presented in association with the Cinema Arts Department at The Exploratorium

Admission to this program is FREE (program only; no museum access)

For over twenty years, Caryn Cline has handcrafted intimate films that reframe the familiar through experiments in scale and context. Join Cline in person for a free program showcasing her “botanicollage” technique of creating direct animation films using botanical elements. Cline coined the term “botanicollage” to describe the technique pioneered by Stan Brakhage (Mothlight, Garden of Earthly Delights) in which flowers, leaves, and other organic matter are fused directly onto celluloid. Once small and overlooked, her weedy subjects demand the full cinematic frame, revealing often astonishingly beautiful qualities. By placing plants in an unfamiliar context, the filmmaker aims to “transform reality utterly”* and, in so doing, invite us to reflect on our own relationships with the botanical world.
*Richard Lanham, The Electronic World: Democracy, Technology, and the Arts

Caryn Cline will lead a botanicollage workshop at the Exploratorium from noon to 4:00 p.m. on July 24. Click here for details and to sign up.

Caryn Cline is a filmmaker, curator, and teacher, originally from the Missouri Ozarks. Her films, influenced by her experiences living in Manhattan, change the scale of the natural world for the viewer, using botanicollage, in-camera, and optical effects. Her films have appeared at festivals worldwide, including the 2013 Venice Biennale, the London and Melbourne International Animation Festivals, the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, CROSSROADS (SF), Experiments in Cinema (Albuquerque), and Women in the Director’s Chair (Chicago). She has taught botanicollage filmmaking workshops at universities and cinemas globally. She lives and works in Seattle, Washington.

Featuring films by Caryn Cline:
Seattle Solstice (2008, 2:41 min., 16mm)
Lucy’s Terrace (2009, 4:31 min., 16mm)
In the Conservatory (2010, 5 min., 16mm)
Botanicalistas (2011, 4:49 min., 16mm to digital)
Perchance (2009, 3:20 min., 16mm to digital)
Equinox (2011, 4:06 min., 16mm to digital)
Left Side, Riverside (2011, 7:56 min., 16mm to digital)
Compost Confidential (2012, 4:01 min., 16mm to digital)
Notes from the Farm (2014, 7:25 min., 16mm to digital)
Ektacy (2015, 2:00 min., 16mm to digital)
Botanicollage film from the Exploratorium workshop (2016, approx. 3 min., 16mm)

Image above from a film by Caryn Cline