DIGITAL ART
My journey into digital art feels like a natural extension of both my graphic design and studio art skills. Every click of the mouse or stroke of the stylus is guided by an intuitive understanding of composition and visual storytelling that I’ve cultivated over my career. It’s like I’ve unlocked a new and interesting realm of creativity and expression, where endless possibilities unfold.
Motion Graphics: Radium Girls
Immersive Experience
For this great collaboration, I worked with Assistant Teaching Professor of Dance, Lauren Soutullo, for a piece titled “Radium Girls.” This project demanded not only the creation of motion graphics but also the construction of an immersive experience. The dance served as an artistic portrayal of the true story of the Radium Girls, a group of female workers employed by the Undark Radium Paint Company to paint clock dials. The highly radioactive radium led to the tragic deaths of many of these workers. For this project, I crafted motion graphics and small bags for the audience. Each bag contained an Undark advertisement and a glowstick symbolizing “radium,” which was distributed to every audience member, casting an eerie glow and setting the mood for the performance.
Project: The Gaza Monologues
Monologue through Motion
The Gaza Monologues, was the brainchild of Assistant Professor of Dance Dr. Candice Salyers and features her artistic interpretation of the Gaza Monologues by the Ashtar Theatre. For this piece I animated the written monologue and created motion graphics to express the content. The difficulties here were making sure that the motion graphics didn’t over take the focus of the dancer while also being extremely long (35 minutes).
Motion Graphics & Videography: Carapace
Subtle Beauty
Artist’s Statement by Candice Salyers
Informed by the tenth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill off the Gulf Coast of the United States, Carapace explores a tension between the lasting impact of toxicity and resiliency from it–both for humans and living environments. For many animals impacted by this environmental disaster, oil became trapped between their shell and their soft body, so that their carapace was functioning simultaneously as a protective structure and the material that prevented them from releasing the toxic oil. This interdisciplinary collaboration between Allen Chen (ceramics), Jacob Cotton (videography), Kelly James Penot (costume design), and Candice Salyers (performance) engages a costume and set woven from ceramic pieces to explore the metaphorical shells and protections that may simultaneously keep us safe and trap toxic experiences close to the most vulnerable aspects of ourselves.
Project: Tough Talk
Talking the Talk
This series of posters was begun after I began diving back into my pedagogical research on how to use sports psychology methods in the design classroom. Through that research I began to reflect on my time in team sports and the notorious “locker room talk” that occurred. This series takes some commonly used “tough talk” phrases and pairs them with aesthetics taken from sports and athletic apparel.
