Dear Carlo Sequin, Thank you. I am sending you my two page description in this e-mail, followed by 15 images in separate mailings. Thanks for accepting it this way. I organized the images so they describe the process visually. Best regards, Anna Anna Ursyn Professor Department of Visual Arts University of Northern Colorado Greeley, CO 80639 phone w (970) 351 2476; Fax (970) 351 2299 e-mail: ursyn@unco.edu http://arts.unco.edu/visarts/egallery/ursyn.html http://www.ursyn.com An Artist's Statement Acutely aware of order, I try to examine what technological and human worlds have in common. Natural order, revealed randomly and regularly, infuses several levels of both worlds: some determined by man, through buildings, their windows, even cars parked in lots, and some determined by nature, through trees, branches and leaves arranged. Natural order guides our understanding of big data sets related to network analysis, when we employ physical analogies of the data, render the data graphically, explore them 'by eye' and interact in real time. My task is to juxtapose the regularity of nature with man's constructions, both physical and intellectual. The big city images, for example, combine how humans affect their environment, and at the same time, how a city metaphor reflects rhythm and organization of big data sets, and makes data mining easier. Observers - whether artists or technology experts - perceive such relationships in different lights and from different perspectives and different points of view. I explore the dynamic factor of line. I have been changing the image of the horse, giving it different perspective, viewpoint, and size. I wanted to show the horse as a heroic symbol of man's struggle for survival and as a link between natural surroundings and human nature. Some of my computer graphics explorations result in a figurative three-dimensional design based on an image of transformed manikin. It served as a point of departure for a series of prints and sculptures. The repetition of human figures depersonificated for the purpose of fulfilling the goal has been put into the ordered, endless landscape. I have unified the meaning of men and a landscape using the same approach: rigid order created with a computer. My actual work have been inspired by my interest in the common processes of nature in human and animal world and its surrounding environment. I transform an image of an animal into a simple image, an iconic object such as a rocking horse or a symbolic picture of a man or a bird, to present them in dynamic movement as the visible texture of the sky and the ground. In our visual planes of multiple horizons, every time one can see the same familiar crowd on the floor of ground and the wall of sky, soft and hard inhabitants sharing lots and acres, having common goals, joining tasks, ongoings. Processes in nature and events in technologies inspire my images. Such processes also support my instruction in computer art and graphics, where students learn to create artwork inspired with science and demonstrate what they understand of scientific concepts. Technical Statement Typically, my creating art runs through stages. First I sketch a general outline for the bigger composition, then I draw abstract geometric designs as starting points for executing my computer programs. Computers then convert my ideas into lines, with codes taking shape as iconic images of animals - a horse, for example - or symbolic images of human - a warrior, for example. In my work, I use the computer on different levels. Some of my computer programs produce two dimensional images; others are three - depending on my composition's final dictates. Programmed data flow electronically into the final artwork. For my two-dimensional works, I create programs in Fortran IV then Fortran 77 using Cyber, then VAX mainframes and Interactive Graphic Library (IGL). Then I add photographic content using scanners and digital cameras. To attain composition, I use repetition of lines, shapes and forms, select color combinations, transform light intensity, apply grid patterns and moiré effects, distort and manipulate images by scaling, rotating, slanting and changing perspective. To ensure unity, the computer's memory regroups recurrent elements, contrasting order and chaos. The two-dimensional programs serve as a point of departure for photolithographs after computer programs and photo silkscreened prints on canvas and paper; they are included both into my two-dimensional and three-dimensional works. Scanners, digital camera and PC/PPCs serve for further image manipulation. All of these approaches are combined for image creation with the use of painterly markings. Printouts have been obtained in several ways: first, black-and white plots from the Versatec plotter and color slides via the Computer Output Microfilmer (COM) recorder, then the printers/plotters. For three-dimensional works, computer programs shape my wooden and mixed media sculptures to make representations of masses in a vector mode. Later, the 3D wireframed designs guide construction of wooden and mixed media sculptures. I often incorporate the factor of time into the sculpture, giving the viewer illusion of movement. Images are multiplied, superimposed, transformed by scaling, rotating, stretching, assigning various perspectives and changing the point of view (the center of direction of projection). ========================= > Dear Anna Ursyn, > > E-mail should be fine. > We have pretty reliable e-mail server here with lot's of disk capacity. > Carlo Sequin > > > Anna Ursyn wrote: > >> Dear* Professor Carlo Séquin*, >> >> I would like to send my work for consideration for Bridges. I understand the deadline is February 1, 2004. I would appreciate if you could tell me if you would like to receive my artwork and the two page description by mail on the CD-Rom, or would you rather prefer receiving it it by e-mail. >> >> Thank you very much, >> Anna Ursyn >