—  Art & Film—

A selection of April Grayson's video, film, and photography art practice,
as well as commercial video work

— SELECTed Videos & Films —

— filmography —

• Connecting to the Land through Tai Chi (2019) 3 minutes (digital video)

• Grief (2019) looping projection (digital video)

• Winter Institute Ignite Campaign (2016) 3 minutes (digital video)

• Winter Institute 15th Anniversary (2015) 7 minutes (digital video)

• Ancestors (2014) 3 minutes (digital storytelling, photos and audio)

• Apex Learning course videos in math, English, social studies, science, world languages, and Advanced Placement (2011-2013), approximately 500 1-to-3-minute videos

• Legacy: Cotton (2008) 4 minutes (16mm loop)

• Work of the Winter Institute (2008) 12 minutes (digital video)

• Another Word for Family (2007) 17 minutes (transferred Super 8 and digital video)

• brother/sister (2007) 4 minutes (digital video)

• The space within memory (2007) 5 minutes (digital video)

• Ritual (2007) video installation loop

• Reflection/Refraction (2007) 4 minutes (transferred Super 8 and digital video)

• The Shower Scene (2006) 5 minutes (digital video)

• Body Play (2006) 4 minutes (digital video installation)

• Swallows Nest (2006) video installation loop

• Varkala Shore (2006) 3 minutes (transferred Super 8 film)

• Wai Doi Suthep (2006) 3 minutes (transferred Super 8 film)

• Varanasi Puja (2006) 3 minutes (transferred Super 8 film)

• The Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done (2005) 5 minutes (digital video)

• The Children Shall Lead (2005) 34 minutes (digital video documentary)

• McComb Legacies (2005) 9 minutes (digital video)

• Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner Memorial (2004)10 minutes (transferred film and digital video)

• 33 Fainting Spells (2000) 5 minutes (digital video and transferred Super 8)

• Special Delivery (1996) 12 minutes (Hi8 video)

— screenings & Exhibits —

• Taos Center for the Arts, Taos NM (2022)

• Land & Power: The Summit, Mississippi Museum of Art’s Center for Art and Public Exchange, Lafayette County MS (2019)

• PROJECT(ion) Fringe Festival, Oxford MS (2019)

• National Day of Racial Healing, Two Mississippi Museums, Jackson MS (2019)

• Winter Institute 15th Anniversary Celebration (2015)

• Brandon High School, Brandon, MS (2014)

• StoryCenter digital storytelling screening at Loyola University, New Orleans (2014)

• Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC (2013)

• Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, British Columbia (2013)

• Ozark Foothills FilmFest (2010) Another Word for Family, The space within memory

• Cream from the Top, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA (2010)

• Lo-Fi Hi-Fi, Gallery 130, University of Mississippi (2010)

• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (2009) Another Word for Family

• Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS (2009) The Legacy of Cotton, Another Word for Family

• Oxford Film Festival, Oxford, MS (2009) The Legacy of Cotton

• SWARM Gallery, Oakland, CA (2009) Another Word for Family

• Vernissage, SFAI MFA exhibition, Herbst Pavilion, San Francisco, CA (2009)

• Alive and Kicking! group show, Swell Gallery, SFAI, San Francisco, CA (2009)

• Immediate Future: The 2008 Murphy and Cadogan Fellowships in the Fine Arts group show, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery (2008)

• Chow Fun group show, Swell Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA (2008)

• Documenta Quito, Quito, Ecuador (2008) Another Word for Family

• SF IndieFest, San Francisco, CA (2008) Another Word for Family

• CineSlam Park City, Park City, UT (2008) Another Word for Family

• Oxford Film Festival, Oxford, MS (2008) Another Word for Family

• Delta International Film and Video Festival, Cleveland, MS (2008) Another Word for Family

• Crossroads Film Festival, Jackson, MS (2008) Another Word for Family

• Winter Institute annual meeting, University of Mississippi (2008) Work of the Winter Institute

• MFA group show, Swell Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA (2007)

• I Shoot Myself self-portrait group show, Diego Rivera Gallery, SFAI, San Francisco, CA (2007)

• MFA group show, Swell Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA (2007)

• Voices from the American South, Diego Rivera Gallery, SFAI, San Francisco, CA (2007)

• University of Mississippi guest lecturer, Brooke White’s art class (2007)

• MFVA Award Winners screening, Jackson, MS (2007), Another Word for Family

• Winnipeg International Film Festival, Winnipeg, MB (2007) The space within memory

• Oxford Film Festival, Oxford, MS (2007) The space within memory, brother/sister

• Delta International Film and Video Festival, Cleveland, MS (2007) brother/sister

• Crossroads Film Festival, Jackson, MS (2007) The space within memory

• Tupelo Film Festival, Tupelo, MS (2007) brother/sister

• Moviate Artsfest Film Festival, Harrisburg, PA (2007) The space within memory

• FESPACO Pan African Film/Television Festival, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (2007) The Children Shall Lead

• Ghana’s Fiftieth Jubilee Celebration, Accra, Ghana (2007) The Children Shall Lead

• University of Mississippi guest lecturer, Carlyle Wolfe’s art class (2006)

• Mississippi Public Broadcasting television broadcast (2006) The Children Shall Lead

• Aarhus Festival of Independent Arts, Aarhus, Denmark (2006) The Children Shall Lead

• Crossroads Film Festival, Jackson, MS (2006) The Children Shall Lead

• Tupelo Film Festival, Tupelo, MS (2006) The Children Shall Lead

• Site Specific Acts group show, San Francisco, CA (2006)

• Swallows Nest, Swell Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA (2006)

• Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Oxford, MS, (2005) The Children Shall Lead

• Oxford Film Festival, Oxford, MS (2005) The Children Shall Lead

• KCTS arts focus, Seattle, WA (2000), 33 Fainting Spells

• 9-1-1 Media Arts, Seattle, WA (1996), Special Delivery

Collaborations

• Swallows Nest multimedia installation, with Kimberly Rowe (2006)

• Puffy Red Chair, with Kimberly Rowe and Hedley Wells (2006)

• The Children Shall Lead documentary film, with Susan Glisson (2005)

• 33 Fainting Spells (2000), with Heather McRae-Woolf (2000)

• Redadas y Derechos/Raids and Rights, with Heather McRae-Woolf (1998)

Crew Work for Other Productions

• Slavery and the Making of America, PBS documentary film (2003)

• October, short narrative film by Thad Lee (2003)

• Fraternity Boys, History Channel documentary by Andy Ames (2002)

• The Murder of Emmett Till, PBS documentary by Stanley Nelson (2002)

• Leo, independent feature by Mehdi Norowzian (2002)

• Martin Scorsese and PBS Presents “The Blues: Feel Like Going Home” documentary by Martin Scorsese (2002)

• Martin Scorsese and PBS Presents “The Blues: The Soul of a Man” documentary by Wim Wenders (2002)

• Martin Scorsese and PBS Presents “The Blues: Warming by the Devil’s Fire” documentary by Charles Burnett (2001)

• Globalization and Immigration, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (1999)

• La Huelga del Pueblo: The People's Strike, documentary by Heather McRae-Woolf (1999)

• Redadas y Derechos/Raids and Rights, documentary by Heather McRae-Woolf (1998)

• Artists of Streetlife, documentary by Nina Schoen (1996)

• Children Don’t Come One-Size-Fits-All, documentary by Heather McRae-Woolf (1996)
  

— teaching & community-based arts work —

Adjunct Faculty, University of Mississippi School of Journalism & New Media, (2021- )
Oral history workshop for North Mississippi Rural Legal Services (2019)
University of Mississippi School of Law oral history workshop (2017)
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)-sponsored oral history workshops for high school teachers and students (2016-2017)
Summer Youth Institute oral history, photography, and art workshops (2014-2017)
Visiting lecturer, Brandon High School (2014)
Visiting artist, Western Carolina University (2013)
Youth Arts Work (2014- )
Purple Thistle Centre for Youth Arts and Activism, Vancouver BC (2009-2011)
Documentary Educator, William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi (2005-2009)
University of Mississippi video and oral history workshops for student activists, Barksdale Honors College students, and UM School of Law students (2004-2008)
Guest lecturer in University of Mississippi art classes and public lectures (2004-2008)
Youth and adult documentary video and oral history workshops throughout Mississippi (2004-2008)
Mentor for university student interns and campus student leaders (2004-2008)
Video oral history projects about race and civil rights history in Mississippi communities (2004-2007)
Community-initiated websites about civil rights history, reconciliation, and oral histories (2004-2009)
Multimedia curriculum development about Mississippi civil rights history (2005-2017)
Annual Civil Rights Education summits for teachers (2005-2007)
McComb Legacies commemoration of 40 years of civil rights history (2005)
40th anniversary commemoration of the Neshoba murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner (2004)
Medgar Evers 40th anniversary memorial commemoration (2003)
PieceWorks Deep South Arts Collective, Oxford, MS, co-founder and president (2003-2008)
Mississippi Film and Video Alliance, board member (2003)
Oxford Film Festival, screening committee co-chair (2003)

— awards —

• A Blade of Grass Fellowship, finalist (2017)

• National Endowment for the Humanities grant awarded to the Winter Institute (2016-2017)

• Elbert Hilliard Oral History Award, Mississippi Historical Society (2009)

• Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship in the Fine Arts, San Francisco Foundation (2008)

• Year of Delta Heritage Award, Delta State University (2008)

• Best Experimental (Another Word for Family), Delta International Film and Video Festival (2008)

• RUMA Award for Most Promising Mississippi Filmmaker, Crossroads Film Festival (2008)

• American Association of University Women (AAUW) Career Development grant (2007)

• Mississippi Film and Video Alliance completion grant (2007)

• Mississippi Arts Commission artist mini-grants (2006, 2007)