Ring - Video still from the Just A Second' series 2007 - Click on image to view clip

Jennifer Cherniack

Jennifer Cherniack is an emerging artist, curator and educator based in Toronto. Originally from Winnipeg, she earned her BFA in 2003 from the University of Western Ontario, and in 2004 was an intern at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy. In 2004, Cherniack taught animation and film making at The National Film Board of Canada and photography at Regent Park Focus Media Arts Centre. She currently works at InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre as the Assistant Curator/Education Coordinator, and teaches photography through Gallery 44. As an artist, Cherniack has exhibited in Venice, London (ON), Toronto, Quebec City and Winnipeg.

My art practice involves themes of obsession/compulsion, repetition and impossibility. Using a combination of photography and animation, my work reflects the need to recreate time through moments and movements that suggest the fictional and real. just a second explores the infinity of options offered by every moment. From 2004-2006 I taught stop motion animation to youth at the National Film Board of Canada. During this time, I became fascinated with children’s extravagant sense of time, the manner in which they rely on large actions and elaborate movements to convey importance. Cramming these grand gestures into a miniscule time frame, children’s animations often result in a comical eruption of activity. In just a second, I likewise generate a swarm of possibilities in each second long animated clip. Created with still photographs and shot with an old medium format camera, each animation required 24 images. As a result of the materials used, the series is dependent on my perception of time and my ability to capture it, allowing chance to play a large role in the final product.

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