Did you know that the average person, while asleep, unknowingly eats at least four spiders over the course of his or her lifetime? That gruesome statistic is the inspiration for Ignorance Is Bliss, Miriam Wilson's comedic animated short, which made it into the Cannes Film Festival this past May.

When Wilson received the news from her coproducers that their three-minute film—about a girl who learns in the afterlife that God has a twisted sense of humor—was chosen over thousands of other entries, she thought they were joking. But, indeed, not only was the piece shown along with 900 other shorts in France, but it will appear in the Dingle Film Festival in Ireland this fall, and it may even make a showing in Spain. "This film is traveling to places I've never been and can't afford to go," observes Wilson, wryly. "I'm actually jealous of it."

Her foray into short films—she has another one about a pesky health condition characterized by the sudden intrusion into your personal space of a bagpipe-playing Scotsman in full regalia—is just the latest development in an already impressive creative career. It also pulls together a background that includes illustration, photography, graphic design, and comedy sketch writing.

Some of those interests were cemented while she was in the Illustration Program at CCA. "Bob Ciano rekindled an interest in film I'd had since my days watching Disney movies and LucasArts video games," she says. "Juvenal Acosta made me realize I enjoy writing as much as visual art."

Wilson's earlier sources of inspiration include her father, who, she says, "has a way of making everything that comes out of his mouth funny," and her mother, who encouraged her prolific drawing talent from an early age. "I used to wall myself up in my attic bedroom filling multitudes of sketchbooks with my own cartoon characters." So impressed was CCA with her portfolio that the school offered her a Creative Achievement Award merit scholarship on the spot during her admission interview.

Since graduating with distinction (one of her final projects was a human-powered bicycle machine that puts sprinkles on cupcakes), she has had a number of offbeat gigs, such as sketchwriter for the Killing My Lobster comedy troupe in San Francisco. She also has a more straightforward day job as a graphic artist for Madeleine Corson Design.

Wilson's main goal now is for her production company, Animated State, formed last year with her husband and another comedy colleague, to get a second film into Cannes: "I want to be able to go this time and experience firsthand the glory of making people giggle in a whole other country."

See also: artist's websites at www.themiriam.com

www.animatedstate.net

From Glance, 2007

Born in 1983 in Oakland

CCA degree:
Illustration Program, 2005

Residence:
Oakland

Current occupation:
Production artist, Madeleine Corson Design, San Francisco

Influences at CCA:
Juvenal Acosta, Bob Ciano, Mark Eanes, Robert Hunt, John C. Rogers, Barron Storey