Creative Technology Symposium Response

Unfortunately, I had to work for most of the day during the symposium, but I was very happy that I was able to at least make it to the Pecha Kucha Sessions. I had never before seen presentations in that format, and found them very interesting and inspiring. These vignettes of the various experiences with digital art and the digital world were so interesting to me, and somewhat foreign. I made many notes on some of the artists and programmers I would like to follow up on and continue to learn about their process. I was most interested in Alfredo Salazar-Caro's work with DiMoDa and Lilia Ziamou's experiences with sculpture and 3D printing. 

Lilia Ziamou

DiMoDa

Homework 14-4: Brush Bot

Sam Berman and I partnered up to work with the brush bot in class. I think the best part of this class was how excited everyone was once all the brushes started moving around the table. I can absolutely see how a project like this could connect to students, especially in an elementary setting. 

Homework 14-3: Semester Reflection

My personal learning objectives for this course were:

1. Do not be afraid of technology
2. Useful application in my art practice
3. Useful application in the classroom

I think these objectives were certainly met throughout the semester, but I would like to explore many areas of the course further. I connected most with the units from earlier on in the semester such as digital drawing, scanography, and stop motion. I think these areas of new media were a great bridge between my previously existing ideas on digital art and my first learning objective (do not be afraid of technology). As far as my second and third objectives (application), I found these earlier materials to be both personally exciting, and could also see them working well in an elementary and high school setting. In fact, I have become so interested in these topics that I chose to take point on the digital art lesson plans that need to be created for a curriculum I was writing in another class. I am very excited to get into a classroom and see how these materials are, or can be, applied.

While I absolutely plan on continuing to use the materials mentioned above, I would also like to further explore what we covered on circuitry, programming, and physical computing. I believe there is great potential in these materials that I have not yet been able to really uncover. These areas of the course were the most foreign to me, so I approached these materials on an introductory level. I was very interested in what some of my classmates were able to achieve with these materials in their final projects, and I hope to continue to explore them beyond the parameters of this course.

Homework 14-1 & 14-2: Final Project & Process

For my final project, I rolled Sculpture, Robotics, and Justice. As we discussed at great lengths, I struggled quite a bit with this assignment. I had been looking forward to the final since we covered the purpose of the dice in the first class. However, I was not very excited about the theme of justice, and robotics were completely foreign to me. Although I would have preferred to deeply explore a material that we had covered in class, this project gave me a great opportunity to utilize some materials I was not able to previously explore in class, as well as tinker around with some new elements of robotics.

My final is called "Time For Peace." It's a very basic sculpture that features a clock face, overlaid with a spinning peace sign and clock hands. Currently, the clock hand and peace sign are all connected to the same DC motor, and therefore spin at the same rate. If I were to pursue this project further, I would invest in creating a way to slow the rate of the spinning, as well as install an actual clock mechanism.

My favorite aspect of this project was how much time I got to spend in the Thingspace. Throughout the semester, studio time was a challenge for me, but I was able to utilize a number of tools and materials for this project. I was able to finally explore both raster and vector cutting on the laser cutter, as well as troubleshoot some issues. (The polystyrene used for the peace sign and clock hands was being somewhat difficult for the vector cut, so Andrew was very helpful in trying some methods to fully cut the piece.) I was also able to work in the back of the studio for a while and use the band saw, belt sander, and drill press. It was a great opportunity to "get messy" while still using our new materials, which is something I consider to be a big part of my traditional art making.

Homework 13-4: Blog Design

I spent quite a bit of time designing and re-designing my blog in February and March. I went through about four different looks and themes before deciding on the design and color scheme I currently have. I do not wish to change my blog's appearance at this time.

Homework 13-1: IFTTT

During the workshop, my group tried creating a recipe wherein every time someone would use the hashtag #ArtStudent on Instagram, the LED light would flash. As you know, the groups were not able to successfully do this in class, so I took the Photon Particle home and was able to continue trying it out. I was able to get the lamp we made in class work right away, so I used that same lamp to continue working on the IFTTT process. Unfortunately, I was not able to get it to work with my basic circuit lamp. However, I did explore the IFTTT website and was able to experiment with creating internet based recipes. For example, I tried out some recipes that made Facebook posts appear on Instagram or Blogger. I was not previously familiar with the IFTTT website, and had a lot of fun trying out recipes. I think there is great potential for this kind of tool in public artworks, and also the classroom, especially since so much of the high school classroom exists online these days.

Homework 12-3: Final Project Ideas

For my final project I rolled Robotics, Sculpture, and Justice.

I have begun acquiring materials for the sculpture I am going to create. The idea is based on the large number of unarmed black men that are killed by police officers in this country. 

I need to print or laser cut a few images, and need to get one of the spinning motors from the department.