John Summerson is an award-winning animation director and storyteller.

John holds a Master’s Degree in Documentary Animation from the Royal College of Art in London, UK, and earned his BFA in Animated Arts from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. He specializes in creative nonfiction in animation. He particularly enjoys the blurred boundaries between animation, essays, interviews, bread dough, fake holidays, and real (bad) musical performances of the aforementioned fake holidays.

In addition to making his own films, he works commercially as an interdisciplinary media artist. He uses stop motion, 2D and 3D animation, and regularly provides his services as a director, editor, sound designer, videographer, and illustrator. He also has several years experience as a glassblower and ceramicist.

John is a passionate educator and has taught animation in youth programs, inside a detention facility, and at the undergraduate and master levels. Most recently, he has been teaching in the Digital Arts & Media Design program at Penn State University.

His accolades include the Grand Prize at the LG Art of the Pixel competition, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Educator’s Forum Scholarship, and the Princess Grace-USA Undergraduate Film Award. His work has been exhibited internationally, most recently in Budapest, Madrid, Berlin, and London, and in Times Square in New York City.

He currently lives in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania where he continues his freelance practice and his role as the Director of Animation for the upcoming feature animated documentary film Pour the Water As I Leave. He is also an enthusiastic pinball player, has a great recipe for falafel popcorn, and is really good at making lists that have three things in them.