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Shrouded in Smoke is a shifting field of abstract forms. Shadows cast by dancing figures filter through progressively agitated environmental imagery. Prompted by the devastating Australian bushfires, the work ties human action and natural disaster in a cyclical three-act structure. It weaves together images of trees and foliage reflected in water to create an environment that progressively becomes more agitated and deconstructed. This work was created by Patrick Steppan and Odessa Sagli, recent graduates from Knox College, who won the 150 Media Stream Scholarship for Digital Art, cosponsored by Associated Colleges of Illinois. Tim Stedman, assistant professor of design at Knox College, supervised the students’ project.

ABOUT THE PIECE

Starmesh is a multidimensional landscape with warping starfields and geological formations. Its vast horizon dissolves the surrounding space, creating a large expanse reminiscent of the cosmos. This site-specific work breaks the mundanity of the everyday to present a contemplation on the interconnectedness of being; reminding us we are more than our tethered routines.

ABOUT THE PIECE
SIGNALS is a collaborative project by artists Nicolas Sassoon (Vancouver, BC) and Rick Silva (Eugene, OR) that focuses on immersive audio-visual renderings of altered seascapes. Sassoon and Silva share an ongoing theme in their individual practices; the depiction of wilderness and natural forms through computer imaging. Created by merging their respective fields of visual research, SIGNALS features oceanic panoramas inhabited by unnatural substances and enigmatic structures. The project draws from sources such as oceanographic surveys, climate studies and science-fiction to create 3D generated video works and installations that reflect on contamination, mutation and future ecologies.

ABOUT THE PIECE
A Forest Through Time: Seasons of Isolation creates the experience of a forest through the seasons, from spring rain to winters snow, from star filled night to the warmth of summers sun. Christopher Andrew uses long exposures and overnight time-lapses with the camera often left in places devoid of the human element for days at a time. The technology used to document the forest, as well as the complex editorial sequencing, creates images that are both awesome and foreboding. This film seeks to capture the tension between a longing for the natural world, and the ties of technology that keep us from its embrace. The soundtrack by Tablapusher speaks of the secret, haunting and majestic quality of the forest giving voice to the wind, the sky, and the trees themselves.