CATYA PLATE -Spanish born/German multi-media artist, animator, director, producer, writer - came to New York in 1987 through a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the School of Visual Arts. Her work has been shown since the mid-1980's at Museums and Galleries like the Whitney Museum at Altria and Adam Baumgold Gallery and is included in collections such as The Brooklyn Museum and New York Library/Print Collection. Reviews have appeared in The New York Times, among others. In 2009 she created Clothespin Freak Productions to bring her “Clothespin Freaks” characters to life through handcrafted award-winning stop-motion animation films. In April 2023, she received a prestigious NYC Women's Fund Grant Award by New York Foundation for the Arts for Las Nogas which premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival and won the Grand Prize for Best Environmental Film.