Katy Dresner

As a child, award-winning filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist Katy Dresner would often pursue artistic projects.

“I was always creative and I was also lucky to always be encouraged to lean into that creativity,” they said. “I was always stealing magazines from my mom and Sunday newspapers to make collages and taking the family camera to make fake MTV videos and emulate reality TV shows.”

The West Bloomfield native, who now lives in Detroit, also fondly recalls their K-12 years at Cranbrook Schools. “My parents’ decision to send me to Cranbrook was definitely influenced by my brother and I getting an education that put a lot of focus on creativity, not just academics,” said Dresner. “I wanted to follow a creative career path and that was really nurtured in high school. I was taking all fine arts courses and I wanted to find myself in that environment and make the choice to go into the arts world.”

Dresner would go on to study art and film at the University of Michigan. “I was walking a line between the film world and the art world to figure out how two interests of mine fit together,” they said. “That has been a big part of my career path up to this point, to figure out how the two fit in with each other; how certain art can be applicable to film and vice versa, and how to synthesize the two in my own career path.”

Which one comes next can depend on the situation. “It’s almost idea-based,” Dresner explained. “Sometimes I have an idea for a project and I can see it as an art installation very clearly because I have a vision for it, but then I realize I need to write this as a film instead because it’s more in the film realm.”

Their varied roles include editor, director, art director and production designer for narrative and documentary short films. Recent work that has been broadcast on PBS includes editing and animation for Sydney G. James: How We See Us and editing and other work on Detroit We Dey.

In September, Dresner will have an art installation as part of a show during Detroit Month of Design at the Boyer Campbell Building.

“Some commonalities between much of my work is the effect of using the internet and digital technology and how that influences the way we identify ourselves and tell stories about ourselves,” they said. “That is at the core of my artistic pursuits.”

As a 2024 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow, the artist and filmmaker deeply appreciates the yearlong opportunity. “When you are given a $40,000 unrestricted financial reward – a really huge unheard-of type of fellowship award granted in the art world – it’s without a doubt the biggest honor I’ve received in my career,” said Dresner. “Folks I’ve looked up to and admired their work from afar, or friends and mentors who had received it made me feel really humbled and it’s surreal to be among their ranks. It’s like a dream come true.”

Additional support comes from other creatives. “Having won the Kresge award and working in film in general is definitely a community process. It takes a village, whether you’re directing, doing production design or editing,” they said. “In Detroit, the filmmaking community is very small, but mighty. They’re a group of talented people I owe my career to and that’s what is so special about my career path; it’s so engrained in the community.”

Story: Jeanine Matlow

Photo: Laurie Tennent