Direction of the Road (2023) digital animation and sound, 7:42.

Janelle VanderKelen is an artist, curator, and educator based in Knoxville, TN. Her films and large-scale ceramic sculptures imagine alternative acts of relation between imperfect bodies (human, vegetal, geological, or otherwise). 

She received her MA in Intermedia Art with a focus on Ceramics and her MFA in Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

VanderKelen’s work has exhibited at institutions including Anthology Film Archives in New York, NY; the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee, WI; and Bow Arts in London, England. Her films have screened at Ann Arbor Film Festival, True/False Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival,  and Antimatter [Media Art] Film Festival.

Recent honors include juried awards at the 2023 Ann Arbor Film Festival and 2023 Thomas Edison Film Festival and Nohl and MacDowell Fellowships.

As part of her creative practice, Janelle co-curates a screening series called aCinema with collaborator Taka Suzuki.

Janelle is the Director of Time-Based Foundations for the School of Art. She teaches within Cinema Studies, Time-Based Art, and Foundations.