By Tiffany Edwards , University Relations
Eric Patrick
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has recognized a UNCG filmmaker with one of its prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships.
Eric Patrick, assistant professor in the Department of Broadcasting and Cinema, received the award for the proposed animated film, “Retro-cognition.” The film will be based on 1940s radio dramas and will give an alternative view of the nuclear family. Patrick will be on sabbatical in 2007 to complete the project.
Results of the Guggenheim Foundation’s 82nd annual United States and Canadian competition were announced April 6. This year’s fellowship winners include 187 artists, scholars, and scientists selected from almost 3,000 applicants for awards totaling $7.5 million. Guggenheim fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. Since 1925, the foundation has granted more than $247 million in fellowships, foundation president Edward Hirsch said.
The fellowship is the latest honor in Patrick’s already successful career. Prior to his arrival at UNCG, his computer animation for the Nickelodeon show “Blue’s Clues” earned a Peabody Award (1999) and was nominated multiple times for an Emmy (1997-2003). In addition, in the mid-‘90s, he completed production work for such top-name clients as Absolut Vodka, Nabisco and Fox TV. His short films have been screened at numerous national and international festivals, often winning Best Animated Film and Best Experimental Film (“Ablution,” 2001).
Patrick joined the UNCG faculty in 2003. He teaches courses in experimental and animated film and has served as advisor to the student radio station, WUAG. He holds a bachelor’s degree in studio and media arts from the University of Mexico and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts Film School.
Patrick joins scores of prominent fellowship-winners, among them Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners. Previous winners include Ansel Adams, Aaron Copland, Martha Graham, Langston Hughes, Henry Kissinger, Vladimir Nabokov and Eudora Welty. The full list of year 2006 Fellows is on the web at http://www.gf.org.
