Bio
Steven Vander Meer has a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His first two animated films, Arcata Brain Closet (1988) and Beans From Another Planet (1992) were selected by festivals such as Sundance, Ann Arbor, Seattle and many others. He is a professional artist and owner of Meer Image, a company that makes fine art rubber stamps, and sells them to customers around the world. He animates by hand on index cards.
Background
Born and raised in a bakery, in a small Iowa town, Steven Vander Meer learned early how to organize lots of small things within larger, rectangle-shaped things, like cookies on a bake sheet. He also began to draw at an early age and, after surviving twelve years of Catholic schooling, left Iowa for art school in Minneapolis. Five years, 49 roommates and countless odd jobs later, he "temporarily" moved to Arcata, California in order to get away from all distractions and animate an alphabetical film called Arcata Brain Closet.
The plan was - draw the film in three months and return to the midwest for post production. Eighteen months, five roommates, and three part time jobs later, in his third Arcata home, he finished the film and began entering festivals. Arcata Brain Closet (1988) was successful and selected by San Francisco's Film Arts Fetival, the USA Sundance Film Festival and many others, winning a few awards along the way. It was also screened at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The film was later distributed for home video on a compilation called Best of the Fests 1988.
Arcata Brain Closet was followed by some commercial animation projects, and then Beans From Another Planet (1992). The use of rubber stamps in Vander Meer's films led him eventually to start a fine art rubber stamp business, at first out of him home, and then later from a separate studio. The studio building was shared by several other artists, and a mutual interest in drawing inspired his creation of the Arcata Life Drawing Circle, which is still going strong.
Seventeen years, two hundred and fifty thousand frequent flyer miles and one marriage later, with the encouragement and support of his wife Carol, he finished his third film - More From Life (2009). Carol and Steven live on the edge of Humboldt Bay between Arcata and Eureka, with their two cats.
