Understanding visual depiction using computers involves two trajectories for me: one in science and one in art.  The two continuously evolve, overlap, and inform each other.

The images on the left result from an ongoing art process of investigation.  I am interested in how new interactive computer technologies influence our thinking about representation and creation of 3D shape, how this relates to past modes of visual communication, and how our relationships with 3D forms will change in the future.

As mathematical representations for virtual forms advance, what does the role of the human form-maker become? Is there still a place for the physical interactions that define form creation in traditional media such as drawing, painting, and sculpture? Or, does the creative process that we embrace move closer and closer to the design and implementation of automatic computer algorithms? Can the energy of kinetic body movements of an artist exist within digital representations? What might virtual form derived with significant algorithmic and human contributions look like, and how does it function in our visual language? I have a keen interest in art and visual studies that address these questions.

Additional information on the web:

1. •Publications in the Univ. of Minnesota Interactive Visualization Lab.
   

2. •Cynthia B. Rubin and I developed a body-controlled interactive virtual reality environment called Hiding Spaces that explores issues of ambiguity and tension in visual space within virtual reality.
   

3. •Jen Grey’s article for the unveiling of the arts.siggraph.org website.
   

4. •Kathy Walker’s Shift magazine article:  Virtual da Vinci.

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