4.1 Starting Photo

3.2 Reading Takeaway

In the article, New Opportunities for Interest Driven Arts Learning in Digital Age, Kylie Peppler explains how the rapid growth of social media/internet participation among young people has shifted popular ways of learning. While learning used to be a "push" method where teachers pushed ideas of what is important, most students now learn through a "pull" method, where they find information on the internet that interests them to grow. She describes this shift from "learning about" to "learning to be."

Peppler explains that the implications of this kind of learning. It recognizes that young people are content creators and have the ability to impact others far beyond the art classroom. They now have power, based in their creativity, to influence industry, culture and public policy. Peppler also notes that digital arts are inclusive to a wider range of socio-economic populations, which allow those who normally have not had access or voice in the arts, to be active participants in creative content creation.

3.1 Fantasy Landscape

For this assignment, I created a night time mountain landscape. The mountain is composed of fragmented pieces of photographs I took years ago at a botanical gardens. In the night sky, I inserted pictures of fish that I drew with ink this past year.

Digital drawing and painting allows an artist to mix multiple media seamlessly. There are countless ways to manipulate drawings and photographs on the computer. The ability to play with saturation, contrast, levels and much more is inspiring as an artist.

As a teacher, digital drawing/painting allows students to engage in highly creative activities- but without any mess! 

2.3 On/Off Part 2

I created an animation based on the poem I wrote for Part 1 of the On/Off assignment. I used a stop motion iPhone app to create the animation, called "Stop Motion". It was free and very easy to use. It would be an incredibly accessible tool for the classroom if students all had access to iPhones.

2.2 On/Off Part 1

For my on/off experience I decided to go for a walk. I brought my sketchbook and markers with me. As I walked, I felt my brain buzzing. This is something I have noted before. This buzzy feeling comes after I have looked at a screen for a while. I envision my brain slightly pulsing almost as if it has been electrified and it is trying to calm down. I feel bad for my brain. I want to feed it something natural. Like as if it needs sensory reminders of things non-electric. As I walk, I pet trees and plants as I pass them by. There are soft leaves and aged bark. There are raindrops and dirt left on my finger tips. The wind is gentle and the air feels calm as the sun has already set, as if it's getting ready for sleep. I decide I want to write a poem.

i shake the branches
of the pink berried bushes
with a quiet strong hunger

i want to lay on top of them

i want to pour the train screeches and tv out of my eyes
quit feeding me!
the headphones and the chargers can
go too

make room for petals instead

let dirt and water run off
twigs
and
sink into my skin until my
brain
can breathe without

electric humming

let it beat with soil

i miss
the taste of watermelon celery speckled with alaska

2.1 Eetiquette

A distant relative posted photos of my bat-mitzvah on a public photo sharing website. For years, I had friends separately discover this website and send me snapshots of embarassing photos. Though I finally had the photos removed, my friends still have those pictures saved. Anything posted to internet has a variety of ways for living on forever whether through code or simply, friends who like to tease.

Both forms of working are necessary. I value online work's bias toward speed while I value my offline work as necessary for creative development and learning.


Trust and privacy are essential for any relationship. This must extend to digital information.

1.4 Two Takeaways from Douglas Rushkoff

In Douglas Rushkoff's chapter titled, "Time, Do Not Always Be On" he discusses technologies inherent quality of being disconnected from time. He describes how the relationship between timelessness and the internet started in a way that was potentially healthy for users. For example, the internet only being used for an hour or two at night / interactions were thoughtful and in frequent. However, with advances in technology and increasing accessibility to the internet, it remains constantly on which beckons to people to want to stay constantly connected. Humans have become incredibly reliant on something that does not exist in time, which poses serious threats to our cognitive functioning, social relationships and perspective of live experiences. He mentions how people have PTSD symptoms with phantom phone vibrations, how our interactions online have become short almost barks at each other and that we value what is "recent" over what is "relevant." He asks the reader not to give up on technology, but to recognize it's timelessness. He suggests that instead of recognizing technology as a "necessary compromise, we exploit the same learning to become more human."


In the second chapter titled, "Live, In Person" Rushkoff points out technologies bias towards distance. While at times, technology can create intimate connections between massive amount of people, it almost always favor creating distance. He gives an example of Gina, the girl who is "everywhere" yet never creating connections with people or settings around her, thus actually being quite distant. He mentions the simple fact that technology allows people to connect from far away, creating connection only over distance. He concludes with a similar point with chapter one. A point that tells readers they can only become aware of this tendency towards dislocation, thus empowering them to choose when they want "local interaction" and when they might need dislocated relationships.

1.3 RISD Graduate Program in Digital Media Specialization

• 3D scanning 
• Installation room and studio with both DV Photo Light kits and various backdrops and green screen
• Robotics lab with drill press, tools, electronic components, soldering stations and test equipment
• Dual-boot Mac Pro labs with the Adobe CS Suite, Max/MSP/Jitter, Maya, Final Cut Pro and Pro Tools
• HD /SD video editing booths with Mac Pros, BlackMagic and AJA Kona 3 HD cards, DV Decks, XRAID Storage and Genelec
• ProTools HD 7 audio editing booth with Mackie Control Surface, Kurzweil 2600 Keyboard, Alesis SR-16 and Genelec 5.1
• HD and SD Panasonic, Canon and Sony video cameras
• Nikon Digital SLRs
• Audio monitors
• 3D modeling with Haptic Omni Arms 
• Marantz digital audio recorders and various stereo and mono microphones available for checkout and studio use
• OS X servers with 2.5TB XSAN for storage, web service and streaming content
• HD and SD data projectors 
• 48" wide-format inkjet printer with color calibration system

1.2 Escif and Augmented Reality

Escif is a street artist from Spain. His graffiti at times is a simple public intervention that make viewers smile and re-imagine the potential of their urban landscape.  At other times, he creates massive aesthetic critiques of a city and calls out tendencies towards consumerism, capitalism and identity-based discrimination. Throughout all of his work big or small, he seeks to empower those unheard within a society.



Though Ecif has historically worked within two-dimensional media, his installation at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, integrates augmented reality. Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a smart device's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. His installation titled, "Encore un jour banane pour le poisson-reve" or "Another Banana Day for the Dream Fish," includes his AR project, "entre l'amour et la peur" which at first, appears as a large white wall covered with scribbles from children. However, when viewers look at the wall through their smart device, artwork from other parts of the museum is imposed upon the wall. What results is a conversation between the children's artwork and the work displayed at the museum. Escif delights in the dichotomy of these artistic expressions to be experienced at one time.
















He was also inspired by childlike spontaneity in art making to further use AR beyond this wall. He decided to impose humorous imagery on various artworks throughout the museum.  For example, on a sculpture created by Kiki Smith, he imposed imagery of plastic bags to make it seem as if the sculpted girl is carrying home her groceries.



By using technology in his work, Escif is able to engage with onlookers in new ways and expand his practice of public intervention. Furthermore, by using AR he is able to make voices often unheard, this time being children, understood within a major arts institution.

1.1 Introduction

Hello! 

My name is Grace and I am an artist. I graduated from the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design with a BFA in illustration and community art. For the past three years I have worked as a freelance illustrator and arts educator. 

I am comfortable in social media, digital drawing+painting+sketching, digital photography, scanography, video/imovie and stop-motion animation. 

I have experience but do not feel comfortable with sound, 2D design and 3D design. 


I have no experience with scratch, visual programming, basic circuitry, fabtronics, microprocessors, makey-makeys and artbots. 

I am looking forward to honing my skills and learning new digital processes for both my teaching and personal practice.