues to astound me to what degree common familiar objects and moments can become strange, generate sensations, feelings, and meaning through the amalgam of their motion, gesture, and form, through the way in which they are situated in space and the way in which they relate to one another.
“Like ethnography, the animated short film Profile both highlights the experience of human characters, and provides deeper anthropological and philosophical ideas from a critical distance.”
— Hannah Mayne
FILM FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
2020 Looking at the Sea, Longing. Kiki Keren-Huss composer, librettist and stage director (Israel). Sharon Katz, video artist (Canada). A production of the Musica Nova Ensembles. Premiere February 2021 (Tel Aviv, Israel)
2019 Vues dans la Tête (Canada)
2018 VisuElles Film Festival (Canada)
2017 Montreal Underground Film Festival (Canada)
2016 Maison de la culture Plateau Mont-Royal (Montreal, Canada)
2016 The Independent Scene, Tricky Women Film Festival (Austria) Program curated by Madi Pillar
2015 Mirror Mountain Film Festival (Canada)
2013 Lithuanian Disability Film Festival (Lithuania)
2013 Athens International Film and Video Festival (USA)
2013 ISIC International Exhibition, Media and Visual Arts (Turkey)
2013 International Animated Film Festival Poznan (Poland)
2013 Melbourne International Animation Festival (Australia) (Canadian Indie Showcase)
2013 London International Animation Festival (Canadian Indie Showcase)
2013 Victoria Film Festival (Canada) under the title “That’s Just Take One”
2012 Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival (Canada)
2012 Abilities Film Festival (Canada)
2012 Vital Xposure (UK)
2012 Oska Bright Brighton (UK)
2012 Filmpro Caglar Kimyoncu (UK)
2012 Liberty Disability Arts Festival, British Film Institute (UK) Canadian selection to mark the 2012 Para-Olympics
2011 Tofuzi, International Festival of Animated Films (Georgia)
2011 TAIS Animation Showcase (Canada)
2011 Melbourne International Animation Festival (Australia)
2011 One Minute Film & Video Festival (Canada)
2011 BosiFest International Film Festival (Serbia)
2010 AVA Film Festival (Iran)
2010 Tindirindis, Vilnius International Animation Festival (Lithuania)
2010 St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (Canada)
2010 Reanimania, Yerevan International Animation Film Festival (Armenia)
2010 Shorts-Sighted Exhibition, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery (Canada)
2010 Animbar International Animation Festival (Kosovo)
2010 Dokufest International Festival of Documentary and Short Film (Kosovo)
2010 A-tube Global Animation Film Festival (Italy)
2009 Simona Gesmundo International Festival of Animated Short Film (Italy)
2009 Picture This Film Festival (Canada)
2009 Odense International Film Festival (Denmark)
2009 Luminato Toronto Festival of Arts + Creativity (Canada)
2009 Rochester International Film Festival (USA)
2009 South Beach International Animation Festival (USA)
2009 Melbourne International Animation Festival (Australia)
2009 San Francisco International Women’s Film Festival (USA)
2009 Anifest International Festival of Audio-Visual Animated Films (Czech Republic)
2009 Dawson City International Short Film Festival (Canada)
2009 Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (USA)
2009 Sedona International Film Festival (USA)
2009 Victoria Film Festival (Canada)
2008 Anchorage International Film Festival (USA)
2008 St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (Canada)
2008 Vilnius International Animation Film Festival Tindirindis (Lithuania)
2008 Montreal World Film Festival (Canada)
2008 Superfest International Disability Film Festival (USA)
2008 X’08 London’s 8th International Disability Film Festival (UK)
2008 Spotlight: An Asian Festival of Inclusive Arts (Cambodia)
2007 AbilityFest 2007 (India)
2007 Amiens International Film Festival (France)
2007 Retour d’Image – Cinema des Differences (France)
2007 KROK Festival of Animated Film (Ukraine)
2007 KynnysKINO Film Festival (Finland)
2007 KAFI Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (USA)
2007 Dawson City International Short Film Festival (Canada)
2006 International Festival of Animated Films Tindirindis(Lithuania)
2006 Ottawa International Animation Festival (Canada) special programme
2006 Animadrid International Animation Film Festival (Spain)
2006 International Disability Awareness Film Festival, “Breaking Down Barriers” (Russia)
2006 Disability Film Festival serving ten outer regions of Russia (Russia)
2006 Disability Film Festival of Armenia
2006 Disability Film Festival of Uzbekistan
2006 Disability Film Festival of Azerbaijan
2006 Disability Film Festival of Georgia
2006 Chicago Disability Pride Film Festival (USA)
2006 Capalbio Cinema International Short Film Festival (Italy)
2006 London International Animation Festival (UK)
2006 Australian International Animation Festival (Australia)
2006 Melbourne International Animation Festival (Australia)
2006 The Other Film Festival (Australia)
2006 Sapporo International Short Film Festival (Japan)
2006 Toronto Jewish Film Festival (Canada) special programme
2006 Animafest Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films (Croatia)
2006 Picture This Film Festival (Canada)
2006 The Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival (Canada)
2005 Toronto Animated Image Society (Canada)
2005 I Castelli Animati International Animation Festival of Italy (Italy)
2005 Cinanima International Animation Festival of Espinho (Portugal)
2005 Ottawa International Animation Festival (Canada) (Showcase screening)
2005 Anima Mundi International Animation Festival of Brazil (Brazil)
2006 Dallas Video Festival (USA)
2006 Toon Town: 65 Years of Animation in Canada’s Capital. Ottawa International Animation Festival (catalogue)
2004 Sabes JCC Film Festival, Minneapolis (USA)
2003 Montreal Jewish Film Festival (Canada)
2002 Salt Lake City Jewish Film Festival (USA)
2001 Celebration of Jewish Film, Jerusalem Cinematheque (Israel)
2001 Oxford Yiddish Summer School Film Event (UK)
2001 London Jewish Film Festival (UK)
2001 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival (Canada)
2001 Denver Jewish Film Festival (USA)
2001 Toronto Jewish Film Festival, premiere (Canada)
2001 Wisconsin International Children’s Film Festival (USA)
2001 Kaleidoscope Children’s Film Festival – Cincinnati International Film Festival (USA)
2001 Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) International Children’s Film Festival (USA)
2000 TIFF Kids / Sprockets – Toronto International Film Festival for Children (Canada)
2000 Moondance International Film Festival (USA)
2000 Chicks ‘n Flicks Film Festival (Canada)
2000 National Gallery of Art, (Washington, DC), Children’s Film Program
1999 International Student Animation Festival of Ottawa (SAFO)
“What strikes me about Katz’s works is her discomforting hints of danger, her multidisciplinary boundary crossing, and the brilliant way she creates glistening liminal states of temporality, perception, and emotion.”
— Janet Blatter, AWN
EXHIBITIONS
2017 TIME / FRAME, Studio SixtySix, Ottawa, ON
2016 BANDES PASSANTES / CITY CLIPS, outdoor video projections old Hull, Daïmôn Centre de Production, Gatineau, QC
2015 Kjaer, Erin, curator. Embodiment (Nest Collective), Toronto, ON
2014 Picture a family, Daïmôn Centre de Production, Gatineau, QC (MFA thesis exhibition)
2013 Ottawa Nuit Blanche, Ottawa, ON
1990 Graham, Mayo, curator. Sharon Katz: New Work. Arts Court, Ottawa, ON
1990 Graham, Mayo, curator. A Sense of Place: Ottawa Viewed Through Artists’ Eyes. Arts Court, Ottawa, ON
1990 Sharpe, Dan, curator. Another Picture: Reclaiming Painting as a Critical Mode. Gallery 101, Ottawa, ON
1990 Recent Acquisitions. City of Ottawa Gallery (catalogue)
1989 Selections from the Collection of the City of Ottawa, Art Gallery of Ottawa
1989 Sharpe, Dan, curator. Art and Money. Gallery 101, Ottawa, ON
1987 Homage to Duchamp. Forest City Gallery/London Regional Art Gallery/McIntosh Gallery, London, ON (catalogue)
1986 Ottawa in the Hague. Artoteek, The Hague, Netherlands (catalogue)
COLLECTIONS
The Canada Council Art Bank
The Canadian War Museum
The City of Ottawa Corporate Collection
Levitsky, Feldman and Schwartz Canadian Collection
Sandy Hill Health Centre, Ottawa, Canada
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2010 Film and Video A Grant, Established Artist, City of Ottawa
2010 Viewer Choice Award, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery
2009 Shoestring Trophy, Rochester International Film Festival
2009 Ontario Arts Council, Media Artists Mid-Career & Established Program grant
2009 Canada Council for the Arts Travel Grant
2009 Best Animation, Picture This Film Festival
2008 Merit Award, Superfest International Disability Film Festival
2008 Canada Council for the Arts Mid-Career Film & Established Video Artists Production Grant
2007 Ontario Arts Council, Media Artists Mid-Career & Established Program Grant
2007 Production award, Bravo!FACT
2007 National Film Board of Canada Filmmakers Assistance Program
2007 Film and Video A Grant, Established Artist, City of Ottawa
2007 Canada Council for the Arts Travel Grant
2007 Jury Honorable Mention (2nd Prize), KynnysKINO6 Film Festival
2007 Jury Special Mention, Retour d’Image – Cinema des Differences
2006 Best Animation Under 10 Minutes, Picture This Film Festival
2005 Film and Video A Grant, Established Artist, City of Ottawa
2004 Ralph and Roslyn Halbert Foundation Grant
2001 Zukerman Family Foundation Grant
2001 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
2000 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
2000 Audience Choice Award, Chicks ‘n Flicks Film Festival
1999 National Film Board of Canada Filmmakers Assistance Program
1999 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
1998 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
1997 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
1997 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
1996 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
1995 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
1995 Ontario Arts Council, Grants to Writers
1994 Ontario Arts Council, Grants to Writers
1993 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education
SHARON KATZ 