On January 24th, at 6:00 p.m., I had the pleasure of visiting the Llewellyn Gallery on the third floor of Alfred State’s SET building. During this time, seven separate Digital Media & Animation professors gathered together to show off their talents to their enthusiastic students.

Constance Pennisi used traditional methods (charcoal on paper) to create two large, and well done portraits that used high contrasting shadows and softened edges. She took the basics of art and pushed them to get the following wondrous pieces:

Concerning the work of Jason Bernagozzi, his art was more along the lines of modernized experimental video manipulation; much like the interesting and ground-breaking works that came about during the highlight of Steina Vasulka’s career in the 1970′s. His pieces included video manipulation of a once a clear image, which would then become distorted and unrecognizable:

Similarly, the work of Rebekkah Pavlov was modern and digital–a sort of pixilated abstract photo manipulation. Up close, one can only see solid blocks of color overlapping one another, but far away, an image of deer in the forest can be seen being mirrored:

Tammy R. Brackett used a combination of mediums for her installation piece–using Maya to create trees, attaching flat image planes with pictures of words that depicted the leaves of trees, and printing them on banners, hanging from the rafters. After adding the sounds of tweeting birds in a forest and a person reading, I, myself, walked in-between the banners, giving myself a feeling of walking outside on a spring day inside a story. Her work created an environment all her own that separated itself from all the other works:

Coalescing with these artists was the works of Sandra Hover. Within the contents of the book she created, she visually displayed the beauty of nature and animals through photography, paintings, and sketches that really grabbed my attention. Along with Ms. Hover, it’s my hope that people won’t forget the beauty that traditional pieces hold that digital art cannot always capture:

Along with photography, Lawrence Neuberger showed off his stunning HDR pictures–which I highly appreciated seeing because I enjoy working with both photography and photoshop (where he touched up his images). His finished images were portrayed as dramatic, dark, and beautiful–giving a lonely but lovely feeling to each piece shown. I personally found these images to stand out, and I would like to look into the type of lighting he used for my own Senior Thesis:

Lastly, was the work by Jeremy Speed Schwartz and his team, The League of Imaginary Scientists–a popular interactive installation. After placing shadows on the walls, watching people match themselves up to the shadows, and pressing a button, mechanical pieces began growing out of the shadows, connecting them in several technological ways. I find that interactive pieces grab the attention of people most because it’s a continuously changing piece of art:

While looking through all of the works, I found that I was able to see how each piece was born, for I had worked with all of the same mediums as my very own professors. I was able to see what they made and how they pushed themselves in their expert field. As for myself, I was able to see how Tammy R. Brackett modeled and textured her trees, which I can experiment with in my very own Senior Thesis. In addition to, I really appreciated seeing Lawrence Neuberger’s photos that inspired me to not be afraid to push the darks and lights in my very own photos and in my Senior Thesis. Overall, I learned that no matter how busy I become, I should keep making time to do my own art that I love, just like my professors did, and that there are a lot of mediums out there that should be experimented with.

Thanks to Tara M. Bradley for the use of her photos (taken 1/24/13).

The mermaid is a symbol of mystery, fantasy, and unlimited beauty. The mythology behind the mermaid is similar to that of the Greek mythology of the siren. The siren would sing a song and draw sailors in to them, once close enough there was no escaping the siren.  The form of the mermaid being a woman on top and fish on the bottom entices the human nature of curiosity. The tail having an iridescent blue and green effect carries the eye through the whole piece. Using sand and dirt on the skin allows you to see through the piece and be engulfed by the spell or song of the mermaid. Capturing this mysterious creature was a challenge but entertaining the whole way through.