Pamela Taylor Turner is an associate professor of Kinetic Imaging at VCUarts. The interdisciplinary nature of animation provides the foundation for her creative work which is situated in (re)connection of human/more-than-human/natural environment. Currently she is focused on "Chapel Island" in the James River. There she considers land memory, place, and altered histories.
Her animations “Falling Back to Earth: Tomatillo” (2000) and "Between Frames" (2005) were inspired by connection with the garden and the intuited experience of the soil and plants. Both required attending to, being with and witnessing the changes, light and movement found there. These were early works in the spirit of 'ecopsychology'.
Her scholarly research looks at the history and practice of animation, following connections to visual effects, abstraction, phenomenology, and new media practices. She is the director of the Adam K. Beckett project at the iotaCenter in LA and author of Infinite Animation: The Life and Work of Adam Beckett. She is a member of the Society for Animation Studies, and served as the Chair of the Board of Directors for 10 years. Turner earned her MFA in visual communications and electronic media, and her BFA in art history and studio art, both from VCUarts.
She has taught studio and lecture courses in new media, photography, and animation in Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts, beginning in 1995.
Her animation has been exhibited both nationally and internationally at galleries and film festivals, including the Ajijic Festival Internacional de Cine 2000, Ajijic, Mexico; Nashville Independent Film Festival; Worldfest Houston; and the Mill Valley Film Festival. Awards for her animation "Falling Back to Earth: Tomatillo" (2000) include a Director's Citation at the 21st Annual Black Maria Film and Video Festival, a Gold Award in Experimental Video and Film Animation at Worldfest Houston, and the CiNY (Cinewomen New York) Award for Outstanding Filmmaking in Animation. "Between Frames", won an award for Experimental Short and Best Editing and has screened at the BAC 39th International Film and Video Festival, in Brooklyn, NY, and Madcat Women's International Film Festival, San Francisco, CA.
She has presented her work and research at conferences including the annual Society for Animation Studies, Siggraph, SWPACA, and SECAC.