Jeffrey Perkins
Director/Producer
Jeffrey Perkins is an artist and filmmaker living in New York City. In 1963, while stationed by the US Air Force in Japan, he struck up a chance friendship with Yoko Ono, which led to an association over the ensuing decades with John Lennon, George Maciunas, Nam June Paik, and the Fluxus Art Movement. After moving to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, Perkins worked for the Fox Venice Theater, managed Cinematheque 16, and co-founded the psychedelic light show group Single Wing Turquoise Bird, which performed with the Velvet Underground, Yardbirds, Cream, Sly and the Family Stone, and others. It was in Los Angeles that he developed a creative relationship with abstract expressionist painter Sam Francis. Making film and audio recordings that date from 1968 to 1977, Perkins created an expansive collection of footage of the artist, both at work in the studio and in intimate conversation.
In 1981, Perkins returned to New York, where for the next twenty years he drove a taxi to support his artistic endeavors. After the death of Francis in 1994, and with support of Jonas Mekas, Perkins revisited that remarkable footage to create his first feature documentary, 'The Painter Sam Francis'. Since its completion in 2008, Perkins has traveled worldwide to present his visual, audio, and conceptual works.
Since 2010, Perkins has been working on his newest documentary film, George. He has traveled around Europe and America to film interviews with friends, family, scholars and professional associates of George Maciunas and Fluxus. This film has already garnered attention by such prestigious venues as the Musee de Louvre Auditorium in Paris, where the short -reel was screened in January 2013, as well as the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius in 2015.
In 1981, Perkins returned to New York, where for the next twenty years he drove a taxi to support his artistic endeavors. After the death of Francis in 1994, and with support of Jonas Mekas, Perkins revisited that remarkable footage to create his first feature documentary, 'The Painter Sam Francis'. Since its completion in 2008, Perkins has traveled worldwide to present his visual, audio, and conceptual works.
Since 2010, Perkins has been working on his newest documentary film, George. He has traveled around Europe and America to film interviews with friends, family, scholars and professional associates of George Maciunas and Fluxus. This film has already garnered attention by such prestigious venues as the Musee de Louvre Auditorium in Paris, where the short -reel was screened in January 2013, as well as the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius in 2015.
Jessie Stead
Editor
Jessie Stead works in overlapping patterns of installation, music, cinema, text, collaboration and other forms of cross-disciplined art. Her work has been presented widely in varied platforms, recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Jan Kaps (Cologne), Jenny’s (Los Angeles), 247365 (New York), and OCDChinatown (New York). Collaborative projects, group exhibitions and performances include the Museum of Modern Art (Warsaw, Poland), Fridericianum (Kassel, DE), the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, and Performa 13 (New York). Stead’s earlier cinematic work has screened at the London Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the New York Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives (New York), MoCAD (Detroit), and in Greater New York at MoMA PS1 (2010). She is the experimental percussionist in the art-band Hairbone (formerly Haribo). Hairbone’s debut LP Earth To Momma, produced by Stead, was released in 2018 by Blank Forms Editions. Recent work in moving image includes directing two music videos for Hairbone and the editing and sound design for the feature documentary George: The Story of George Maciunas & Fluxus.
www.jessiestead.com.
www.jessiestead.com.
Liz Dautzenberg
Production manager and assistant to director
With over 10 years of experience Liz Dautzenberg (1986, Amsterdam) developed herself as a producer, researcher and filmmaker in the creative industry. Her focus lies between documentary, visual arts, and digital culture and she has a strong interest in the overlap between art and life. Liz holds a degree in both Film Studies (BA) and Audiovisual Journalism (MA) from the University of Amsterdam. During her studies she took a minor in Architecture and Visual Arts and Documentary Filmmaking and Experimental Film at the renowned New School in New York. Liz met Jeffrey Perkins through Anthology Film Archives and has worked closely with him on George - The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus since 2012. Other projects she collaborated on include the viral sensation of The Garden of Earthly Delights (PvH Film & NTR), the interactive documentary on the artist Escher (NTR), the feature History’s Future (dir: Fiona Tan), Food Markets: In the belly of the city (ARTE/ZDF), among many others. In addition to juggling a variety of ongoing creative projects she is also co-owns a film archive in Amsterdam: Cine Qua Non.
Cassidy Petrazzi
Associate producer and researcher
Cassidy Petrazzi (1985, New York) is an art historian and curator specializing in modern and contemporary art history as well as feminist theories. Petrazzi’s research interests have focused on Fluxus and specifically Alison Knowles. Petrazzi graduated with a BFA in Expanded Media from the School of Art and Design at Alfred University studying under Peer Bode. She completed an MA in Art History from Oklahoma State University writing her thesis on Knowles, advised by Louise Siddons, PhD. She has worked for over ten years as an arts administrator in New York, most recently working as a researcher for the Leon Polk Smith Foundation, Associate Director at Derek Eller Gallery, and Exhibition and Art Fair Manager at Pace/MacGill Gallery. Through a chance encounter involving Anthology Film Archives, she met Jeffrey Perkins and began working on the documentary George – The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus in 2011. Her current and upcoming work include continuing her study of Knowles, several curatorial projects, and presentations of her current research. Petrazzi currently lives between Stillwater, OK, and New York, NY.
