Hello, I’m Becky Wible Searles (rhymes with “bible squirrels”) and I’m currently a professor of animation at SCAD Atlanta, teaching courses in short animated film production in all media, art direction / aesthetics, and portfolio / thesis development.  In addition to working in a variety of 2D and 3D traditional art media, my personal specialties are stop motion, clay, and mixed-media animation. I established the stop motion courses at SCAD on the Savannah campus in 1999 and continue to teach and develop them along with related subjects, such as experimental animation, at SCAD’s Atlanta campus.

Before SCAD, I taught at the School of Visual Arts and Pratt Institute in New York City while owning One Eighty One Productions, Inc. for 14 years, designing, directing, and producing short form animation for clients including Nickelodeon, CBS, Kool-Aid, National Geographic, AT&T, and the PBS show, “Reading Rainbow” (in which I appeared on camera in two shows). I had the great fortune to work with many talented artist/animators during those 14 years and am forever grateful to them for collaborating with me. Here’s our One Eighty One Productions Demo Reel on YouTube:

In addition to teaching, I am currently directing “The Green Book Chronicles”, a documentary with animation co-produced with writer/playwright Calvin Ramsey, connecting stories related to The Negro Motorists Green Book series of travel guides for African Americans published by Victor H. Green from 1936-64. Visit our production site at greenbookchronicles.com.

In 2014 I completed “Puppetmation!”, a feature length compilation of 27 short films by SCAD students, merging puppetry with digital animation techniques, interspersed with behind-the-scenes interviews. The film screened at the Center for Puppetry Arts in May 2014 and is currently entered in a number of film festivals.

I also started PiktoGlyph LLC with my husband, Jimmy Searles, as a home for our creative work, both solo and collaborative. Among other things, we work together on writing projects, mixed-media photography, and films. Our first publication is a small book of two short stories written by Jimmy, with book design and editing by me, titled, “Strato Christmas ’66 and Memphis That Dream”, to be released soon and available on Amazon as both a hard copy and eBook. You will be able to check out more about the book and other projects soon at http://www.piktoglyph.com (site currently under construction). Thanks for visiting Eclectimation!