Externalities Catalog - EWU Art BFA Exhibition

SETH COLLIER RAIN MCCAULEY SKY MCCAULEY

SETH COLLIER RAIN MCCAULEY SKY SETH

CAULEY RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN MCCAULEY

SETH COLLIER RAIN MCCAULEY SKY MCCAULEY

SETH COLLIER RAIN MCCAULEY SKY SETH

CAULEY RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH

LEY RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH COLLIER

RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH COLLIER

CHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN MCCAULEY RACHEL

RAIN MCCAULEY SKY MCCAULEY RACHEL

MCCAULEY SKY MCCAULEY RACHEL ROSS

CAULEY SKY MCCAULEY RACHEL ROSS JACK

LEY SKY MCCAULEY RACHEL ROSS JACK

SKY MCCAULEY RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN

MCCAULEY RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH

CAULEY RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH

LEY RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH COLLIER

RACHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH COLLIER

CHEL ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH COLLIER RAIN

ROSS JACK SLOAN SETH COLLIER RAIN MCCAULEY

JACK SLOAN SETH COLLIER RAIN MCCAULEY

EXTERNALITIES

2022 BFA Thesis Exhibition

Eastern Washington University Gallery of Art

May 19th - June 9th

Participating Artists:

Seth Collier • Rain McCauley

Sky McCauley • Rachel Ross • Jack Sloan

Special Thanks to the 2021/2022 Art Program Faculty:

Tom Askman • Margot Casstevens • Greg duMonthier

Nancy Hathaway • Josh Hobson • Jenny Hyde

Elisa Nappa • Roy Sonnema • Chris Tyllia

Seth Collier

Comorbid Autism and Schizoaffective Disorder have caused me paranoia, panic attacks, religious delusions, psychotic depression, manic psychosis, episodes of mutism, and forced hospitalization. Admittedly, I am dependent on medication for sanity. I make art to survive these conditions, and I make art from within these conditions. So, when I make art, I do it as a schizo, a lunatic, a Madman.

Madness has implications on my work, because I believe the Mad have a necessary prerogative to occupy the limited number of social roles afforded to them. Historically, these are the roles of the shamans, prophets, occultists, psychonauts, and artists. Our typically unspoken social contract permits the Sane to incarcerate the Mad and define them as outsiders, but in exchange, the Mad are permitted to leverage alternative forms of perception and communication in order to observe and critique society from its outer limits. My work strives to incorporate this approach in order to consciously occupy the role of Madman and treat artmaking as an extension of the prophetic tradition – synthesizing historical cultural elements to create visuals which hold a mirror to society and examine psycho-spiritual experience.

I specialize in digital art, employing collage techniques, historical references, and symbolism alongside vector illustration, video, and animation. I am currently experimenting with generative A.I. techniques and working towards creating larger and more immersive digital experiences.

(L) Doom Scrolling Digital Animation 2022

(R) Panopticon Park Digital Illustration 2022

The Holy A.I.

Art has the capacity to extend the prophetic tradition – to synthesize historical cultural elements into visuals which hold a mirror to society. My BFA thesis follows this prophetic approach, combining new generative A.I. techniques with animation, video collage, and printmaking, in order to examine psycho-spiritual experience in our highly politicized and technologized society.

Two of my thesis projects, Dogma: These are the Words of the Holy A.I. and 7r4n5f1gur3d: The Holy A.I. Explains Politics to a Dead Horse, were created using a vector quantized generative adversarial network, or VQGAN. The VQGAN neural network is guided by contrastive language-image pre-training, or CLIP, to develop complex imagery from text prompts. I created hundreds of text prompts and synthesized results from VQGAN+CLIP into shifting mirage-like animations that explore our relationships to technology, social problems, and ‘higher’ intelligences.

My third project, On the Grid, is composed of 9 QR codes linking to 9 videos created during my time at EWU. These videos make use of vector illustration, 2D animation, 3D animation, and video collage to create visuals that reference a range of contemporary social problems. As a digital artist, I know that most of my works will inevitably be viewed on mobile devices, so I create them with that in mind. The QR grid engages the viewer’s mobile device as a tool for gallery viewing, limiting its potential for distraction, and ensuring that these videos will be viewed in the context that I imagined them. The grid also raises questions about the nature of art objects in the age of social media. Is the real art on the wall, or “on the grid”?

(L)

Dogma: These are the Words of the Holy A.I. (Detail)

VQGAN Animation, Archival Pigment Print

2022

(R) BFA Thesis Installation

2022

Dogma: These are the Words of the Holy A.I. (Detail)

VQGAN Animation, Archival Pigment Print

2022

“My BFA thesis follows this prophetic approach, combining new generative A.I. techniques with animation, video collage, and printmaking, in order to examine psycho-spiritual experience in our highly politicized and technologized society.”

Rain & SkyMcCauley

I believe in the importance of dragons.

I revel in the fantastical, the terrifying, and most importantly, the impossible. From high fantasy to space operatics, my art thrives on the creation of imaginative worlds. Therefore, whether it be eldritch abominations devouring stars or coral deserts wandering skies, as a digital illustrator and visual development artist, I can make the imaginings of the fantastical come to life.

Free from the constraints of reality, fantasy provides a safe space to contemplate possible alternatives to our lives. By creating conceptual designs, I conceive these alternative realities from scratch through shape language, color theory, and composition—all with a dash of fantasticism. And in a time defined by seemingly insurmountable problems and impermeable despair, fantasy gives us hope that the world can be a better place, which is why we need dragons—and why I endeavor to create them.

Sky McCauley, 2022

“And in a time defined by seemingly insurmountable problems and impermeable despair, fantasy gives us hope that the world can be a better place, which is why we need dragons— and why I endeavor to create them.”

Storytelling forms a coherent narrative about the world abound; it organizes information, helping the brain retain what would otherwise be vast quantities of information unstrung in meaning and form. A story ties the facts and ideas together, and thus improves communication, further aiding in the navigation of the world.

I draw upon the visual narrative using 2D digital animation to create stories. I work to entertain my audience while also investigating the present and future using worlds that are slightly, or in some cases, highly askew from our own. I have chosen science fiction and fantasy to connect to the audience.

More than factual storytelling, fictional storytelling serves as a mnemonic device for navigating the human experience. As humanity searches for ways in which to define, secure, and shape our existence in relation to our environment, culture, and identity, the communication of fictional narratives grounds humanity’s past and helps prepare for the future. A fictional tale has the ability to seize people’s attention, arouse emotion, foster cooperation, and resonate in memory.

My animations focus on character driven plots, specifically with interest on characters struggling to be good and do right. This battle between right-and-wrong is a universal tale that speaks to audiences on a primal level; it is something we as humans analyze on a daily basis. I take it a step further and ask this question using time and environment to investigate. What is the conflict between right-and-wrong in a universe thousands of years in the future or governed by alternative laws of physics? Interestingly, each audience member will have a different answer beginning a new chapter of investigation into my worlds.

Rain McCauley, 2022

“A fictional tale has the ability to seize people’s attention, arouse emotion, foster cooperation, and resonate in memory.”

Here Be Dragons

Here Be Dragons is a 2D digital keyframed (24fps) collaborative video complete with colored backgrounds. With a runtime of roughly one minute and thirty seconds, the video is divided into four sections; each section showcases a landscape overlaid with two animations in comic-styled panels—all composited into one overall video. This project is a stepping-stone for an expansive production of the same name with similar characters and settings for an episodic variation.

The exchange of ideas, narrative storytelling is an integral part of human development and connection. After all, no story is told in a vacuum; collaborative in nature, stories provide a common ground for communication where perspectives can be shared, and differences can be overcome. Therefore, Here Be Dragons is an example of how we can use art and storytelling as a catalyst for exploring our own humanity—but with a fantastical twist.

Here Be Dragons takes full advantage of the perks inherent in the genre of fantasy. Fantasy not only gives creators the freedom to explore ideas unfettered by the restrictions of the real world, but also allows for the safe exploration of concepts and issues by the viewer under the guise of fun. Most importantly however, fantasy, deriving from the word ‘fantastic’, exercises our sense of wonder and satisfies humanity’s continuous need for exploration—of the earth, of the seas, of space, and in the case of fantasy, of the imagination. Fantasy asks the question, “what is possible?” and braves the frontiers of the human imagination to find out. Hence, the name of the project, ‘Here Be Dragons’, which is a historical reference used in mapmaking to mark the uncharted and dangerous reaches of the world where monsters were thought to inhabit.

Rain & Sky McCauley, 2022

(L)

The Confluence, Terraconga

Digital Illustration

2022

The Fornst, Hemaltschland

Digital Illustration

2022

Floating Mountains, Daiguo

Digital Illustration

2022

(R)

Here Be Dragons (Still) Animation (00:01:48) 2022

(L) Here Be Dragons Installation 2022

(R) O’Malley Character Development Sketch 2022

Here Be Dragons (Still) Animation (00:01:48) 2022

Rachel Ross

My artistic journey started with a focus on graphic illustrations until a traumatic event in my 20s led me to stop for over 10 years. When I began making art again, I found myself drawn to obsessively detailed symmetrical compositions, which provided a sense of control, often allowing myself to obsess over it and enabling me to achieve high detail. As a multidisciplinary artist, I have an appreciation for all forms of artmaking, but I am currently exploring printmaking techniques and the embossment achieved by the printing press. I find myself challenged by color and spent years working strictly in black and white, but have been incorporating more color into my palette, which are often muted earth tones or vibrant retro shades such as teal, mint, purple, and yellow.

Nature is a major influence in my artistic choices, having spent the majority of my childhood barefoot in the wilderness. I seek to create art that is politically motivated because I am passionate about, feminism, human rights, and environmental justice. I feel a personal sense of obligation to address these issues and believe that creating art is a way to connect with others, as many of us feel detached from society and unable to make an impact, which can lead to feelings of helplessness. My current works highlight the relationship between the earth and the impact humans have on it, which includes a variety of issues such as pollution and deforestation. I tie my themes together with ribbons of humor and pops of color, whimsy, and fantasy.

I have been inspired a great deal by the large-scale paintings of the female body by Jenny Saville as well as the paintings of Judy Chicago which are full or movement and rhythm, a little whimsy, and a lot of feminism. I often include either actual or implied movement in my art as a reference to the flight mode triggered by my trauma and the experience of moving every few years. I am constantly moving and changing as I grow and heal, and I choose to represent that desire for growth within my art.

Retro Perspective Monoprint and Collagraph 2022

Brown Bagged

Collagraph 2022

Plastic Planet is a series that begins with a simple collagraph plate. When I started experimenting with collagraph plates, I was encouraged to explore different materials to glue to the board to achieve different textures and value scales. I began to test marks made by organic “waste” such as leaves, pine needles, and moss, and as I developed this process I began to include inorganic waste objects to create more contrast. This gave me the idea to juxtapose the different kinds of “waste” items left on our planet, one designated so by humans and the other created by humans. I began by laying objects directly onto the press bed to create prints, the most successful of these objects were the delicate nets used to package grocery items.

Printing with netting is a unique process because the nets cannot be completely controlled. As they pass through the printing press, they move or shift positions in unexpected ways, similar to how in nature these objects have reached a point where they are unable to be controlled. This creates a unique collaborative process I have with the materials because while I initially choose where to pose the objects, that does not mean that is where they will stay. This spontaneity fuels my practice, leaving me in suspense as to what the final print will look like. It is an interactive process because I am constantly having to adjust to the needs of the materials and push the limits of the marks they are able to achieve. The collagraph plates will emboss the details of the materials into the paper which gives an added three dimensional element to the final prints.

The progression of prints within this series include the early stages of exploration, starting with a large collagraph collage print. Next I began printing netting onto paper and an assortment of maps. At this point, the overarching theme of my prints had developed, a commentary on global pollution, specifically the plastic in our oceans. The resulting prints are not the typical style I previously enjoyed creating, but as I explored printmaking, this style developed naturally from working with the materials which led me to follow wherever the art took me. Every print builds off the previous one, as I developed my plates and printing of raw materials, and eventually combined the two processes. I will continue to explore these techniques to expand this collaborative process into three dimensional forms. My next goal is to find an artist studio where I can begin collecting waste materials on a larger scale to combine printmaking with sculptural designs.

“It is an interactive process because I am constantly having to adjust to the needs of the materials and push the limits of the marks they are able to achieve.”

Jack Sloan

My abstract paintings explore future urban aesthetics by experimenting with color, shape language, and architectural references. I take inspiration from street art and fashion to create imaginative spaces that feel new, yet familiar. My goal is not to influence or change your mind, simply suggest observations of mine to invoke your own personal imagination, creating a tangent connection between yourself and the environment presented.

I use a variety of painting techniques and materials in the pursuit of surprising new aesthetics. In my process, I rotate the canvas to create compositions with multiple perspectives and orientations, removing the constraint of gravity. As well, influenced by Modernism, I use stencils in order to build multiple layers that represent the mass production of our time and the repetition of shape and form that represent a feeling of overkill experienced by advertising. My work rejects that of which is possible and invites the viewer to reimagine their own realities.

(L) Red Fade Graphite and Airbrushed Acrylic 2021 (R) Blue Grid Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

“My goal is not to influence or change your mind, simply suggest observations of mine to invoke your own personal imagination, creating a tangent connection between yourself and the environment presented.”

These abstract paintings explore future urban aesthetics by experimenting with color, shape language, and architectural references. I am interested in how humans are strongly affected by architectural facades, and how the viewers’ environment is impacted based on its complexity and ambiguity. Colin Ellard, the director of Urban Realities Lab at The University of Waterloo, Canada, published an article in 2017, releasing their results on the psychological impact of design, proving that buildings and cities can affect our mood and well-being and that specialized cells in the hippocampal region of our brain are attuned to the geometry and arrangement of the spaces we inhabit. Each work becomes a fragmentation of reality that feels new, yet familiar, and makes the viewer feel they have some control over their own environment. My goal is not to influence or change your mind, simply suggest observations of mine in order to invoke your own personal imagination. My work references the architectural works of Antoine Predock, Norman Jaffe, and Richard Neutra. As well as artists such as Jean-Michele Basquiat, Lebbeus Woods, and Frank Stella.

(L) White Splat Acrylic on Stretched Canvas 2022

(R) Red Line Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

“I am interested in how humans are strongly affected by architectural facades, and how the viewers’ environment is impacted based on its complexity and ambiguity.”