Fostering Underlife Gardens Through Image: Cindy Stockton Moore on her work as a naturalist animator and her upcoming workshop @SWALE

Interview with Olivia Ann Carye Hallstein

Cindy Stockton Moore creates research-based animations about underground soil ecosystems. Trained as a naturalist, she has written extensively about art making and has a fully integrated artistic practice making her own natural inks and dyes for her artwork and animations. By integrating foraging practices and informing her work with environmental science, she collaborates with musicians and poets to create animations that are reflective and educate about the natural world. We are very excited to have her give a workshop at ecoartspace @SWALE on Governors Island in New York City, Saturday, August 8th, from 2 to 4pm EDT exploring underground motion through hands-on animation techniques. To sign up for the “Animated Soil Workshop” with Cindy Stockton Moore, please use the following link: ecoartspace - Swale House - Governors Island 2026.

Hi Cindy, your upcoming workshop where you will teach participants to make short animations reflecting underground ecologies sounds super interesting. Would you tell us a bit about what participants can expect from the workshop?

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to some of the underlife creatures found in the rDNA tests of the soil. From there, we’ll be making analog animations – starting with a simple two-frame motion – imagining the ways things may move underground. I’ll bring in some early moving image devices – zoetropes and phenakistoscopes – to build up to multiple frames and play with the optics of moving images.

As well as being an artist, you are also a master naturalist. What does this work look like? And how did your inspiration sprout from this interest?

This is a great question and opportunity to clarify! I don’t have an additional master's degree as a naturalist – I am a PA Master Naturalist, which is more akin to being a Master Gardener. The Master Naturalist program is an extension of my volunteer conservation work and provides a network for collaborations with like-minded people and organizations in the state. I’ve been certified since 2024, and this year, I’ve been working with The Land Health Institute on a series of workshops, experiments and talks around natural color and native species.

It sounds like you will be integrating this work into the animation workshop, which reflects your unique work as a naturalist animator. Does your practice process look like this as well?

My process is a blend of studio and field work. Since I make my own pigments and paints, I am often outdoors gathering, growing, and foraging materials for color. I also gather imagery and visual samples in the field. The work of converting the natural materials to paints and paintings mainly occurs in the studio. The paintings are often animated into experimental videos – and that means time on the computer, layering and editing. For my process (and sanity), it’s important to fluctuate between the two to ground my work and my practice off-screen. Several times a year, I structure a mini-residency to be primarily outdoors and away from the city to reconnect.

I’ve always been inspired by a curiosity about the natural world – and rewarded by observing it deeply. This parallel between the environmental sciences is played out in the studio and during outreach. In this project, animation brings to life some of the wonders and complexity of our more-than-human collaborators.

Thanks, Cindy! We are looking forward to finding out more on August 8th!

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