Month: March 2018

I have always enjoyed art. I took a couple art classes in high school: drawing and painting and digital photography. It was a nice escape from the rest of the busy school day. In my digital photography class, I was exposed to the electronic side of art that I continued to pursue at WPI by taking classes such as graphic design and 3D modeling. When I was younger, I went to a couple art camps where I had the opportunity to work with many different mediums of art doing things like pottery and a variety of painting styles.

I have minimal background in programming, although I have worked with Java in the past. I also took an ECE course.

I started ballet when I was little and continued throughout high school. I also used to play the clarinet in middle school and sang in the choir in high school.

I am really inspired by nature. The sky has always fascinated me. I love watching sunrises and sunsets and looking at the moon. My family and I have traveled to many national parks, and I think that those trips made me appreciate nature and all the things it is capable of creating. I love taking photographs of these places, just to attempt to capture the beauty and awe of the place.

Thinking about all the art related things I have done in my life, art has not been enough of a part of my life these past couple years. I hope to pick up more of it again because it really does make me happy. I miss the feeling of feeling so accomplished for making something out of nothing.

Below are some of the works that I have created at WPI. The first two are 3D modeled using mostly ZBrush. The third one is a comic strip I created based on the character I made in Maya. The last two images are a magazine layout I designed and include images that I took.

I’m Matt Pietrucha, a new-ish grad student at WPI in the IMGD program. My background is a B.A in Music Education from Montclair State University in NJ.

I think my earliest memory of experimenting with light was being a little kid and playing with a lite-brite. If you’re not semi-old like me and never seen one of these things, here you go:

In high school I was mostly into experimenting with recording music and making electronic music. I got into Ableton Live and started making beats and glitch music as probably a lot of people do. This would become one of my greatest passions and lead to all sorts of other related fields like sound design and interactive programming in programs like Max/MSP.

One of the things a friend and I would do in high school and early college years was go out at night and do light painting for fun. One of my early album covers for an LP of beats I made in my junior year is light art we made in the woods, which was done by having each person write an individual letter or two.

Lately I spend most of my time using Max/MSP, but I’m starting to miss the idea of performance. Electronic performance is usually a hard sell — nobody wants to be a DJ just pressing “play”, and even if your set-up is “live”, nobody really knows what you’re doing anyways. Exploring ways to make performances feel more immersive or interactive might bring me back into the fold. I also like considering how visuals can impact the context of music and performance from a compositional level — it’s rare that I get to compose for visuals unless I get asked to make trailers or advertisement sound design.. and that’s usually utilitarian in purpose.

Here’s me tinkering around with a program called MLRV on a open source controller called a Monome.  It’s in the juke/footwork style, which is still popular in Chicago but sort of a niche thing (wow I sound pretentious!)

My most recent audio-visual work I’m proud of is this track and video:

The visuals are done in real time by a Jitter patch that takes MIDI data from my music as well as low/mid/high EQ bands and then maps them to a jit.noise object. The visuals are jit.noise, usually gaussian but it shifts around a lot. The EQ and MIDI trigger different scalings, rotations, and types of noise. It’s kind of minimalist like a glorified iTunes visualizer but I think it’s pretty cool.

I also have been trying to build up a portfolio of sound design and composition for animation, film, and games. This is one of my favorite things to do as it doesn’t have the creative pressure of writing music for yourself, it just serves some other purpose. This piece is for a SCAD animation final project.

Anyways, I’m excited to work with hardware and electronics during this course as it’s definitely outside my comfort zone but always been on the periphery of music composition and performance. I’m hoping to combine my interest in sound design and audio with lighting.

If for some reason you’d like to hear/see more of my work, you can check it out at http://mattpi.net

Also feel free to reach out if you need sound/music on a project!

My name is Zachary Armsby, I am a senior CS and RBE student. I have a very technical background with electronics (soldering, circuit design), computer (programming), and manufacturing skills (3D printing, laser cutting, milling, machine tools). Most of the design work I have done has required 3D modeling and printing. When designing a part the overall ascetic design has a large impact on how people perceive the part. I have previously made a few art projects and have taken art classes at WPI (AR1101, AR2101, AR2201, and AR3200). I primarily like to create art projects that have a physical presence and are geometric. The three dimensional aspect gives the piece a more tangible feel and helps to make more of an impact.  Below are some of the projects I have made.

While learning how to weld I made two sculptures out of scrap metal. I found simple shapes of scrap and welded them together to make a cat and a penguin.

In 3D modeling class I made a model of a Zergling from Starcraft because it had a lot of interesting organic shapes that where interesting to study and make.

For a project in interactive art I made an abstract partial mesh of a bunny and had it rotate in place. The mesh only had a random third of all of the triangles but was still able to represent the original model well as it rotated.

As a personal project I experimented with the API for Autodesk’s Fusion CAD package. I tried to reconstruct a mesh (same mesh as above) into a solid object that could be made from small parts into a large object.

As a part of my MQP I had to cast urethane into a part. I had to experiment a lot with the design and liked the tactile aspect of the part.

Hi everyone, my name is Duong Nguyen and I am from Vietnam. I am a senior major in RBE and ECE. I started doing art when I was in high school, where I discover that I actually like making art. I started with metalworking and woodworking. Pictures below are a few of my work.

First picture is made from all metal from lotus flower to the dragonfly. I am sad because I did not have a video of it, because it supposed to be a water sculptures as the water was pumped at middle of the lotus flower and flow down to the bucket. It is very relaxing.

Second picture is a woden cryptic I made based on the idea of a metal cryptic from Da Vinci. I think I am the only who can solve it, not because of the password (because even knowing the password we cannot actually open it), but because I used sounds that I heard from turning the ring so I know it is in the correct spot or not. Pretty cool !

Then I went to WPI, I took Animation, 3D modeling and Interactive Art. You can take a look at a few of my project on my website:

http://callmerusty.wixsite.com/callmerusty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpHXLuxXBbY&t=7s

I am RBE and ECE major so I have experience with programming and electronics, using camera and variety of sensors, you can see some of my projects on my website link above.

I also love anime and manga so in my free time I also draw some stuff. Below is my most recent drawing, I first drew everything with shading and stuff but then for coloring I just used an AI to paint my drawing (so I actually did not color my drawing at all). The AI is pretty cool you should try it too, just for fun 🙂

I have some experience on making movie, I have taken some kung fu class, which I think it is very similar to dancing. I also play ukulele, but I am just beginner though.

My creative inspirations come from anywhere. Anything that I found amazing and awesome, I want to make art of it so that other people can see and feel how I feel too, happy and being amazed. This is also related to my goal when making art is making people feel happy, being amazed about the beautiful world around us, not only about nature but also virtual like movies and games.

My name is Charlie Brooks and I am a Mechanical Engineering senior. I wanted to take this practicum because I am interested in art and I thought the chance to make light art sounded interesting. Also, the light art installed on the library interested me.

I don’t have a ton of experience with art other than the general courses that you take in school. I have taken Fundamentals of Art, Animation 1, and Intro to Photoshop here at WPI, and I found Animation to be the most interesting because we got the chance to do something completely unique instead of all painting the same cup/face/scene like we did in Fundamentals. I am excited for this course because it seems that we will be able to each go in our own direction and make something different.

I have very little programming experience, and have always preferred working on mechanical things as opposed to programming or working with electronics. I would like to delve into that world a bit for this course, but I will have to weigh the time spent learning against the deadline to finish.

Whenever I have made art, I always prefer to work with sharp, geometric shapes and clean designs as opposed to something abstract or vague. I think that is why I am drawn to the artwork on the library, because at night the light creates hard, jagged shapes that dance together. I am also inspired a lot by architecture, especially the modern buildings that are pushing the boundaries of what people expect. I have been to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water (a modern house in PA) and I really enjoy how he decided to shape that house.

I hope to one day work on the development of a new product or object, and I always try to consider the form and appearance of whatever I create or design as much as the functionality. I think that art would play a huge role in helping me learn to refine a design and create something appealing.

My name is Dominic Redding, and I am a senior working on a Mathematical Sciences major.

My experience with art goes back to mid-high school: I spent a couple years in my school’s Digital Arts class in which I dabbled in graphic design via logotype and icon making, editing pictures with Photoshop, and creating simple graphics for flash-like games in Illustrator and animating them in Edge Animate. Since I’ve enrolled in WPI, I’ve taken Essentials of Art, a drawing course, Intro to Digital Art with Photoshop for 2D and Maya for 3D, and 3D Modelling 1 with ZBrush.

My tech experience is almost entirely in programming. I’ve spent about 3 years at WPI taking various Computer Science courses, have been commissioned to design and build a game in Edge Animate, and completed some course projects using algorithms.

A big part of my life is my hobbies, the most significant of which is tabletop wargaming: essentially board games using miniatures painted by their owner. I have been playing various games and painting models for the past 5 years or so. One of the most interesting things about this is that, as some of the stories for these games have existed for 20-30 years, there is so much story which can be used and altered to fit my hobby. I can paint however I want, and create a story around it to represent my models in these universes.

Most importantly to me: art is fun for me. I like sitting down for a few hours at a time and paint without worrying about anything else going on around me. While I’m not sure I can necessarily call it a goal, painting is a thing I can always look forward to at the end of the day, and I can know I will walk away having bettered myself.

This is one I am proud of for how little paint went into it. After the first coat, the transitions on the arms and tentacles were all done with several coats of a very thin ink, which led to a smooth transition from base to end.

This was my most recent (and first) successful attempt at merging parts from different models into one.

I was happy with how clean the line between the blues and oranges turned out, and I was able to keep the black going up the shin to come into a relatively fine point.

This is the largest model I’ve painted to date, and is the cleanest coat of white I’ve managed in all my years of this hobby.

This is the piece I have most recently painted. While I am not completely happy with it, this is undoubtedly the best face I have painted. Additionally, I believe I am very happy with how the cape turned out, especially with the gold transitions.

Hello all,

Welcome to D term! My name is Allie, I am a senior studying chemical engineering, and I am excited to be making art this term! Previously, I have worked with mostly sketching, some Photoshop, and have made a few sculptures. The style of art I am most familiar with pen sketching; I like to freehand a sketch with only a rough idea of what I am drawing, and let the drawing evolve on the paper as I sketch it.

I also have some Photoshopping experience:

I am particularly proud of of a big metal pterodactyl sculpture that I created a while back. This took a very long time to make (I had to weld metal parts together to make it, which needed supervision). I almost stopped halfway through because I needed to find access to a welder- but I am very glad I didn’t and the sculpture now hangs in front of one of my windows.

I am taking this light art practicum to mix it up a bit- I am also an undergraduate researcher in Professor Young’s lab. He works with several strains of luminescent yeast, and has allowed me to use them to create living, glowing art.

I have always drawn heavily on organic forms when I create artwork. My pet birds and fish often lend themselves as inspiration, along with reptiles and dragons from mythology books I read as a child. Since I became a researcher, I also became fascinated with the growth forms that microbes assume. Often, when you look under a microscope you feel like you are looking at art. I would like to convey the sense that the barriers between biotechnology and art are only perceived.

In addition, I like to layer my drawings, so that you have to look a few times to see everything (i.e. the eye of a bird is also the eye of another bird, the beak of one may be the tail of another, etc.). I am looking forward to the challenge of applying these concepts with glowing yeast.

I am excited to see what we all come up with. Let’s make art!

• My experience with art making includes several classes I took in senior year of high school where I gained significant experience making art. A basic 2D art class, a darkroom photography class, a film literature class for which I made 3 short films, and an information technology class for which I made a networked digital clock. I consider many of my DIY projects to be combinations of art and functionality. The clock was programmed in C on a Raspberry PI and used shift registers as well as a custom 7 segment display.

• My experience with programming, electronics, or other tech

Laser etched acrylic control panel for space simulation video game. Used Arduino Due and C programming concepts to communicate user inputs with game. Built out of many reused components from period electronics. Demonstrated project at World Maker Faire 2016 in NYC.

• I am creatively inspired by the intersection of art and engineering. In my work I strive to make aesthetically pleasing and functional pieces of art. This can be seen in my past works like my motorized bicycle.

• Art fits into your goals as an engineer because I strive to make aesthetically educated design choices. I think one of the most underappreciated forms of art are the aesthetic choices that go into engineering prototypes .

• Recent creative projects I am proud of include my work in Interactive Electronic Art during B-Term. A link to my portfolio from that class can be seen below. For my final project Helmet Vision the helmet device is a metaphor for our use of technology and how it distracts and clouds our vision of thing in our immediate surroundings. The device both enables you and hinders you from knowing special information about where you are. In this way is acts as a stand in for the cell phones that tell us extra information about our world but also prevent us from knowing other information. For more on this project visit my portfolio page for the class linked below. 

https://wpi.digication.com/nxgamarra/home-1

Last year at WPI I also took figure drawing. Below is my final self portrait for the class.