NEWSLETTER SPRING 1998 - Continued
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| Brian Konefsky, digitized |
Two years ago I was invited by the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada to participate in a three-month artist-in-residence program. The Centre invited 40 artists from around the world to participate in a program that considered the history, traditions and cultural implications of "story telling" and the ways in which new technology might impact these traditions. I was one of six media artists invited.
Imagine the impact of such an experience on one's creative work...three months in a laboratory environment set in the middle of the Canadian Rockies designed to push the limits and possibilities of creativity. There, the technical support staff encouraged me to challenge their knowledge of the digital-video equipment that they were only beginning to master.
This spring, assisted by the financial generosity of the College of Fine Arts, I will be returning to the Banff Centre to focus my research more specifically on digital technology and its formal relationship to the moving image arts (film and video). My research will consider this relationship both in terms of my own creative work and educational possibilities that I hope to share with my colleagues.
I am excited to be part of the UNM Department of Media Arts at this very unique moment. One year ago Media Arts became the first new degree-granting academic unit in the College of Fine Arts in 60 years. As a result, we have been attracting many new students whose enthusiasm for the program is both encouraging and slightly overwhelming.
My return to Banff will be timely in that it is our hope to furnish the new Media Arts classrooms and editing suites with digital-video technology designed to create an exciting, interactive educational laboratory that engages the imaginations of both students and faculty.
Consider, if you will, a film seminar where historical works such as Francois Truffaut's autobiographical film, The Four Hundred Blows, or Sergei Eisenstein's revolutionary manifesto/film, Potemkin, are digitized in an environment where students will dissect and examine the components of these important works of film-art. Frame by frame examiniation will bring students to a new understanding of the complex relationships between sound, image and montage.
In production cources, students will submit their film/video in the form of a digital hard drive. Free of the logistical complications of analog technology, the digital assignment can be instantly altered and manipulated to illustrate various suggestions and possibilites during a class critique. For example, it might be suggested that a particular close-up be preceded by a long shot that presently occurs later in the film. The (digital) shots can be instantly reconfigured.
In a digital environment the moving image becomes "electronic silly putty" where limitless sound/image manipulation is an integral component of classroom investigation, providing an educational experience that will redefine aesthetic possibilities, conceptual explorations and individual dreams.
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CYBERCULTURE CRITICAL ANALYSIS"Profound experiential shifts have occurred around the rise of electronic culture, redefining the ways in which we perceive and conceive reality and our place within it," writes Art History Professor Geoffery Batchen. He describes his Spring '98 class, "Topics in Cyberculture" with the following: "The class will examine the conceptual, historical, social, aesthetic, and political implications of technologies such as computing, the WEB, genetic engineering, cloning, cosmetic surgery, robotics, virtual reality, hypertext, morphing, digitization, artificial intelligence, data warfare and more. These phenomena will be examined in light of their present and possible future scientific, literary, cinematic, televisual and artistic manifestations. Drawing on a variety of theoretical and historical perspectives, the aim of the class will be to develop an appropriately critical analysis of the cyberculture of contemporary life." DESIGN [WORKS] WITH COMPUTERSComputer aided design is the industry norm according to Gordon Kennedy, director of the Theatre and Dance Department's Designing for Performance Program.
"If we are going to be competitive, we have to send students out with this training," says Kennedy, who has proposed a four-year sequence of design classes utilizing the new computer technology. Some of the classes are already taught in the department's minimal computer design lab. Basic drafting techniques, problem solving, computer illustration, drafting and 3-D modeling is taught by Kennedy on Macintosh computers using programs such as DeskDRAW, DeskPAINT, Adobe Illustrator, and MiniCAD. Advanced design classes include virtual reality in which students generate a three-dimensional space and walk through it. Lighting design is another area of theatre which has become computerized. "We are teaching students the same technology used by big opera houses, Disneyland, Las Vegas shows and Broadway," attests John Malolepsy, who teaches stage lighting design and aesthetics. UNM alumnus and lighting designer John Lassiter concurs. "I can't imagine doing my work without a computer," he says. "From designing light plots and plugging charts to programming the lighting console at the theatre. I use computers." Working on an opera recently in Hong Kong, Lassiter had a light plot due for a ballet in Memphis. He created the plot on his laptop computer and transmitted it by modem halfway around the world. ART STUDIO - TOPICS IN COMPUTER ARTS Computer art studio classes deal with digital imaging as it pertains to artistic practice. The computer is used as a visual tool serving both traditional image construction and time-based arts. Last semester, UNM art students have had the opportunity to intern at Subia, a large digital imaging lab. Spring semester internships are available at KOB-TV's commercial video production department. "We are preparing students for the world they are going to work in," explains Dennis Farber, associate dean for technology and art professor. "It is the only ethical thing to do." The art curriculum should offer state of the art digital as well as traditional approaches to image-making, believes Farber, "We're not going to become ‘the digital guys.' Our classes are not driven by technology, but by visual thinking and understanding. We use the technology as creative artists and that is an asset to offer New Mexico businesses." Farber credits several in the Art and Art History Department for the new curriculum and lab: Rod Lazorik for initiating computer instruction; Elen Feinberg as a driving force in finding funding for the new computer lab; Brian Steele, Dixon Wolf and former graduate student Janet Maher for teaching digital imaging classes. ELEMENTS OF FILMMAKING: 3-D COMPUTER IMAGING
Media Arts students find themselves next to computer science, civil engineering and architecture students in the class, "Elements of Filmmaking: 3-D Computer Imaging." In fact, the course is taught in the Engineering and Science computer pod by Architecture Professor Skip VanWyk. "A major objective is to encourage conversation between disciplines associated with art, science and computer science, and to expose students to possibilities in the industry," VanWyk explains. Students work on the lab's limited number of Silicon Graphics computers using Alias/Wavefront software, one of the most prominent packages used in the upper echelon of industry today, says VanWyk. Computer skills learned include modeling, rendering, animation and composing. COMPUTERS IN THE MUSIC LAB AND RECORDING STUDIO "My focus is to provide students with hands-on experience rooted in real-world tasks," explains Rettinger, who has run Ubik Sound, his own recording studio and label, since 1985. "My challenge is to try to keep everyone inspired while keeping the class vital. Each student works with me to tailor a project that will enable him or her to grow as the class resolves." In the recording studio, Rettinger supervises music performance recordings and makes tapes for classroom instructional support. There, a 14-track board is connected to a computer used for hard disk editing. "We can cut and paste music like a word processor, picking the best parts from different tapes," explains Rettinger, "also trim levels, raise or lower backgrounds and do fadeouts." Currently, music is recorded to digital audio tape (DAT), edited on computer and then recorded back to tape. Rettinger hopes to purchase a CD recorder soon and record directly to a hard disk, eliminating the hiss inherent in analogue cassettes. Rettinger is not tossing all analogue equipment however. He is very excited about the potential of using classic analogue synthesizers to create music, and then recording and editing on digital equipment. |
| REVUELTAS CD RECORDED BY UNM CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Several never-performed compositions of the illustrious 20th century Mexican composer, Silvestre Revueltas, are available on a compact disc recorded by the UNM Chamber Orchestra.
Orchestra Conductor Dr. Jorge Perez-Gomez worked directly from Revueltas' manuscripts to create the instrumental parts for these never-performed works. Engineered in the Keller Hall recording studio, the compact disc of Revueltas' compositions includes the first recordings of Batik and Piece for Orchestra. The CD is part of a large project to record several long-neglected Latin American composers. UNM's Latin American Institute will distribute the recordings to educational institutions as part of the university's Latin American Initative. In addition, our orchestra performed several Revueltas compositions at a national music festival in Mexico last year. La Musica de Silvestre Revueltas is available for $12 at the UNM Music Department (505)277-2126 or by mail for $14. Make check payable to UNM Chamber Orchestra and send to Department of Music, UNM College of Fine Arts, Albuquerque, NM 87131. Proceeds go to Orchestra Scholarships. DIGITAL FRONTIERS IN PHOTOGRAPHY "Historically, technology has set the pace for developments in photography, whether meeting a public and commercial demand, or fulfilling a cultural need," says Mulligan. "Today that tradition continues as electronic and digital technology forwards a future of photography no longer tied to chemistry and paper." Another Eastman House photo exhibit curated by Mulligan, Telling Stories: Narrative Impulses in Contemporary Photography, will include a Nash Edition Iris digital print by UNM Photography Professor Patrick Nagatani when it opens in June. CFA ALUMNI CHAPTER SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISERS ADVENTURE SAFARI ‘98 CALIFORNIA COAST & CULTURE FRIENDS OF MUSIC: RAISING MONEY FOR MUSIC SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 27 YEARS Friends of Music was founded 27 years ago by a group of Albuquerquians who, in their forward thinking way, thought the UNM Music Department could use some assistance in recruiting entering freshman music students. Since that time, over 250 students have been the recipients of Friends of Music scholarships. Here at UNM, students are often not eligible for scholarship awards until they have been on campus for a semester or two, or have declared their major. Having Friends of Music Scholarships available for entering freshmen allows these talented students to receive scholarship aid from day one. And who are some of the previous Friends of Music Scholars? Kurt Streit, Metropolitan Opera tenor; Eddie Lee, principla cellist of the Korean Broadcast Symphony; Colleen Maley Sheinberg, UNM Music Department faculty and co-founder, Musica Antigua; Mark Rush, violin instructor at the University of Arizona; and the list goes on...and on...and on. Friends of Music board members represent the for-profit and non-profit world in Albuquerque and surrounding communities--even as far away as Los Alamos. They meet monthly, and they raise funds through memberships and benefit concerts. Last year's benefit concert with New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Music Director, David Lockington, on cello, and his wife, Tchaikovsky Competition Silver Medalist, Dylana Jensen, on violin, along with Music faculty member, Arlette Felberg, on piano, was sold out in Keller Hall. In June, Friends of Music presents fidler cum classical violinist, Mark O'Connor, at Popejoy Hall for a benefit concert. They also host annual musicales featuring current and past scholarship recipients. And just like a good friend, Friends of Music is here, year after year, caring for our well-being--and ALWAYS remembering to send a gift each year! For more information about Friends of Music, please call Sara McClure at (505)277-7320. |
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LENNY FELBERG, professor of violin, made his third trip to Brazil this November. "It was a marvelous experience," says Felberg, "first-class all the way." At the State University of Sao Paulo, Felberg taught and also performed Spring from Vivaldi's Seasons with the student orchestra. |
 | Then, at the invitation of the Brazilian government, he joined an international gathering of music teachers at Porto Alegre for nine days. There, at the Federal University of the Rio Grande, he taught individual classes observed by a forum of music students. He also performed a violin and piano recital with a faculty member there. |
PATRICK NAGATANI, professor of photography, has been selected to receive the College of Fine Arts Regents' Professorship Award for 1997-2000. "Patrick was one of six very strong applicants for this award," says Dean Tom Dodson. Collectively, these six individuals impressively represent both the quality and breadth of activities among the faculty in our college. Patrick is a dedicated teacher, a successful artist and has served the institution in many ways. With this award, he represents us well. We are pleased to count Patrick among our faculty." "Three awards have gone to my soul," says Nagatani. "My second NEA grant, the College of Fine Arts' first ‘Teacher of the Year' award ten years ago, and now, the Regents' Professorship. I'm really proud; any number of full professors at this college should get it as well." BILL EVANS, professor of dance, and director of Albuquerque's Bill Evans Dance Company, was the National Dance Association Scholar/Artist
CHRIS SHULTIS, professor of music, received the 1996 Deems Taylor
"The Mills conference marked an historical moment in the study of Cage and his work," notes Shultis. "Since it was the first conference of its kind to be held since his death in 1992, it was also among the first in which Cage didn't participate. At once a review of the literature as well as a position paper on the future of Cage scholarship, my essay places Cage and his work in a critical light apart from his enormous influence as a person--where only the work itself remains." A member of the UNM Music faculty since 1980, Shultis was recently appointed as associate dean at the College of Fine Arts and chairs the college's Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. |
The award recognizes individuals for outstanding teaching and research or creative work. Only full professors are eligible for a Regents' Professorship which includes an annual monetary supplement for three years.
