Alumnus draws on creative mindset of hyperactivity
His mother called him “the tornado.” A hyper child with a hyperactive imagination, Scott Ligon ’84 figured he was just . . . well . . . hyper.
But years later when his young son was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, or ADD, Ligon began to study the condition.
And through his research, Ligon, an artist, recognized himself – a man who couldn’t keep track of his keys or pack a suitcase for a road trip but who could create wild digital paintings full of color, texture, and movement.
“It’s actually a mindset that facilitates creativity,” Ligon said of ADD. “I don’t necessarily think it’s a 
disability. I think there are enabling qualities.”
Ligon, 45, highlights those qualities in his first animated short film, Escape Velocity, a stream-of-consciousness style movie that mimics what he calls “the mindset of ADD.”
Since being released last year, the film has been a hit at festivals around the world, winning Best Experimental Film at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, Best Short Documentary at the Port Townsend Film Festival in Washington, and a merit award at Superfest XXVI International Disabilities Film Festival in Berkeley, Calif.
Viewers with ADD have emailed Ligon to say they were encouraged by the movie, which uses examples from his own life to emphasize the link between ADD and creativity.
“It just started doing really well. It’s been all over the place,” said Ligon, who was invited to speak about the movie throughout the country. “I had to gradually acquire experience so I could speak with authority.”
Ligon, who teaches three art classes at UMW, including an introduction to digital art, sees the film as a natural extension of his “still” artwork. He studied painting at UMW and later as a graduate student at the Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
He moved into the digital realm because that’s what his commercial clients demanded – and the more he experimented with a computer screen as his canvas, the more he liked it.
“It was fun,” he said about giving up the traditional paint brush, “and without thinking about it, I converted.”
Ligon uses a digital drawing tablet and a pressure-sensitive stylus to create his paintings. The harder he presses on the tablet, the thicker the lines, much like a paint brush. He’s able to mix colors, build up layers and incorporate found objects and photographs in his works, which erupt with frenetic energy.
“I like the idea of combining information from different sources. There are no concrete limits,” he said. “You can try variations, experiment with something, and if that doesn’t work, you go in a different direction. You can back up and undo.”
The final version of Escape Velocity combines a playful soundtrack with Ligon’s vibrant, abstract artwork.
Ligon, who lives in Spotsylvania with his wife, painter Laura Sherrill Ligon, and their two sons, has already started working on his next film. The 25-minute Escape Velocity is being distributed by Shorts International, which has marketed short films to the likes of HBO and Sundance.
“We’ll see how things go,” he said. “I’m a little fish in a big pond now.”
– Edie Gross, UMW adjunct instructor of journalism