You're invited to enjoy some "utterly useless" creative digital media explorations from the Department of Art and Art History! On Tuesday evening, April 24, from 7:30 to 9:00 pm, digital media students in Assistant Professor Jane Cassidy’s Digital Art Seminar, will screen several fascinating works of digital art. Dubbing themselves at semester's end, "The Utterly Useless," the students will present an interactive game and perform a live VJ set in Woods Quad. Bring a blanket or folding chair and some snacks and come watch the “movies!” Digital Media is a studio concentration in the undergraduate program of The University of Alabama’s Department of Art and Art History that focuses on new media and digital art. Courses explore digital media as the primary tool, medium and an environment for art and design. For more information, go to http://art.ua.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/digital-media/. Woods Quad is located in the historic heart of The University of Alabama campus. It is a five-minute walk from the Campus Drive Parking Deck and Bus Hub on Hackberry Lane. Information about visitor parking is available here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/.
Making Light Art in the Aran Islands
During a summer 2017 art residency at Áras Éanna on Inis Oírr, the smallest of the Aran Islands off the coast of County Galway, Ireland, Assistant Professor Jane Cassidy learned that sometimes making art takes - not just a village - but an entire island. Along with working on her own art projects that involve light, Cassidy took an interesting side trip that led off on a rewarding adventure. “The people of Inis Oírr are immensely steeped in their language, their history, culture and music," Cassidy said, "When some locals got wind that I made light art, they asked if would I light up their castle, which of course, I was overjoyed at the stellar suggestion!” So, a side project of Cassidy’s work during her residency was projection mapping of her own images onto one of the island’s most distinctive landmarks and highest points – 600-year-old O'Brien's Castle, which is surrounded by a stone-age fort. This involved scanning the surface of the building with special software, then applying designs and animations made especially for the castle. Then, late one night, she gathered up her equipment – a MacBook Pro and projector – and invited some of her new friends from the island to hike up to the point to test the projections on the ruin’s irregular stone surface. There are only 260 people who live year-round on Inis Oírr and Cassidy said many of them responded: "People started coming up the hill from the village and a car drove over from the other side of the island to see what the craic was. We were getting phone calls and great feedback from the people a mile away telling me what colors were working well, what patterns they could see and, 'is that a rocket?!'" After the positive reception, Cassidy promised to return to the island in December, for the Winter Solstice, to again project on the castle. On this occasion, she worked with the local secondary school to make a new projection. She asked the students (ages 11 to 18) to draw multi-colored mandalas inspired by the sun. Then she animated the designs, interspersed them with her own animations, and prepared them for projecting. Despite intense fog during the day, all the islanders encouraged Cassidy to go ahead with the projection that night. After sunset on the longest night of the year (4:20 p.m.), Cassidy projected the colorful designs high up on the castle's rough-hewn stones. Despite some wild Atlantic rain whipping at them and with the help of the residency director, a farmer, a fisherman and other friends, the projection mapping was a huge success. Cassidy said, “On an island so small, it became a community project – if it wasn’t for all the participation of the locals, it would never have come to pass.” To read more about Assistant Professor Cassidy's art, go to her website. For more information about the UA Department of Art and Art History programs, visit this page: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
Art Alumnus Exhibits “Strange Worlds”
Alex Green, a recent BFA alumnus in the department of art and art history, will exhibit his digital media work at the Sella-Granata Art Gallery, Jan. 29 through Feb. 1, 2018. Everyone is cordially invited to the closing reception on Thursday, Feb. 1 from 4-6 pm. Titled Strange Worlds, Alex Green presents a series of images of surreal landscapes he created using grocery store foods, like fruit, vegetables and spices. Green writes in his project statement that he used "items such as paprika, cinnamon, and cabbage [to] express ideas of etherealness and planetary life. These foreign landscapes bring to the forefront questions of what exactly are we consuming from within the food industry. Has the age of genetically modified produce and biotechnology created a new landscape from within the supermarket that our earth is not naturally capable of producing on its own?" In 2017, Green received the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree cum laude in studio art with a concentration in digital media and photography. A northwest Alabama native, he incorporates video, animation, photography, graphic design and drawing in his art work. His art website is here. For more information about the BFA degree and the other degree programs in the UA Department of Art and Art History, go to http://art.ua.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/babfa-in-studio-art/ or contact the department at (205) 348-5967.
Acclaimed Poet Collaborates with Musicians and Artist
The Department of Art and Art History presents an exciting and unprecedented musical and video experience in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery October 17, 18, and 19, 2017. A video of the complete text of Hank Lazer's Brush Mind: At Hand, along with three musical compositions written and for this installation will be performed. The gallery is open 10:00 a.m until 4 p.m. during the exhibition. The public is also invited to a reception with a brief improvisational performance on Tuesday, October 17 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Copies of Brush Mind: At Hand will be available. Musicians performing will be Andrew Raffo Dewar, Aaron Dues, Michael Harp and Holland Hopson. Video is by Jane Cassidy and text and lettering are by Hank Lazer. Over the past fifteen years, Professor Emeritus and Associate Provost Emeritus Hank Lazer has collaborated with a variety of jazz musicians, filmmakers, choreographers and visual artists in seeking new ways to present poetry. Lazer has published twenty-three books of poetry, including Poems Hidden in Plain View (2016, in English and in French), N24 (2014) and N18 (2012), Portions (2009), The New Spirit (2005), Elegies & Vacations (2004), and Days (2002). He has also written numerous books of literary criticism. In 2015, Lazer was selected to receive Alabama's most prestigious literary prize, the Harper Lee Award, for lifetime achievement in literature. Lazer retired from The University of Alabama in January 2014. Jane Cassidy is assistant professor of art, digital media in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama. Andrew Raffo Dewar is a composer and soprano saxophonist whose work has been performed throughout North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. He is an Associate Professor in New College and the School of Music at the University of Alabama. Aaron Dues is a student at The University of Alabama. His music is available on Soundcloud??https://soundcloud.com/aaron-dues. Michael Harp is a musician and venue manager for a nonprofit creative writing program for students in Birmingham, Ala, and a UA alumnus. Holland Hopson is a composer, improviser, and electronic artist. As an instrumentalist he performs on clawhammer banjo, soprano saxophone and electronics. Holland often augments his instruments with custom-designed sensor interfaces and performs with his own highly responsive, interactive computer programs. Hopson is an instructor in New College at The University of Alabama. Funding support for the Sella-Granata Art Gallery comes from the UA Department of Art and Art History. Admission to the gallery is free. The gallery is located at 109 Woods Hall in the heart of the UA campus on Woods Quad. Hours are Monday through Thursday 10:00 – 4:00 p.m. Information about visitor parking is available here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/. Parking is free on campus in a legal space after business hours. Contact the gallery at (205) 348-2783 or go to http://art.ua.edu/gallery/sgg/.
Art and Art History Digital Media Hosts Projection Event
The Digital Media area of the UA Department of Art and Art History and The Generic Art Collective present "Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB)" on Tuesday, October 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery in Woods Hall. BYOB is a one night exhibition in which artists are invited to present their works with projectors. Participants will bring their own projector and the space will be filled with simultaneous projections. Assistant Professor Jane Cassidy, who is organizing the event, said the “open source exhibition" concept was founded by artist Rafaël Rozendaal. "I have participated in a few of these events around the country. A dark room can become a cacophony of light and color. It’s a great way to meet fellow artists in a fun and extremely low pressure way!" If you don't have a projector, come anyway. Bring your computer and anything you want to project. Digital Media is a studio concentration in the undergraduate program of The University of Alabama’s Department of Art and Art History that focuses on new media and digital art. Courses explore digital media as the primary tool, medium and an environment for art and design. For more information, go to http://art.ua.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/digital-media/.
Screening on the Green
On Thursday evening, April 27, digital media students in Assistant Professor Jane Cassidy's ART 408/326 will screen several works they created over the semester, on Woods Quad. The screening will take place from 8 to 10 pm and the public is invited and encouraged to bring a blanket or folding chair to watch the "movies"! Digital Media is a studio concentration in the undergraduate program of The University of Alabama’s Department of Art and Art History that focuses on new media and digital art. Courses explore digital media as the primary tool, medium and an environment for art and design. For more information, go to http://art.ua.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/digital-media/.
Art and Art History Students Present Research at URCA
FLIGHT SIMULATION Senior BFA major Kalypso Homan made a head-spinning presentation at the recent Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference held at UA. Art history majors Nadia DelMedico, Sommer Hallquist and art history minor Reed O’Mara presented their research in posters during a session held in the Heritage Ballroom at Ferguson Student Center on UA campus. Homan explained how her dizzying idea was brought to life: “The aim of this project is to use a HTC Vive headset to bring the viewer on a 3D time-based immersive virtual reality experience. With our research we are exploring the possibility for a realistic flight simulation from the point of view of a bird. This simulation takes the form of a predatory chase. The player will enter the role of the prey fleeing a supernatural force, the goal being to add a sense of speed, urgency and fear to the simulation. The entire experience should be so intense that the player might suspend disbelief for long enough to believe that they are flying, or even flying for their life.” ART HISTORY RESEARCH POSTERS Junior art history major Nadia DelMedico presented original research into extant slave dwellings on the antebellum UA campus. Her poster titled, “Too Close to Home: The History of Slavery on the University of Alabama Campus,” was selected as the third place winner in the Arts & Humanities category of the URCA poster sessions. DelMedico’s poster also won second place in the Harrison Awards for Excellence in Research at the Undergraduate Poster Presentation during the 22nd Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History at UA’s Bryant Conference Center. Other presenters at the URCA poster session included senior double major in art history and anthropology Sommer Hallquist. Hallquist's poster was titled "Images of Antichrist within Bible moralisée Codex Vindobonensis 2554, Vienna, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek." Economics and German major Reed O'Mara presented her art history research poster, "Getting Ahead: The Roles of Headless Saints in the Contest for Coronation Site."
UA Students Create Digital Media in Two Venues
The public is invited to experience two digital media events created by students of UA Assistant Professor Jane Cassidy this week! An exhibition in Ferguson Student Center Art Gallery opens with a reception on Wednesday, April 5, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., and runs through April 15, 2017. The exhibit includes print works as well as gifs, stop-motion animation, video and other formats. Then, during First Friday on April 7, everyone is invited to experience "video reality" in downtown Tuscaloosa! Digital media students have made new work in response to the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art at The University of Alabama and it will be projected on two downtown Tuscaloosa galleries. The Jones Projection will happen between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. One projection will be on the side of Grace Aberdean Habitat Alchemy, on 9th Street between 21st and 22nd avenues (2424 9th Street). The other projection will be in the alley behind Harrison Galleries, approached from 23rd Avenue. Digital Media is a studio concentration in the undergraduate program of The University of Alabama’s Department of Art and Art History that focuses on new media and digital art. Courses explore digital media as the primary tool, medium and an environment for art and design. For more information, go to http://art.ua.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/digital-media/.
Students Create Outdoor Projections for First Friday
The public is invited to have an immersive video experience during April First Friday in downtown Tuscaloosa! UA digital media students have made new work in response to the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art at The University of Alabama. On April 7 (First Friday), near two downtown Tuscaloosa galleries, The Jones Projection will be projected onto two buildings between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. One projection will be on the side of Grace Aberdean Habitat Alchemy, on 9th Street between 21st and 22nd avenues (2424 9th Street). The other projection will be in the alley behind Harrison Galleries, approached from 23rd Avenue.