Mosaic Project / Self-Portraits in the Digital Age

In the era of selfies, this digital art project poses a question: What is portraiture in the digital age? Consider the history of portraiture, especially self-portraits by artists, and how the era is reflected in the style of the portrait. Some examples:
http://www.d.umn.edu/~jrock2/self_portraits/

Mosaic Project : Create a self-portrait that reflects your own identity as an artist in this contemporary age. Your portrait must also engage the concept of mosaic in digital media and should be assembled from multiple pieces that together form the whole. Allow the divisions between these pieces to play an active role in the image dynamics of the portrait. As tiled images these should reflect the multiplicity and fragmentation of personal identity in the digital age. Consider mixing traditional techniques (drawing, painting, etc) with digital techniques. Employ art principles to strengthen image unity (color, line, texture, etc). Assemble a dynamic image that contains both unity and surprise. Work at appropriate image resolution for quality output. Plan ahead for a final work at large scale (at least 20 inches in one direction.) Assemble mixed-media to highest quality final craft.

Mosaic Project Intro Slideshow / Low-rez
http://www.d.umn.edu/~jrock2/mosaic_project_intro_lowrez

 

Kate Durbin’s ‘Hello!Selfie’ performance at PULSE Miami Beach, Photo: Rollin Leonard, 2015

 

Spring 2016 gallery

RiP! A Remix Manifesto

Digital Art Mixed-Media  / Online Viewing Assignment

RiP! A Remix Manifesto (it’s about 86 minutes)

Please view full video online. Take notes on what you find most revealing or surprising about the contemporary practice of remix artists. Does the video raise issues about your own use of digital media… in your artwork or your life? How does the video relate to recent internet blackout/protest and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) legislation? Do you side with the CopyLEFT or the CopyRIGHT?

RiP: A Remix Manifesto from Laurent LaSalle on Vimeo.

http://ripremix.com/Prepare your comments (about 150 words). We will discuss in class the following week.

My Mind’s Eye: Portraits Inspired by Shakespeare’s First Folio

My Mind’s Eye: Portraits Inspired by Shakespeare’s First Folio
Reception: Oct. 3, 5-7 PM
On View: Oct. 3 – 27, 2016

In honor of Shakespeare’s First Folio visit to Duluth, the DAI is hosting a portrait exhibition exploring artists’ unique renditions of their favorite characters from Shakespeare plays.

Facebook Event  https://www.facebook.com/events/1964612263765814/

For more info on Shakespeare’s First Folio, visit http://d.umn.edu/Shakespeares-First-Folio/

 

WHAT SHAKESPEARE CHARACTER ARE YOU?  TAKE A QUIZ TO FIND OUT!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/which-character-from-shakespeare-are-you?utm_term=.qmAg51kYNg#.roN3A6Xz53

http://www.zimbio.com/quiz/O-p3RY-2k8X/Shakespeare+Character

http://www.playbuzz.com/lilao10/which-shakespeare-character-are-you

CALL FOR WORKS

In honor of Shakespeare’s First Folio visit to Duluth, the Duluth Art Institute is announcing an open call for submissions to a portrait exhibit featuring artists’ imaginative renderings of famous characters from Shakespeare’s plays. We’re accepting 2D as well as 3D work but space is limited so 2D work is encouraged.

Work Guidelines:
• Work should represent a character from a Shakespeare play but the word ‘represent’ can be taken very loosely. Be as creative as the Bard himself when creating your work! Click here for character examples.
• Any form, style, or medium of art is acceptable.
• Work cannot exceed 6’ in any direction.
• All hung work must not exceed 40lbs, and must be READY TO HANG.
• All freestanding works must support their weight and may not be attached to the floor.
• Work may be for sale (but is not required). The Duluth Art Institute takes a 40% commission on all gallery sales so please set price accordingly

Deadlines:
• Please notify Anne Dugan that you wish to participate by August 1st
• Finished work is due to the DAI offices by September 9

Please include the following:
• Name/Address/Phone/Email
• Character that inspired the work

QUESTIONS?
Contact:
DAI Executive & Artistic Director Anne Dugan

Art1013: A Long Winter Into Spring

Art1013 FINAL PROJECT  >>>  A Long Winter Into Spring

What is your experience of this long winter and the transition into spring?

Using 2-d digital design tools, create your own interpretation of the phrase : “A Long Winter into Spring”  Please combine 6 prints of the same size to build a group of images that includes both unity and surprise. You may choose to build your project out of letter size (8.5 x 11)  or tabloid (11×17) paper prints. Trim prints to unified size/format of your choice. Arrange in any format (horizontal, vertical, grid, diagonal, box…) but each image must touch at least one other image in the group. The work should have a connecting design element, helping to create a gestalt of the theme: “A Long Winter into Spring”.

Use the 6 prints to build your version. All 6 images must be tied together with visual element, but each image should contain only original imagery created or collaged using photoshop and/or illustrator. Original Photography, abstract design, digital illustration, typography are all possible elements to include. Be as creative and original as possible with your application of digital techniques and expressive interpretation of the theme. This project is very open ended, but you must work within some limitations. You must produce 6 images that together form the whole.

RESOURCES:
Poems about Spring:
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2014/mar/21/the-10-best-poems-about-spring

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/thematic_poems/spring_poems.html

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poems-spring

http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/best/spring

Spring 16 Art 2016 > Final Project Choices

Art2016 Final Projects must integrate the concept of DIGITAL ART MIXED-MEDIA. Your approach may use tactile materials or traditional art techniques at the beginning or the end of your process. Your final project plan must outline your step by step plan, and describe the final format you will turn in for grading. More info in class!

SOME OPTIONS…

Option 1 : OBJECT OF DESIRE  Create a work of digital mixed-media art that plays off the title: Object of Desire. Explore and refine a specific image transfer technique to combine your digital imagery with a 3D object. Find inspiration in the work of other mixed-media artists and develop your own approach that transforms an object by merging it with your digital imagery to create a new experience or meaning when viewing the object. Possible techniques include using Lazertran, Ink Jet Transparencies, or other experimental transfer methods onto wood, glass, metal, plastic…

Option 2: NATURE MEETS MACHINE Create a work of digital mixed-media art that explores the relationship between the natural world and technology. Respond honestly to your own experience with digital media and daily life. Work with imagery and mixed-media to express your thoughts about how to strike balance in the digital age. Works may be in any materials, but must integrate both digital media and nature in some way.

Option 3: RE-MIXED-MEDIA  Revisit the Narrative project, using the imagery you have already created in an alternative format. This could take the form of a wearable work, or a mixed-media work using any digital transfer method on any materials… Some students may choose to work on a short animation or video version using their narrative images.

OR Revisit any earlier project, such as the Mosaic or Remix grids. Develop a series of images (at least 10 iterations) Transfer the best imagery to a tactile object or unusual surface. Experiment with alternative materials such as Fabric, Wood, Glass, Metal…

Image Transfer Techniques:

https://jrockdigitalart.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/lazertran-demo/

https://jrockdigitalart.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/tactile-media-t/

Wearable Art Links:

https://jrockdigitalart.wordpress.com/category/wearable-art/

Open Studios on Sat April 23, 2016

Open Studios + Annual Student Exhibit on Saturday April 23, 2016

Department of Art & Design  /  University of Minnesota Duluth

1 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Open Studio event (Locations include: the Department of Art and Design, 3rd floor Humanities Building, AB Anderson Hall floors 1 + 3, Montague Hall 2nd floor Design Classrooms, 24 Bohannon Hall Motion+Media Lab)

4 p.m. – 6 p.m.: Annual Student Exhibition Reception & Awards Ceremony at 5 p.m. (Locations: The Annual Student Exhibition in The Artery, Life Sciences 307 & the Reception and Award Ceremony in James I Swenson Science Building’s Atrium)

On Saturday April 23, UMD’s Department of Art & Design opens its doors to the public to view student work and facilities from 1 – 4 p.m. The Open Studio event includes classroom tours, demonstrations, hands-on activities, live music, and an affordable art sale of student work. The studios are located in Anderson Hall, Montague Hall, and the Humanities Building at 1201 Ordean Court on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. The Open Studio event is a joint effort created by Art & Design majors and student groups, including the Student Design Organization, Photo Alliance, Media Arts Club, Mud Guild, Art Education Club, Art History Symposium, and the Art Guild. Students will display creative work and demo various art processes such as stone lithography printmaking and screen-printing, ceramics wheel throwing, welding, stop-motion animation, and digital art techniques including interactive projection. The public is invited to take part in a photo booth, art education activities, henna tattoos, wheel-throwing tournaments, interactive painting, piñatas and more. Student work from all art and design areas will be on display, including the senior portfolios of the UMD Graphic Design majors. Affordable art, ceramics, and posters will be available for purchase, in addition to Open Studio T-shirts. Food will also be available at the Pop Art Café, sponsored by the Art History Symposium. Short films by the Emerging Filmmakers Project Duluth will be screening throughout the event. The Open Studio event promises to be a fun and interactive day, perfect for all ages and families!

After touring the Art & Design studios, the public is welcome to attend the Annual Student Exhibition Reception, which will be held in the Swenson Science Building Atrium from 4 – 6 p.m. The exhibition reception will feature live music, refreshments, and an awards ceremony at 5 p.m.  This annual exhibition students art is juried by Gaku Tsutaja, New York multimedia and installation artist, and Dan Baggenstoss, Art Director for the Minneapolis design firm, Capsule. The exhibition features creative work across a range of media, including animation, ceramics, digital art, drawing, graphic design, motion graphics, packaging design, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and video. Join us for music and refreshments; check out the student’s work, salon style, chat with the student community and stay for the award ceremony.

Art 1013 / dreamscape + animation

Art 1013 Students explore multiple ways to use Photoshop in these beginning digital assignments. Dreamscape Assignment below…

Photoshop tips : https://jrockdigitalart.wordpress.com/category/photoshop-tips/

Part 1 – Dreamscape assignment:

Create at lease two versions of your composited fantasy landscape and share those in the class google folder.

During this assignment, learn these techniques:

How to open up a new document, how to set image size and resolution

(use resolution: 72ppi for web and animation, 300ppi for print work)

How to bring more than one image into a photoshop document

How to use layers (and folders of layers)

How to select and separate a person or object from its background

How to resize or rescale an image or object against a new background

How to alter colors, contrast, curves and how to apply filters

How to adjust various qualities in multiple images to composite a single, believabledreamscape

Part 2 – Dreamscape Animation:

Part two of the assignment asks you to create a multi-layer dreamscape using animation tools in photoshop.

To do this, you may move back and forth between two photoshop documents:

#1 is your puppet theatre, where you can move your subject around on a separate layer above the background.

When you have a moment you want to save to your animation, you can follow these steps:

Select All (command A)

Copy Merged ( command, shift, C)

and then create a new document (command N)

and Paste (command V) into #2 document

Repeat the process, going back and forth.

The layers build as a flip book in document #2

Once you have 20 layers, open the timeline window in Photoshop

Click the middle button, “Create Frame Animation”

Use the three line “mystery” button pulldown menu to “Make Frames from Layers” and create a 20 frame animation to include some movement in your dreamscape.

File > Export > Render Video

and test several different export settings to see how you like the exported video file

Try to create the animation and upload to the Google Dreamscape folder

Title the animation:  Dreamscape_animate_YourName

Some helpful links to tutorials here … Remember : UMD users will log in using their University Internet ID and password in order to access training videos available on lynda.umn.edu

Extracting an Image from background, Animating in Photoshop:  http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Photoshop-CC-One-One-Mastery/124099-2.html?org=umn.edu

 http://www.lynda.com/Photography-tutorials/Converting-frame-based-animation-from-Photoshop/361170/373950-4.html?

http://www.lynda.com/Photography-tutorials/Saving-GIF-based-animation-from-Photoshop/361170/373951-4.html?

 http://www.lynda.com/Photography-tutorials/Pictures-Move-Creating-Cinemagraphs-Photoshop-After-Effects-Flixel-Cliplets/361170-2.html?org=umn.edu