by TASI Executive Director, Greg Busceme, Sr.
Change is good. Change is inevitable. Do the same thing day after day and that activity will evolve, seemingly on its own. The same for your art. We all strive to advance our skills and abilities and even though it seems like there is no change, the more you do the better the art becomes. This is especially important for young creators to understand. Athletes have a small window of time to hone their craft and reach their goals, then they become car salespersons.
Artist, scientists, red wines, cheese, oak trees all get better with age. We have the largest window of time spanning from the first time we touched a crayon till the day we die. There is never a bad time in our lives to make art.
I have an open spot in our exhibition schedule for March 2023 -that happens from time to time- and I felt it would better serve our arts community to focus on the young innovators who are utilizing technology that is changing the way they make art. I like to call the new tech programs a different kind of brush. Brunelleschi, who erected the dome on the Florence Cathedral, had to invent the technology, develop a procedure, and install the Cathedral dome. Had Michelangelo Buonarotti had a pneumatic chisel he would have completed the massive amount of sculpture he wanted to do before he died but could not work fast enough. Many new technologies in any discipline are looked upon with disdain. Oil paint was considered a lesser art material compared to frescoes, and acrylics were frowned upon as not “real” painting until enough people started using it and developing techniques that make acrylic the wonderful material that it is.
We now have computerized drawing programs. The newest of the “new brushes”. Once again there are things that I fear about the technology (for now) and what it would do to the definition of original work. The hand has always been the facilitator of all artworks, but with new technology we can create anything generated by a computer and print it out 3-D or 2-D. No hand did anything more than use a mouse and utilize a design program. Aside from having no actual hand dexterity with which you would build, your creation there was built on a screen, like a canvas, kind of. Like digital prints in photography, there is no sign that this hurts the creative act.
So, with young people in mind, I propose an exhibition of anime, graphic arts, cartoons, and any form related to these disciplines. It will show on the 1st Saturday in March 2023 as an open exhibition, and you are invited to enter. Details soon. Let’s see what these new brushes can do!