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Emily Downes Headshot

Emily Downes

  • Lecturer, Film, Video, Animation and New Genres

Education

  • MFA, Film, Video, Animation and New Genres, UW-Milwaukee, 2018
  • BA, Film, Video, Animation and New Genres, UW-Milwaukee (Cum Laude), 2012

Biography

I am an interdisciplinary artist, creating works using video, animation, photography, music, and puppetry. I received both my BFA and MFA in Film, Video, Animation and New Genres from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

I am fascinated by the art and universality of storytelling and am inspired by what broader connections can be made from sharing personal experiences. I have a deep curiosity in symbols and synchronicities that arise in places, words, ideas, memories, dreams, stories and situations. These are the catalysts for my creations.

For me, making art only comes full circle when I’m engaging with community. I am most passionate about sharing my talents for media arts and puppetry with all ages while collaborating with local artists to build a strong and vibrant community. I am driven to providing youth and young adults the necessary tools to enact change in their communities through the power of digital storytelling and puppetry, and have initiated the inclusion of these arts into classroom curriculums both abroad in Spain as well as in Milwaukee, WI and St. Paul, MN high schools.

In 2025, I completed the International Online Puppet Therapy Program through the School of Puppet Therapy Barcelona, an 80-hour certification conducted between January and April. This training deepened my practice at the intersection of puppetry, psychology, and social engagement. Building on this foundation, I continue research and development of Storytelling with Puppets, program designed for at-risk teens that centers on promoting resilience and supporting the recovery of personal agency through narrative creation, embodiment, and collaborative performance.

My video and animation work has showcased at film festivals and galleries worldwide, including The Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival, The Milwaukee Film Festival, Minneapolis Underground Film Festival, The Grim Natwick Animation Film Festival, Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival, In The Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, and Demolden Art Gallery in Santander, Spain.

Links

Recent & Selected Work

outline of white cubes on black background
Astrodynes, digital animation, 8 min., 2017. A dissection and curious exploration of a macroscopic view of individual constitution. “Astrodynes” is a representation of my own astrological birth chart where physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual tendencies endowed at birth are investigated and interpreted through symbols and abstraction, trying to make sense of the elusive nature of identity. The soul speaks in symbols; language is of the material world. Screened at: Invited Solo Exhibition, Demolden Video Project, Santander, Spain December 2020 – January 2021. Pisces Ascending, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles CA, July 2018. Pisces Ascending, Cellular Cinema, Minneapolis, MN, May 2018. Official Selection, Altered Esthetics Film Festival, Minneapolis, MN, June 2018. Official Selection, MinnAnimate 6 Festival, Minneapolis, MN, September 2017
clay puppet of a human on all fours on a table of flowers next to a clay house
Home, Again, puppet video, 2025. Puppetry performance video created as a final project for the International Online Course in Puppet Therapy.
Drawing of a woman in a green dress standing on sand, with crystal stalagmites growing out of the ground and a purple sparkly sky. She is looking at a puddle.
Loose Ends, digital animation, 7min, 2018. Dreams have the undeniable power of revealing fears, intuitions and desires. This animation is an exploration of a reoccurring dream of teeth that fall out and free themselves through gleeful dance. Screened at: aCinema, Milwaukee, WI, March 2019. Riverwest FemFest, Milwaukee, WI, May 2018
drawing of a baby crawling on the ground and looking up at a bird in a tree, there is a second bush in the left foreground
Mimic, digital animation, 2025. Created as part of UW-Milwaukee’s ANIJAM (48 hours to create an animation alongside faculty and students)!
drawing of a woman overlaid on a sepia image of a building
Santa’s Story, digital animation, 8 min., 2017. An adaptation of my family’s history book that chronicles my great-great-grandparent’s journey from Sicily to America.

Artistic Exhibitions & Artwork

  • Artist Talk for Editing 1 Class - Massachusetts College of Art and Design - 2023
  • Demolden Video Project – Solo Exhibition - Santander, Spain – 2020-2021
  • aCinema - Milwaukee, WI – 2019
  • Riverwest FemFest - Milwaukee, WI – 2018
  • Pisces Ascending - Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA - 2018
  • Pisces Ascending - Cellular Cinema, Minneapolis, MN – 2018
  • Altered Esthetics Film Festival - Minneapolis, MN – 2018
  • Emily Downes: Short Films & Animations – Artist Talk - Portuguese 225: Understanding Brazil through Film, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - 2018
  • MinnAnimate 6 - Minneapolis, MN – 2017
  • Feminist Video Quarterly - Minneapolis, MN – 2016
  • Altered Esthetics Film Festival - Minneapolis, MN – 2016
  • Brilliant Light – Photography Exhibition - Altered Esthetics Gallery, Minneapolis, MN - 2016
  • Cannes Short Film Corner - Cannes, France - 2013
  • Minneapolis Underground Film Festival - Minneapolis, MN - 2013
  • Minneapolis 10 Second Film Festival - Minneapolis, MN - 2013
  • The Joint Project - Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, MN – 2013
  • In The Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theater - Minneapolis, MN - 2013
  • Peck School of the Arts Convocation Ceremony - honorable mention and screening – Milwaukee, WI - 2012
  • The Grim Natwick Animation Film Festival - Wisconsin Rapids, WI - 2012
  • Milwaukee Film Festival - Milwaukee, WI – 2008
  • Philadelphia Independent Festival - Philadelphia, PA - 2009
  • Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival - Chicago, IL – 2009
  • Great Lakes International Film Festival - Erie, PA – 2009