ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Their town may be wired to the world, examined in Esquire and documented by Disney, but one high school art class isn't completely hooked on the computer revolution.
"Can you really talk over the computer?" asked sophomore Emily Deihl. "People rely too much on computers already. Is our generation going to give the emotional, personal side of themselves?"
Blacksburg High School teacher Jesi Pace-Berkeley posed these and other heavy questions to two advanced art classes. The answers - put together in an exhibit called "In Cyberspace" - hang in the offices of NRV Net through the end of this week.
Pace-Berkeley said she and other art teachers had a hard time finding places to show student work outside of school. Cherie Hassall, another teacher and wife of former NRV Net President Jim Hassall, suggested showing the work at the offices of the local Internet provider.
Jim Hassall said he hopes the other three Montgomery County high schools - Auburn, Christiansburg and Shawsville - will show similar exhibits after this show comes down Sunday.
"It's neat to look at the art work and hear customers talk about it," said Jim Hassall, who is still working with the company. "Most [customers] have business in mind but are easily side-tracked when they see" the exhibit.
It would be tough not to be drawn into the collages, pencil drawings and sculptures. The themes range from Chad Olmstead's lighthearted interpretation of the colorful notes of computer language, to the disturbing pencil drawing by Dennis Carlyle.
His detailed sketch shows what's left of a man, who is attached by wires and robotic arms to a computer screen that lists the cause of the population's destruction: Self-annihilation.
That same theme of human and machine melding into one is repeated in many of the pieces. Junior Brad Cooper won Best in Show for a sculpture of his head and arm coming from a computer screen.
Most of the juniors and seniors in the art classes say they use computers for reports or research. But they worry technology makes people lazy and inactive.
"It draws you in and sucks your time," said Noe Rossi. Some students said their parents and friends spend hours in front of the computer screen.
But many of Pace-Berkeley's students say they'd rather spend time hiking or playing basketball outside.
Julia Kazakevich, a sophomore from Russia, uses her computer to talk to people all over the world. "It's much easier to talk and express yourself" on the Internet.
And, said Brandie Lemmon, there are other benefits.
"What if there a child bleeding to death and you take him to a hospital? You should have a [computer] card with all your information so you don't have to fill out all the paperwork."
The Internet may be useful, said Caleb Hechtman, but it isn't art.
"Art is the process. The way you approach art should be spiritual. It's void of something when you use a computer."
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Alan Kim. 1. Shanna Williams (above), Blacksburg Highby CNBJunior, with her artwork titled "Memory." 2. "Interactive," in
tempra and ink medium, is by James Hitchingham, also a junior. 3.
Jane Taylor used magazine cutouts to produce her work titled "Hooked
It !" Taylor is a junior at Blacksburg High. color.