ANTHONY: Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us for the question and answer session for the 2020 SCAPE exhibition the senior exhibition here at Morlan gallery at Transylvania University. I just want to say from the front that you all should be really proud of the exhibition that you put together it looks fantastic. All of your work looks fantastic. I've had the distinct pleasure of being able to be in here these last couple of weeks documenting it and then editing through those photos and seeing different connections and understanding your work. The amount of effort that you put into it in a whole new way and thinking through that. I just want you to know that you should all be really proud of the amazing exhibition that you put together. We're gonna go through a number of questions, but first I would like to just start off with introductions. My name is Anthony Meade and i'm the director of the Morlan Gallery here at Transylvania University. CABBY: I'm Cabby Brown and I am an art major and I'm from Louisville, Kentucky. KURT: I'm Kurt Gohde. I teach sculpture photography video and community engagement through the Arts at Transylvania. MARISSA: I'm Marissa I'm a studio art major with an art history minor and I'm originally from Grayson, Kentucky. MEREDITH: I'm Meredith Moir. I'm majoring in both WRC and digital arts and media and I am from Louisville, Kentucky. TIM: I'm Tim Polashek I teach music technology and digital arts & media. ZACH: my name is Zachary Yacobozzi see I am a doubled English and digital arts and media major and I am from St. Joseph, Michigan. ZOÉ: I'm Zoé Strecker. I teach in the studio art program here at Transylvania. I teach ceramics and am the instructor for the Senior Seminar this year and proud to be part of this exhibition, the seniors, so thank you. And I actually have the first question, so I'm inviting each of you to talk about what inspired your work… what the original spark was for all of the work or just one of the pieces whichever way you'd like to answer so Cabby you first. CABBY: Well, for some of my work the original spark is kind of just me feeling like I want to paint something and going out and finding whatever it is that kind of draws my attention. That's kind of my favorite way to start and then for my most recent piece specifically the spark of inspiration for that was Helen Frankenthaler and her work and I had a big book of her work from the library and I was just looking through all of it and really wanted to make something kind of in that vein and inspired by her so, yeah. ZOÉ: Terrific, Marisa. MARISSA: Yeah so one of the first things that I was thinking about when I was thinking about reading this exhibition was my grandmother passed away like whenever I was a sophomore here and I wanted to create something that would honor her memory and so I was considering making like a portrait of her and because she loves flowers and like quilting and things like that I was thinking it was like making a portrait like an embroidery of her and then adding like her favorite flowers and with it embroidered as well and then like just over time that's sort of evolved into the project that I call "I Remember and I Don't," which is the the three like embroidery series. ZOÉ: Great. Thank you. Meredith let's hear about your initial spark for your work in the show. MEREDITH: Yeah so what kind of inspired me or spike my love for video and then kind of like music and so I wanted to find a way to like make those two intertwine. So with the help of Dr. Polashek, he found me a program in which I could work with and work on projection mapping and implement these two ideas so create my project so, yeah. ZOÉ: Great. Fantastic. Zack tell us about your inspiration for the the work in the show in SCAPE. ZACH: Inspiration for the work mostly stems from older video games and stuff like the Nintendo SNES sort of era stuff it's a time period of gaming I'm really attached to and I've always wanted to make a game myself so I figured what better opportunity than now? ANTHONY: Right so I have the next question. So, you're coming to the end of your experience here at Transylvania University and of course being in college brings with you a number of experiences. All your classes. All of your classmates. All of your faculty. And I'm curious how the your experience here at Transylvania has shaped the work that you ended up putting into the SCAPE exhibition. CABBY: So for me it was really the community at Transylvania that helped me a lot in decision-making and just having professors who really care about what you're doing and to ask questions and kind of bounce ideas back and forth with. And my classmates too. That we all can kind of talk about our work with each other. That is like really helpful to have and it'll be really different after Transy not having that structure. But it'll be just a new thing to navigate, but yeah the faculty was really helpful for me in deciding what pieces to put in the exhibition and how they all work together and kind of why to choose one piece over another so that was the process that was really helpful with. ANTHONY: Thanks. Marissa, how about you? MARISSA: there are two really big things that influenced me. One of them is that I took video and design and photography… those really got me started with learning software and stuff like that. And then the other thing is that I've been working for Zoé on a really long term embroidery project since last June. and so like that got me started in embroidery and like, working fabric a lot. Those two things combined were a lot of what influenced my floral pieces and like, the things that kind of combined that sort of digital with fabric and stuff like that. And we thought those two things that couldn't have done any of that. ANTHONY: Meredith, how about you? MEREDITH: Yeah again like much like Cabby, like it's definitely gonna be different after the kind of Transy lifestyle just having like this big support system. Because over the past four years, like, all the different courses that I took really helps, you know, create this project. think really hard. I'm stepping out of the, like, thinking out of the box and really challenging me to spark my own creativity and figure out what I really am passionate about and what I like. So yeah, through this project I feel like I was really able to do that and show how I've kind of just been taught. ANTHONY: Zach, how did your experience here Transylvania shaped the work that you put into the scape exhibition? ZACH: I think the biggest impact that Transy had all my work was that of my roommate Isaiah Cordray. He was really supportive throughout the whole process and I don't think the final project would have been as excellent as it is for that has helped. ANTHONY:it's all about the people. KURT: Thanks everyone. I have a question that has much less to do with people I think for most of the most of you anyways and that's about materials so if you can talk a little bit about why you're drawn to working in the specific materials that you use to create the work that's in the scape exhibition. CABBY: My work are all paintings of some sort so [inaudible] and it's the material that I'm most familiar with and the most comfortable with. It's all just been most approachable for me and kind of… me just like immediately creating something and having those materials physically to work with, I think helps me a lot to be to feel more invested. So yeah that's kind of why I founded that material and I've had a lot of classes at transy that are all painting and drawing and printmaking and sort of like 2d different sorts of line making and it's been the most influential to me and what I'm most into. KURT: Yeah and in the material you've worked with for a really long time which is becomes visible in the work as well so… Marisa what about you and what materials you know what draws you to the mediums that you work with? MARISSA: Alright my favorite ways to work is digitally and mostly because it's just super forgiving. I just hit the undo button that like there's no way of knowing that there was ever a mark there. But I'm also really a fan of woodworking and like carving wood and like I like ceramics as well. Like, all of those things can be really meditative. Embroidery too. Like all of those. KURT: I don't know that I would find all of your materials meditative but it's it's nice to know that you find them that way. And the work that you have in the exhibition is digital and it's kind of… in that way it's a single material but it isn't necessarily single process I wonder if you can talk a little bit about that. MEREDITH: Yeah so for me I was gonna say like, ever since I got to Transy, I was really interested in the music aspect and taking Dr. Polashek's music technology course I thought it was going to be like kind of something like simple but I've definitely learned over these past four years that's one of the hardest things like anyone can do. So yeah like I kind of became passionate just, like, from other students honestly. And watching them, like, be creative and develop full songs and albums and that kind of thing. So I love all the work that goes into, like, the music side and just kind of like that process. So even though I learned quickly that I was not very good at that I knew that, I still wanted to implement that into like my work. So I became passionate about video and that was something like I really felt like, confident with and something that I could do. Just kind of like, in my project for the SCAPE exhibition, putting all that together. Like, figure out what music I wanted to go with these scenes and this video work. And that kind of thing. Just kind of making everything flow. KURT: Thank you. I like the idea of being drawn to things that initially seemed very challenging. MEREDITH: Yeah. KURT: Zach if we can talk a little bit about that too so if you can tell me, tell us, why you're drawn to work with medium that you used in the exhibition, and the medium, I guess, of video gaming more specifically. ZACH: I think it's just because video games have a level of interactivity that really doesn't exist the other medium. There's a much deeper connection between the audience and the work itself. And I've always been a writer so I've always been attracted to the idea of telling stories through this way that no one medium can really work with. KURT: Thank You. TIM: Okay I have the next question a lot of times when the visitors come to a gallery they're just really enjoy the space and all the works are fully formed and it seems like a lot of visitors don't really get a sense of the process of making the works so I'm wondering if each of you can give an example of a struggle that you faced while you're working on your project, Cabby? CABBY: So a struggle for me with all of my pieces is usually beginning and having a blank canvas to start on and just filling it up with with something and feeling good about it and getting to the point where I feel like I can call it finished is always difficult. And then with the large piece, hanging it in the gallery was definitely a challenge. I was just thinking about that because when I was making it I wasn't really sure how it was gonna hang in the gallery, and then me and Anthony worked really hard on stapling it so that it pulls in all the right ways and it lays flat. And that was a challenge for sure. And installing that one. TIM: Great how about you Marissa? MARISSA: I'm gonna talk specifically about my deconstructed chair piece. So the project for that was to find a chair and then take it apart and then put it together as something else and one of the biggest roles I had with that one was just trying to figure out what to turn it into. I really liked the chair itself because the seat was a box and you could just like, open it up, And I was like, "What can I put in this box?" Like, "How can I use this?" And so I had this idea to make it into this like sort of chest cavity and then make the legs of the chair into like like parts of the body that they come off of that. So that it forms a torso and then… I was like staring at it for a while to even come up with that. And I left it and I came back up the next day and I was just like "Okay, is that what I'm gonna do?" Then I realized I could fit lungs inside the box too to kind of, actually, give it like a focal point so… TIM: Okay, Meredith< about you? MEREDITH: Yeah so for mine being a technology project the hardest thing that I had to overcome with this was working on it in a different room so I started off working on this projection mapping in the DArt lab. And then we thought it was all gonna be perfectly mapped out. Moving it into the gallery and we quickly learn that it wasn't lining up correctly so I had to go back to the gallery for a whole weekend and work on making sure that everything was correct and aligned right on the podiums. So, yeah that was definitely a challenge and something that I had to overcome. This was a very tedious point in the project and thinking that I was kind of done and moving it to the gallery and getting to see it and there and everything. And then it kind of like being a little off was a little upsetting. But I fixed it and it was definitely rewarding. TIM: Zach how about you? What were one of the struggles that you faced? ZACH: I think the biggest struggle was at the beginning of the project when I figured out that the due date for the exhibition wasn't at the end of the semester like I had assumed and there was in the middle of February. After dealing with that I realized I had to cut things back so I didn't really have any struggles following that. It was just sort of dealing with this sudden change of schedule. and I'm still proud of what I've done on the time constraints that I had. TIM: Yeah it's actually great that um we had this early deadline, because you all finish your work and install it in the gallery and we could document it. So most students aren't able to do their final presentation so in a way you you get to do that so that's great. ANTHONY: Like that silver lining, Tim that's nice. TIM: Gotta think positive. ANTHONY: speaking of positive… Moving from those struggles, and that can often create wonderful rewards. We're gonna talk about what it is that you're most proud of. So I'm curious to hear from each of you as we've gone through this now what is it that you're most proud of that's in the SCAPE exhibition? CABBY: So for me I probably most proud of my most recent piece which could probably be just because it's most recent. it's also the largest piece that I've ever made. And I was a little nervous about that especially just with like the deadlines. So just having it finished in time and having the whole thing covered and just have it to a point where I feel that it's complete, I'm really proud of finishing that work. ANTHONY: You should be, it looks good. Marissa, how about you? What are you most proud of? MARISSA: For me I think it's the three pieces that kind of deal with like flowers and distortion and like pixelation and things like that. I think, I really like the ways that I was able to combine technology with like physical tangible objects, and I want to keep working like that in the future. ANTHONY:We talked the foil and I've mentioned before that I think that's like it's a really good trajectory that you're on. MARISSA: Thank You. ANTHONY: It has a lot of fruitful space Meredith, how about you what do you most proud of? MEREDITH: For me and I'm most proud of learning like this whole new program. After a brainstorming with Dr. Polashek and figuring out these ideas that I wanted to do and him finding a program which I was able to do both video and music together. Just yeah I'm really learning the program and getting comfortable enough with it and put it on display for this exhibition. And it turning out like pretty well I was most happy about that. ANTHONY: You're in a whole new world now. MEREDITH: Exactly yeah I didn't know how to do it now so it's good. ANTHONY: Zach, what are you most proud of? ZACH: I think the thing I'm proudest of is just the idea that I've gotten this done I've been trying to work on creating a video game for six to seven years out so just the fact that I made something that's out there that people can play, or people could play. That's just really astounding to me it makes me really happy. ANTHONY: it's really fun. Yeah I mentioned to you before that it's a really fun game and I played it lots of times in the last two weeks, documenting it. And I've almost lost multiple occasions, but I have succeeded and yes it's really enjoyable. Nice work. TIM: Okay I have the next question. We see an underlying theme of immersion and all your works. Can you talk about the role the viewer plays of being fully drawn into your work? We'll start with Cabby. CABBY: Yeah so the theme of immersion in my work definitely is something that I experience when I'm making the work itself. And just the whole process of mixing the colors and kind of laying out the canvas and layering over top of other layers and of color. And then for the viewer, I think that hopefully when they see my work that, they could have an immersive experience. Something that takes them somewhere or kind of brings them a new idea. so yeah and then with the larger work it's more like physically like immersive experience making it and hopefully like seeing it in person as well. TIM: Okay how about you Marissa? MARISSA: I think the most immersive piece I have is the abstract floral mural. But, I did a video so it basically just blurs overtime and I wanted that to be sort of immersive and sort of disconcerting so that people would kinda sit there and be like, "Are my eyes like adjusting weird? What's going on?" And so like eventually over time people kind of realize that it is blurring. And just have that kind of weird like feeling of "what is happening?" TIM: How about you Meredith MEREDITH: Yeah, for my piece I wanted people to just, you know, be able to walk up to the headphones and put them on and kind of just forget about the outside world. And just, you know, pay attention to what they're seeing in front of them. I know personally for me, I like a lot of concerts that I go to where have these different visuals. I find myself like really getting lost in them. So I kind of wanted, those like feelings to transpire into my viewers. TIM: All right. How about you Zach? ZACH: I think it all ties back to what I said before about the genre creating a deeper level of interconnectivity between the audience and what exactly the work is. Just the idea of a video game that knows what the viewer wants out of the piece. I think that level of immersion is something that's key to the medium. KURT: Okay I have the next question and we'll start with Cabby again. And this one is about technology and I think Cabby probably it's the least related directly to your work. At least in my awareness. But I wonder if each of you can talk about how you feel your work has been influenced by the generation that you grew up in. Cabby: So my work probably the least obviously connected to technology, but I do use technology sometimes in my work. I take a picture of something I'm just using like photos for reference which is really different than not using a photo it's a totally different experience so without that I wouldn't ever be able to do that. I think that sometimes my work was an escape from… I mean not that I can really escape it, but the generation is nice go out and paint and not have my phone because that can be like such a thing I don't think about that all the time so it's nice to get away from it. I think. And then, also just using technology to see more art to be exposed to more part what other artists are making so all those things come together. KURT:Thank you. I think seeing more art through technology certainly a huge change certainly from when I was a student. And also this this conference were having right now is the first time we've ever had this type of conversation with seniors. So Marissa I wonder if you can kind of answer that same question in terms of how do you feel like your work is influenced by the generation that you're a part of. MARISSA: Yeah I grew up with it I mean oh like social media and stuff like that. And I think that, I mean that really brought in a lot of getting to see more artwork what you said. I mean like I've been obsessed with Pinterest for like the longest time and I think my first introduction to graphic design was from Pinterest. And that was like "what if I did that?" it's like that was the kind of thing that kind of drew me into like learning software and stuff like that. And that's brought me to where I am with like my digital pieces and stuff like that. So mine was heavily influenced by like social media and stuff like that. KURT: Thank You. Meredith I see you're getting ready there as well. MEREDITH: yeah I'd say I'm also kind of mine I remember like starting to watch YouTube when I was like eight years old and making videos with my friends and posting on there. That kind of thing. And then just seeing like even at Transy how we like have created this digital arts and media major now. I don't know… Just all these influencers and all these people in the world and like how prevalent like technology and just like a way of connecting, especially through this time. Being able to, you know, see what and how other people are dealing with, just like, being on lockdown. And like getting to see their different creative ways like they can make people laugh. Their like videos and that kind of thing. So I guess this is like kind of what inspired me and like, how technology influenced me. And it's just kind of always been around. KURT: I like the comment about you know making people laugh through technology and I'm interested also that Marisa mentioned Pinterest you mentioned YouTube and you know I don't know if any of the graduating seniors have already experienced this, but at some point you will talk about platforms then your content been delivered on, and people will look at you like you're a dinosaur, because those platforms are something that they're too young to even have ever engaged with. And at some point that will be part of everyone's experience. Zach I wonder if you can talk about you know that same thing. About how the generation you're a part of influences your work. I played video games you know when I was young and the video games that I played are in some ways similar to the game that that you created. But I know that the process of creating that game and the interest in creating it comes from being informed by a lot richer experiences in that world than I ever was. ZACH: So I think in regards to how I've been influenced by the current generation is actually trying to improve upon the past generation because the game itself is very classic. It's inspired by a lot of older titles. But the way I produced the art is modern. The way that I produced the music is modern. The engine the game is running in is modern. So I think it's that connecting the old to the new and trying to reconcile the two into a something entirely brand-new. KURT:Thank you. ANTHONY: Right, so when I'm walking around in the gallery and looking at all of your works, color is this kind of common theme that continuously comes up. And it might be a little bit more apparent and like heavy and in Meredith's work but also like, Marissa, you use a very constrained color scheme and all of your work and always using these whites and purples and little bits of brown here and there and then Zach within your game, know you're very intentional about the color choices that you're making. I guess I'm wondering how each one of you go about making those choices what you're thinking about how you're responding to color within your own work? And what you're thinking about while you're making it. CABBY: So for me in color is a really big thing and kind of color along with texture I think for me. I like connect color and memory a lot. Sometimes I'll be like deciding okay like what colors to use or I'll be mixing. Which I really enjoy like the whole process of mixing colors. Kind of like seeing like the different ways that I can take it and you know like knowing if I want to like add like a little bit more blue or a little bit more green. Or like how green do I want it to be, you know? And like what does it say? Is something that I like to explore a lot. And so like with this the big piece that's behind you I'm like I know I would spend a long time trying to decide what what color I wanted to use and when the color was where I wanted it to be. And it would kind of be based I like what's the greens and the blues a lot that I use in there I was thinking about. I think I was thinking about Ireland at the time with the greens and that was kind of how I decided to use those greens. and it's like things that don't necessarily come through to someone looking at it. But I guess that's sort of my thought process is memory and kind of going back to like a specific moment and thinking of how like what I was seeing made me feel. And so yeah I like bringing it back to myself in that moment it sounds but yeah. ANTHONY: That make sense yeah. Marissa, how about you? Why is it you're keeping us really [inaudible]? MARISSA: Mostly with the purple everything we wanted it to be clear that I was using the same flower like over and over again and just kind of distorting in different ways. And I felt like you know if I change the color it wouldn't be so noticeable. And like thinking about like the ceramics pieces like I wanted those to be grey specifically because that kind of gives more emphasis to the form and then also I knew for a while that they were gonna go into the exhibition. And so I wanted those two to go well with the other pieces. And because they're neutral it matches fine. ANTHONY: Meredith, how about you? You have a ton of color in your work. MEREDITH: Yeah. I just tried to like stay consistent with using like very like vibrant and like bright colors. But being able to like change what color I wanted was difficult because I found myself like only liking like three colors or like sticking with those. I was like "oh these look the best." And then like I realized that I was using them for like half the scenes so then I like went back and like changed all the colors becauseI just wanted to be like as versatile as possible but also like, stick with the theme of just being like bright and like happy colors. I didn't like have a lot of like black and white but even like if I thought that looked like more aesthetically pleasing I was like… I don't want that, like for this piece like I want them to just be like really like popping and like out there. And like kind of like not meant to like shock people have but sort of. So yeah and the thing with the colors, yeah. ANTHONY: I definitely feel a bit shocked occasionally. Zach, when you're going through and you're designing the game and you're making the characters we're making the backgrounds and you're making the different flight sequences how are you making those color choices? ZACH: It's twofold in that regard there's a color purpose for the gameplay aspect and a color purpose for a characters. For the characters I have color tones depending on what I want them to convey. I want each person to be associated with certain colors so it immediately pops into the players head the boss has much darker and grittier tones than the two playable characters for example. And then in regards to the heads-up display in the menuing I wanted the menu to be a basic black so it's simple to read but then in combat the bars for health and magic are very bright and they pop out so you can look at them in a glance and see what's wrong so it's just something converts convenient for the player and I wanted to make it as convenient as possible for whoever's playing. ANTHONY: That makes sense. Ergonomics you know within interactive system is very important along with the esthetic choices. So it seems like all those are being considered. Zoé I think you have the last question here. ZOÉ: I do and this is a question that my students know I love to talk about so I'm eager to hear this too. So thinking about the work that you've made for SCAPE and honestly all the work you made while you're at Transy how do you see that work moving forward? Cabby, go ahead and go first. CABBY: I think moving forward the work in the exhibition and also just the process of coming up with ideas and kind of having class prompts and assignments kind of mixed with kind of my own ideas that I want to bring it to it and those like discussions that I've had in all my classes at Transy… I think those will really kind of carry my work past graduation. And just sort of thinking about the reason why I'm doing things or you know why I would make like a certain like aesthetic sort of decision or like decisions about materials and things that I might not have thought about as deeply before having the classes I've had. Material and size and just color. And then also taking time to like reflect on and ask and question my work and like the process of kind of asking questions and then also getting like feedback from others and then knowing where to go from there. I think that whole process is really important and is something that in one way or another that I want to continue as I make work after after college. ZOÉ: Yeah, great. I imagine you will, I can see that. Marissa, tell us how you'll proceed moving forward MARISSA: Like I said earlier like I really think I'm gonna continue doing stuff like combining technology with like fabric and stuff like that. I just really like that. And then hopefully I also do more with like woodworking eventually and stuff like that. yeah. ZOÉ: You will I have no doubt. Meredith, what is gonna happen next where are you headed? How has this sparked you and your thoughts about your future work? MEREDITH: I definitely want to do something within technology. I feel very confident like going into the work world I guess like knowing all these different like programs and that type of thing. And then with this project in particular like being able to pick up on this new program, whole program that I learned like so fast. it makes me feel more comfortable like because technology is like ever-changing. Like we learn something different each day I feel like. So just knowing that like I'm able to do that and feeling pretty comfortable with it I feel confident that I can find a career within something with technology. I don't know what it would be yet but just really anything. ZOÉ: Wonderful. That is exciting to hear. I love that confidence and I'm sure it is real. I'm sure that you're gonna find something. Can't wait for that first concert. Zach, of course you know what we're asking. I'm excited to hear what you are thinking about the next the next step is for your work for this project. ZACH: Well this is just the demo I am 100% gonna be continuing with developing this product until it's something that I can release to the public. This is gonna be it to think it's gonna be a lot easier now that I got the groundwork set up and I'm on pace to make something great I feel. ANTHONY: Well you've all made something great and it's right here around me I want to thank you for taking the time to join us today and to go through the question and answer session. And thank you for putting together a wonderful exhibition. Thank you all. TIM: Yep, again congratulations everyone. Great Job. ZACH: Thank you. MARISSA: Thank you. MEREDITH: Yeah thank you all. yeah for your support through all this I know it's been difficult for everyone and we really appreciate you all caring. ZOÉ: Your work is terrific I'm really proud of all of you and it's good that we have this lasting document too so thanks for putting that together because it's been a strange year and we've had a lot to reflect on. And also you're the first year we've brought studio art totogether with digital arts and media. You're trend breakers.