Dear CCA Community,

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that Dani Sukiennik, Visiting Artist in Animation, passed away Wednesday after a courageous battle with cancer. He was 54.

Dani was a part of our CCA community since 2013. He was a passionate teacher, bringing his excitement for cinema to our Visual Storytelling curriculum and to many others through the creation of instructional videos and his mentorship of new Visual FX artists.

Outside of his highly skilled work in education, Dani held lead roles at top animation studios and visual-effects facilities. He worked at Tippett Studio, Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm Animation, and instructed layout artists at Dreamworks Animation. Thanks in part to his work, we have such timeless classics such as “Monsters Inc.,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” and “One Man Band.” Additional projects Dani contributed to include  “Ted 2,” “Gods of Egypt,” “The Avengers,” “Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” and “The Spiderwick Chronicles.”

On behalf of the College I extend my condolences to Dani’s friends, family, colleagues, and to the film community to whom this is a great loss indeed. It was an honor to have Dani as a part of our community, and I am grateful to know that our students were able to learn from one of the best and brightest in the field.

For any of you who may need support during this time, or who may know of others who need support, we are here for you. If you know of a student in need of care, please fill out a CCA Cares form to ensure they get the help they need. Free counseling services for our students can also be found online here. For faculty or staff who need support during this time, please feel free to reach out to hr@cca.edu.

Sincerely,

Stephen Beal