Technology and the arts
The paint brush, the pencil, the chisel and all of the other traditional tools used in art making will always have a place in creating art work, but artists now have many new high-tech tools at hand to express and expand upon their ideas. At Wheaton College, high-tech tools, including a laser cutter and 3D printers, are helping students, faculty and staff collaborate across disciplines.
Assistant Professor of Art Kelly Goff talks about the role of emerging technologies in the arts and how Wheaton students are engaging with a world that is increasingly digital.
“Liberal arts students are inherently agile and working with technology is sort of a condensed version of practicing agility. It’s all about problem solving,” says Kelly, a professional artist and recipient of a 2015 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship.
Fueled by a large grant, Wheaton has created the InterMedia Arts Group Innovation Network (IMAGINE), which promotes new approaches to teaching and learning in the arts and new media, and supports collaborations between students, faculty and staff. Space and resources are being devoted to fostering ingenuity and growing a maker culture on campus.
In the next few years, motion capture equipment, and virtual reality and eye-tracking software will also be available in maker spaces that are in development on campus.
Wondering what Picasso would think of all of this? Watch the video and see what Goff says.
A conversation with… is a video series highlighting the teaching and scholarship of Wheaton College faculty members.