November 1, 2017 | UHCL Staff
Jonathan Zapata has always thought of himself as an artist, and although he’s working toward his bachelor of fine arts degree in art and design with studio concentration, he feels very passionate about film. “I got serious about my interest in film after I graduated from high school,” he said.
Zapata, a junior at University of Houston-Clear Lake, began looking for places to submit his short films in competitions without submission fees, and found a site called Film Fights. Each month, Film Fights invites aspiring filmmakers to submit short films that fit a certain prompt for competition.
“This is a website, so it’s not location specific. Anyone can submit a film from anywhere, and it’s free,” Zapata said. “In September, I saw a prompt that I liked asking for a documentary film about an interesting person. I knew I wanted to do an artist because I’d never done one before, and I wanted to be an artist myself.”
He chose UHCL’s Clay Leonard, assistant professor of art and design, as the “interesting person” to film. “I was thinking about an artist whose work has been displayed in galleries, and Dr. Leonard was showing us some of his work,” Zapata said. “I’m taking his ceramics class and it’s one of my favorites, so I decided to ask him to be in my documentary. It worked out very well.”
Leonard said that Zapata had approached him with his idea to use him in his documentary – just as Leonard happened to have two serving plates being fired in his kiln. “We went to check out the kiln and discussed my work and my ideas as an artist,” he said. “A big part of the film was unloading the kiln and talking about the process behind the finished work.”
Leonard’s plates emerged from the kiln in perfect condition. “Food and dialogue are important to my work, and that’s why I made these pieces for the table,” he explained.
“The gold lines that connect them are about serving, community, and conversation,” he said. “The line is a focal point on the serving pieces to carry out the idea of creating an aesthetic connection between objects and people. I have a lot of fond memories of engaging around food, and my work serves to be a catalyst for those situations.”
Zapata said that he was glad that Leonard had not yet opened the kiln that contained the two serving pieces. “It was meant to be,” he said. “I could tell it was something really important to him, and they turned out perfectly. I think Dr. Leonard’s work is really interesting. Before taking his class, I didn’t have much appreciation for ceramics but I’ve gotten so much out of this class.”
Subscribers to Film Fights are invited to vote for their favorite film, which Film Fights’ board of directors has narrowed to three. “I found out I’d won runner-up,” Zapata said. “I don’t feel badly that I didn’t win first place. I knew my biggest competitor had made a documentary about old Hollywood writers, and that’s what won. But I’m going to keep submitting films. After you win a certain number, you are put in Film Fights’ Hall of Fame.”
And the reward for winning runner-up for his documentary? “Just bragging rights,” he said.
Leonard said that he’s very happy to have been the subject of his student’s video. “It’s helped us make connections with others who have seen the video, and it shows what I get to do professionally,” he said. “It’s a nice aftermath. I get to talk more about my work.”
