Students in the Coronado High School (CHS) Digital Arts Animation class collaborated with first grade students at Village Elementary School to create a fun and unique animation piece (YouTube video linked at the end of this article), which was selected for exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art’s (SDMA) biennial youth exhibition, Young Art 2025: Nurture and Nature.
First grade teacher Brittany Lindquist and CHS Digital Arts instructor Anna Woerman brought their classes together for the project, which intertwines the wonder of nature with the boundless creativity of the young minds of first graders and the technical expertise of high school animators.
The project began with first grade students drawing their own colorful original animals, each with a unique name, personality, and habitat inspired by the natural world. High school animation students visited the first grade classroom and met with an assigned young artist to ask about the details of their creatures.
The animators then went to work creating an animated version of the drawing, bringing the animals to life by creating movement with a fully rendered animation walk cycle, emotion, and a sense of place with a natural habitat background.
“My favorite part of the process was going into the mind of a child and understanding what they were trying to convey, looking at the piece and translating it to a digital piece through talking with the first grader,” shared CoSA Animation student Emilia Peterson.
“After our animators were finished, we compiled all of the short clip animations into one piece and went back to the first grade class for a final screening,” explained Woerman. “The resulting animation is a colorful journey through the natural world, showcasing how creativity and nature can come together to spark new worlds and new stories,” she added.
Woerman submitted the project, titled ‘Creatures in Motion,’ into the Young Art 2025 juried exhibition. “It was a true collaboration, a fusion of youthful imagination and advanced artistic techniques, which not only celebrates the beauty and diversity of nature but also illustrates the power of collaboration in storytelling,” she said.
Students at both grade levels were excited about the experience.
“I really loved how my animal moved and how it is sprinting in the video,” said first grader Rey Zeller, who plans to go to the museum exhibit. Classmate Allen Kosmalski agreed. “I loved the grass, and hearing my lion roar!” he commented.
CoSA Animation student Cadence Wright shared that, “After seeing the finished product, my first-grade artist partner wanted to know how it was made, and he was able to create his own part piece on my device, digitally imitating how I made his project come to life. It was cute and heartwarming.”
The exhibition will be held at the Museum of Photographic Arts at SDMA. All students and their families are invited to attend an artists reception and celebration on April 3, 2025. The show will be opened to the public April 5 through May 18, 2025.
“We usually do animations alone but this time we collaborated together which will help us on our animation journey, collaborating with other people in the real world. I will be going to see the exhibit with my family!” shared CoSA Animation student Annika Haslam.
“My class is beaming with pride over what they created. When they realized their work was not only going in a museum, but on YouTube, the screams and cheers that followed were nothing short of seismic,” said Lindquist of her first graders. She also credited Woerman and her students for creating the incredible opportunity for the first graders. “Anna (Woerman) and her students are the absolute best!”
The final piece can be viewed on YouTube:
