Miranda Kahn: Artist - Animator - Filmmaker
Hi I’m Miranda Kahn. I’m an LA-based paper artist and stop motion animator with a passion for social justice. I have degrees from New York University Tisch and the California Institute of the Arts, and I use my acting education to tell stories through my art and animation.
Have I ever thought, “Well, this is well passed the 30th hour I’ve spent cutting tiny incisions in this piece of paper”? Yes, yes I have. When I say I make paper art, shadow puppets, and stop motion animation people usually ask, “Like…origami? Animation like Disney?” What I actually do is take a single piece of paper and an X-Acto knife and I spend hours cutting hundreds of pieces from the paper. An image emerges from the light behind the paper, the absence giving shape to the subject.
I was lucky enough to study puppetry with (and be inspired by) experimental filmmaker and puppeteer Janie Geiser at CalArts. After taking a stop motion animation class (with the amazing Stephen Chiodo), I decided to merge my interest in film and paper art. Some of the groups I have created content for are One Production Place Films, Smile Train, CIRCLE (the Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment) in collaboration with the Southern States Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU), UCSF, the University of St. Louis, and GlassBreaker Films.
My work has been exhibited at Automata in Los Angeles, and my short animated documentary has been screened at 13 film festivals including LACMA’s Black Joy and Resilience Series. It won the Bronze Jury Prize at the Social Justice Film Festival, Best Short Animated Documentary at Doc LA and was nominated for Best of NFMLA 2020.
In 2023 I was thrilled to be one of 90 artists awarded a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Award administered by Los Angeles Performance Practice for Los Angeles County. I feel so honored to be included in this inspiring group as a 2023 Established Artist Fellow. I was also awarded a Mother Grant by Studio IX to support my short documentary A Mother's Journey (presented by UCSF HEAL initiative) which explores a young woman’s loss inspiring a doctor’s health equity work.
Thanks for visiting my site!
Have I ever thought, “Well, this is well passed the 30th hour I’ve spent cutting tiny incisions in this piece of paper”? Yes, yes I have. When I say I make paper art, shadow puppets, and stop motion animation people usually ask, “Like…origami? Animation like Disney?” What I actually do is take a single piece of paper and an X-Acto knife and I spend hours cutting hundreds of pieces from the paper. An image emerges from the light behind the paper, the absence giving shape to the subject.
I was lucky enough to study puppetry with (and be inspired by) experimental filmmaker and puppeteer Janie Geiser at CalArts. After taking a stop motion animation class (with the amazing Stephen Chiodo), I decided to merge my interest in film and paper art. Some of the groups I have created content for are One Production Place Films, Smile Train, CIRCLE (the Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment) in collaboration with the Southern States Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU), UCSF, the University of St. Louis, and GlassBreaker Films.
My work has been exhibited at Automata in Los Angeles, and my short animated documentary has been screened at 13 film festivals including LACMA’s Black Joy and Resilience Series. It won the Bronze Jury Prize at the Social Justice Film Festival, Best Short Animated Documentary at Doc LA and was nominated for Best of NFMLA 2020.
In 2023 I was thrilled to be one of 90 artists awarded a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Award administered by Los Angeles Performance Practice for Los Angeles County. I feel so honored to be included in this inspiring group as a 2023 Established Artist Fellow. I was also awarded a Mother Grant by Studio IX to support my short documentary A Mother's Journey (presented by UCSF HEAL initiative) which explores a young woman’s loss inspiring a doctor’s health equity work.
Thanks for visiting my site!
Photo by Argel Rojo, Courtesy of Los Angeles Performance Practice