Alice Saey is a Franco-Scottish graphic and animation artist based in Rotterdam. Since graduating from a graphic design Master’s program at HEAR in Strasbourg, France, she has animated naked ladies, dancing geese, and singing volcanos in several music videos, bringing her work to international recognition. Saey’s portfolio comprises drawings for press, film, theater, and murals for a future suburban Paris metro station. Her first professional short, Flatastic (2024), has been travelling the world and has appeared in over 50 festivals.
At MacDowell, Saey began visual research for her animated short film Piano Fingers, an abstract narrative inspired by her late mother’s music. She developed a visual world made of flower characters and explored new techniques. Since the film deals with the process of grief and the difficulty of remembering a loved one’s unarchived art, she recorded herself playing the piano, attempting to reconstruct a tune from her childhood. The snowfall, rainfall, and presence of wildlife created a rich sonic environment, prompting her to make field recordings that will contribute to the film’s soundtrack. The animated loop that sparked this project was originally created for the Drawing Now Art Fair in Paris (2023) and will be exhibited at the Museum for Drawing in Oldenburg in 2025.
Saey drew inspiration from the changing weather of the MacDowell forest, creating a series of paintings based on damp wood, frozen branches, and plants cast in ice. These drawings not only informed the film’s backgrounds but also evolved into an exhibitable series, marking a potential new direction in her career as a visual artist.
Portrait by Liza Wolters
