Digital art

Photo by cobalt123

We're reading about modernism in our digital civilization class right now and something that seems to be a less prominent topic but consistently influential is the affect that art had on the period. We see many artists of the period come out with abstract forms of art such as Picasso using abstract geometric forms, Wyndham Lewis with his use of motion and change, and Kandinsky creating paintings with bold colors, lines and shapes. A similar movement in art seems to be evolving with the growth of our digital culture.

This blog I found talks about ways that old art pieces are being expressed and enhanced digitally.

There is so much being done digitally with art these days that it would be hard to keep up with it all. I don't profess to be any expert in art either but it fascinates me how it has almost become necessary for anyone in an art field to become proficient with digital tools to further their art careers. The other day I met a man who had been an illustrator for most of his life, but said it was harder and harder for him to find work anywhere as an artist. The big fields are now in graphic design. Art is going to a whole new level, but its not leaving behind any of the evolution it has been through already. Most of what is happening now is building off what has already been done.

This link is a YouTube video of a few things that graphic artists can do with a little imagination.

A world lit only by fire

On my last post I mentioned the mini book-club that we're doing for class. Well the book that we ended up deciding on was A World Lit Only by Fire. I found the book in the school library and set off to read it. I haven't been able to finish the book but I've really enjoyed it so far. 

To help share this book I've decided to something a little different. Because the book talks so much about the dark ages, I thought I would try an idea that I got from our professors. I fished out a computer game called Oblivion, and started reading about how I could create my own world within it. The developers of the game have provided the code and tools to players to me able to create their own "mods" for the game. I took these tools and created my own scenario in the game. I put up my creation on a site where any player can share their mod, that way anyone with the game can try out what I've made. Here are a few screenshots of things I've been playing with. Not all of these are my own creations.

Mini Book Club

In our digital civ class we've been given the assignment to form a mini book club and read a book about one of the time periods that we have been studying. I've looked around for some good books and I've come up with a short list of possibilities. Let me know what you think.

1. The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy by Peter Burke.
I found this book through the Princeton University Press. The review on the book says that it "discusses the social and political institutions that existed in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and...analyzes the ways of thinking and seeing that characterized this period of extraordinary artistic creativity." It looks like it helps bring to light the complex connections between culture and society of the time.

2. A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance by William Manchester.
I read that this book is "One of the most lively, engaging history books you will ever read." I found in on Amazon and it looks like it gives a good history of the span from the dark ages to the renaissance and what lead up to the creative explosion of the later.





3. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View by Richard Tarnas.
I found this book on Google Books and it looks like a good read. I don't know much about it but I read a really good review on it. It looks like a great book about the development of our western world and the changes in the cultural psyche of our society.