"In order to create a unique visual language for the single, Julia embarked on a three-month-long project of handcrafting and painting 300 individual ceramic tiles to make up the music video frames, each with their own beautiful irregularities and imperfections in glaze. Structured in grids of twelve, these tiles were swapped out like puzzle pieces in the final stop motion, using zoetropes and evolving motifs to follow "the meditative rhythm of the song through repetition, noise, and texture", the artist says."
"Rather than planning every outcome (something pretty much impossible with ceramics), Julia was set on "allowing the material to shape the animation", embracing the challenge of elements - such as the rabbits' motion cycles needing dozens of unique frames. "I made each tile by rolling out slabs of clay, measuring, cutting, and carving images into the surface, then firing and glazing them," Julia says. Since the artist couldn't set up a permanent place to shoot with regular lighting in her shared studio, the frames took 12 weeks to capture: "every morning for about three months, the project became a daily ritual. I would arrive early to catch the sun and capture some frames," she says."
"As her longest animation to date, the video for Dirt required a real commitment to something all creatives have to face the discomfort of: trusting the process. "For many days, I stared at stacks of tiles, unsure if I could make enough to create sustained movement or a coherent emotional arc for a three-minute song," Julia admits. Now, with the animation under her wing, Julia is working on a ceramic short film, continuing the exploration of beautiful rhythms and imperfections that arise from making motion ever so slowly: "The project taught me that doing a little each day will eventually get me to the finish line, even when the scale feels daunting," she ends."
A three-month project handcrafted and painted 300 ceramic tiles as stop-motion frames, each tile bearing irregularities and glaze imperfections. Tiles were arranged in grids of twelve and swapped like puzzle pieces to build movement, using zoetropes and evolving motifs to trace a meditative rhythm through repetition, noise, and texture. The process prioritized allowing the material to shape the animation, requiring dozens of unique frames for repeating elements. Filming took twelve weeks because of inconsistent studio lighting, with frames captured each morning in early sunlight. The work emphasized trusting the slow, steady daily practice to reach a finished animation.
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