Platte Forum Creative Residents, Karen Aqua, animator and Ken Field, musician and composer from Boston, MA, worked with Merrill Middle School teacher David M. Redhorse and his 6th and 7th grade students from the Indian Focus Program from January 9-27, 2006. In 3 busy weeks, they created a short animated film and original soundtrack that interprets a Santa Clara Pueblo story about the origin of the bear paw design that appears on some traditional pottery.

The students started the project by visiting the collection at the Denver Art Museum and learning about different designs from Master Teacher in Native Arts, Heather Nielson. They created a series of sketches and a new script based on a traditional Pueblo story.  Each student was responsible for creating a certain character for the film.  Working with Karen Aqua, they learned about stop frame animation, moving their characters a little bit for each photographed frame.  They created the credits and backgrounds for a total of 9 scenes.  Working with Ken Field, students recorded sounds effects, narration and voice over spots for the film.

Click to read The Bear