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A Rose By Any Other Name

Sabina Mori-Sloane

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Dedication

To my parents, who have helped and supported me through everything.

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Table of Content

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1 Paint Fume Delusion

Chapter 2 What do Turkeys Have to do With Tradition?

Works Cited

page 6

page 8

page 12

page 22

page 28

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Foreword Four years ago, my life was completely changed when my dad quit his job creat-ing computer software to pursue a career as an. Our budget went down dramatically, and things that had seemed so normal to me were now unavailable - going out to dinner, having a babysitter, going shopping with my mom. All the rules of our world had changed from my dad’s decision. There was a divide within my family after that. My mom and my brother were against what my dad had done, saying it was bad for our family and that we were going to be extremely damaged economically. I, on the other side, was for my dad’s choice. He was extremely unhappy with his job, and I thought it was smart for him to try and do something he loves.We’ve all grown and adapted since then. My dad has become more popular in the art world and is selling more paintings and doing shows more frequently. We’re still cautious about spending money and can’t be as carefree as other families, but this has taught me a valuable lesson: Pursuing something that brings you joy has both negative and positive effect. It takes courage to do a type of work that is not high-paying, where you might not succeed, but my dad took that risk and benefitted from it. That’s why I wanted to make this documentary about artists. I started off with the idea to look at how artists are able to fund their work and how to career they’ve chosen influences the rest of their lives. Then I wanted to explore different kinds of art and which is the most popular and why. From there, my teachers and parents helped me narrow the kind of art down to digital. I didn’t know much about digital art - as in, art produced with computer software and/or photography, but I thought that the general obscureness of the topic would make the project more interesting. After starting my research, I realized that this really is a widely unknown art form. It was challenging to find technological artists to interview, and really difficult to find articles or books about digital media. The more and more I researched, the less I felt like I knew. I went in to do my interviews with Clare Batley and Carrie Zeidman, local artists, not truly knowing what I wanted to write my paper about. The stance on this topic around the world seems to be “don’t know, don’t care” and I was going to have to come up with something completely different.

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From conducting the interviews, I became aware of how people really don’t accept using computer software as a form of art. That really interested me, why society would shun a certain variation to something we all have in our lives, and I decided to make that the main topic of my paper. To go along with my topic, I wanted my book to have a flowing, bright, artistic feel to it. Pictures of the artists’ work and studios are put in throughout the pages so readers can get a better sense of what the artwork looks like, as well as what a studio looks like. The pages are pastel colors and the fonts look more like handwriting than something computer-created, which adds to the openness of the book. While I was completely unaware of the issues surrounding this topic, I’m very glad that I’ve gotten a chance to learn so much. Doing this project has given me a greater appreciation for all artists and art forms, and has changed how I view art. I hope that this book will help readers learn more about this underexplored profession.

Artist Carrie Zeidman’s studio

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Introduction

We have had art since, providing everyone with a form of expres-sion. But, because each person sees it differently, “art cannot be defined” (Maraviglia). That is why our idea of “art” is still rooted back topast centuries, even though it has been evolving along with us. Art is a “component of culture” (Maraviglia). We are able to break down barriers between cultures, languages, and religions with pictures, drawings, dancing and music. These things provide us with important ways to connect in this busy society, so why are we excluding one art form from this group? Technological art, or art that is created with partial or total usage of computer software, is often criticized for not being real art. Not many people know the process that goes into creating a piece of work, but it is not always as easy as you might think. Loca-tions have to be found, lighting needs to meet requirements (which can sometimes mean going out at ten at night), models occasionally have to be found, and pictures are usually taken. Also, if you are painting or drawing on location, you have to deal with harsh weather conditions and occasionally an over-inquisitive person or two.

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Paintbrushes

10Oil paints

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So what’s the main difference between this and creating something on a computer? Not much. Images still have to be taken, and locations have to be scouted for landscapes or people. The only real advantage a person working with computer programs has is the fact that they get to work from home, and have more flexibility with being able to undo or redo mistakes. There is still a tremendous amount of work that goes into creating a piece of art, but we tend to think that the lack of paint on the artist’s hands means that the are taking the easy way out of working. Certain aspects, such as the use of technology, have been ostra-cized for being illegitimate, even though artists that use computer programs to create a piece spend just as much time and effort with their work as someone who paints on a canvas. So why is it that our views have stayed stuck in the past?

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Paint Fume Delusion

Every aspect of society has been modernizing for over a hundred years, yet some ideals are still locked back to the 19th century. Artists are not able to use a keyboard and mouse to create a piece of work without being criticized by potential buyers. But why is it seen as fake? Creating a piece of work with computer programs takes just as much time and effort as creat-ing a work of art with paint and a brush. Now days, technology makes exploration of both the world and our-selves more possible. With increased access to computers and certain pro-grams, many new things have become attainable. Take animated movies as an example. Animation is a digital art form that we see used for movies such as Shrek, Tangled, or Brave. Though it is not really thought to be a form of art, it is still known for being a difficult and challenging thing to do. What is this difference between software-made movies and software-made art?

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Zeidman’s artwork

14Carrie Zeidman’s tools

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Carrie Zeidman, a local artist, believes that working with technology “has a lot of advantages.” Traditional art requires time spent for setup and cleanup, while using a computer allows and artists to “get up and go do something else” whenever a break is needed. Though that may paint a negative picture about how technological artists are lazy, they still have to spend hours of time working on their pieces. Carrie’s process to creating a final-ized piece of work involves sketches and photography, along with the added requirement of figuring out how computer programs can work along with an original image in mind. What is it that makes technology illegitimate in many people’s eyes? Is it the fact that skin is not touching a piece of paper, but that a mouse is doing all the work? When you think about it, there has to be a human controlling the movements of the mouse and choosing the colors that are going to be used and figuring out the scene or image they want to create. Technological work is not mindless. People always need someone to blame. It’s the thing you’ve heard over and over again - if we were always happy, nothing would be good or fun any longer. Imagine this: If you love choco-late, but you eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for a year you’d be sick of it, right? Dissatisfaction stems out of boredom of repetition and fear. People cannot be satisfied, even when they have what they think they want. There is always the fear that it will be taken away or lose its flavor that originally attracted us.

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What is it that makes technology illegitimate in many people’s eyes? Is it the fact that skin is not touching a piece of paper, but that a mouse is doing all the work? When you think about it, there has to be a human controlling the movements of the mouse and choosing the colors that are going to be used and figuring out the scene or image they want to create. Techno-logical work is not mindless. People always need someone to blame. It’s the thing you’ve heard over and over again - if we were always happy, nothing would be good or fun any longer. Imagine this: If you love chocolate, but you eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for a year you’d be sick of it, right? Dissatisfaction stems out of boredom of repetition and fear. People cannot be satisfied, even when they have what they think they want. There is always the fear that it will be taken away or lose its flavor that originally attracted us.

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18Batley types on her computer

This may explain why technology is targeted when used in artwork. It is new, which presents us with the fear of the unknown. We may worry that we are abandoning all sense of tradition and giving in fully to the technological world. Not only that, but perhaps it takes away an element of imperfection that we can connect with because of the human in all of us. What sounds better - and auto tune recording or an old record? Which sounds more alive and can capture an audience with its emotion? The re-cord has more life in it, which is why many people would choose that over some of the latest music being produced. Seeing a work of art that was not produced with direct hand contact may make us feel that an element of reality has been taken away from the piece, giving it an almost robotic feel. Now that we’ve established why certain stereotypes have developed, how can we work to erase what we’ve created? There’s a cultural bound-ary between the new and the old, usually divided between age groups. Instead of working to convert those already years-deep in their mindset, we should be trying to reach out to the newest generations. The main point to get across is that art has no restrictions on it, and that even its definition leaves a lot up to interpretation.

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Carrie Zeidman works on a piece

Because of these two key points, there is no reason that someone should walk up to a beautiful piece of work and suddenly reject it because it was produced with computer software.

20Tiny dragon statue

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What if, in a few hundred years, writ-ing is scrutinized for being created by hand? That sounds crazy - that a piece of work requiring time and effort and a clearly thought out plan was completely invalidated because an individual chose to use a pen instead of a computer program? This could very well become a reality, where technology takes over handwork. Just as this would be doing, it would ostracize an entire group of people with their own preferences and views on the ideals of modern times. As local artist Clare Batley said, creation is about making something that people can “feel drawn to and attracted to.” It is important that boundaries and restric-tions are not forced upon an individual and the way they process their ideas. But, our society is making untraditional artists feel scrutinized for choosing dif-ferent paths to follow in their forms of expression.

If we work now to broaden what we accept as a society, the pos-sibilities for what we can create and discover goes up enormously.

Piece by Zeidman

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What Do Turkeys Have to do With Tra-dition?

As the world continues to grow and develop, we must be pre-pared to change our ideals and perceptions. Sometimes tradition must be compromised to make way for improvement or to keep from harm-ing a certain group of people. If you were a vegetarian going to eat a Thanksgiving meal with your family, would you expect your parents (who are big meat lovers, by the way) to ignore what you need? No, you would want them to have some vegetable and possibly a tofu dish ready for you. Everything should be able to “exist and be valid at the same time” because we, and our ideas, should all be equal (Fletcher). So now consider yourself the parent. If there is something or someone being ignored just because they have different preferences than you, it’s important to include them. Doing this may mean having to sac-rifice a few preconceived values, but becoming more aware of prejudice ultimately provides a higher benefit. When we are conscious of the nega-tive things we do, counteracting it becomes not just a possibility, but a reality. “[Art] has changed over centuries” and we should be able to accept its different styles, which cannot happen without the participation of everyone as a whole. (Maraviglia). You might be skeptical, but look at it this way – is it really more important to have your views inflicted on others in negative ways, or to at least see the other side of an argument and learn a few facts you did not know before?

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“Art, in all its forms, is the universal language” and we need to respect it and each other (Lori McNee). You would not force a vegetarian to eat meat, even if you enjoy it, and food is not the only preference we should care about. If someone prefers to use their computer to create a piece, know that is has been labored over and created with emotion and intention, and it can speak to us just as strongly as anything else. Digital art has just as much power to resonate “with [its] audience” and provide an “emotion ex-perience” as any other type of art, as long as it is given the chance to do so (Docter).

Pieces by Zeidman and Batley

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We have the potential to be a strongly-accepting society oriented towards positivity and appreciation for all that is presented to us. Instead of critiquing a piece of artwork for what it is not, look at it for what it is, which is a work of beauty that feelings and energy have been put into. If we have the ability to be moved by something, we should keep ourselves open to the idea and possibility of it. In order to create the best society we can, our tolerance must evolve as trends and new capacities for creation do.

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Knowing the world we live in as well as we possibly can will allow our exploration of new ways to use technology in forms of expression to expand and grow, and having this knowledge will ultimately improve our lives as well.

Lights

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Works Cited

1. Lang, Cay. Taking the Leap. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998. Print.

2. Marsh, Jason and Smith, Jeremy Adam. “Why We Make Art.” greatergood.berkley.edu.The Greater Good, 2009. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

3. “20 Amazing Examples of Art from Obsolete Technology.” weburbanist.com. Urbanist, 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

4. Maraviglia, Marilina. “What Do We Really Mean By Art?” Smashing Magazine — For Professional Web Designers and Editors. Smashing Magazine, 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

5. McNee, Lori. “The Use of Technology in Painting.” Contempo rary Art Blogs. 2012. Absolute Arts. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

6. Zeidman, Carrie. Personal interview. 23 Feb. 2013.

7. Batley, Clare. Personal interview. 18 Feb. 2013.

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Teacup necklace

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