ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 24, 1997 TAG: 9701240029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS-BANKS STAFF WRITER
Artbytes.
It wasn't hard to think of the name for this exhibit.
Artists Jennifer Spoon and Leslye Bloom wanted to showcase the talents of local artists who produce their work either completely or in part on that wonder of the modern world - the computer.
"Artbytes" opened last week at the Blacksburg branch of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library. The exhibit, sponsored by the Blacksburg Regional Art Association, remains through April 3.
"Our plan is to make this a yearly event - if we survive this," noted Spoon, a Radford artist known for her creative work with handmade paper. "We've planned several events in February and March to interest and inspire artists and students in the area who work in the computer medium or would like to know what it's about."
Some of the artists featured in the new exhibit, such as photographer Aileen Fletcher of Christiansburg, are just beginning to realize the potential of enhancing their work through the use of computers.
"As a new computer user, I am still nervous and uncertain about using computers and photography together," Fletcher said. "As I become familiar with the process, I realize that I am encountering a powerful tool. The use of computers may be as powerful a change in the evolution of photography as the invention of the first photographic process."
Creating art through the computer is old hat to Blacksburg's Bloom.
This year will mark her 30th year of work in computer graphics.
"Once upon a time you could spot computer art from a mile away," she said, noting that the early computer-generated works were precise if not personable.
"Now it's much more human," she added.
"The computer permits me to develop works in ways that would be very difficult if not impossible to achieve using traditional media."
Truman Capone, a Blacksburg jewelry maker and artist, agrees.
"Today artists have the unique opportunity to use pixels and software with the Internet as their canvas just as Renaissance artists utilized light and pigments to create frescoes on the ceilings of great cathedrals," he noted.
"The computer age has expanded to a new and wonderful era in which creative expression is more accessible," Capone said.
Spoon said that the artists participating in the exhibit all have different philosophies and methods of working on the computer. Some, she noted, work electronically from conception to final print. Others scan their drawings, paintings or photographs as a basis for computer manipulation. Still others combine works produced on the computer with traditional media or hand coloring.
Spoon counts herself among those who prefer combining computer skills with hands-on work.
"Summer days are spent making paper in the outdoors and nights at the computer manipulating images and making collages," she noted.
Other local artists participating in the show at the library include Jay Fattorsi and Edd Sewell of Blacksburg and Maxine Lyons of Dublin.
Lyons says it took her awhile to warm up to the computer. It wasn't, she admits, love at first byte.
"When I first met the computer, two years ago, I was very nervous," she said. "As we became better acquainted, I loosened up and tried new software. Now we are old friends and I love the speed, flexibility and accuracy with which I can execute art projects."
The Blacksburg Regional Art Association will sponsor two hands-on workshops on how to scan, combine, manipulate and print art images. The workshops are Feb. 24 and March 24, 5-7 p.m., at Virginia Tech's Newman Library. For more information on these and other upcoming events, call Leslye Bloom at 951-2025.
A web page, featuring works by each artist and information about the Blacksburg Regional Art Association, is on-line. The address is http://www.montgomery-floyd.lib.va.us/pub/compages/braa/index.html
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Works by Radford artist Jennifer Spoon, such as thisby CNBinkjet and laser print collage on handmade paper, are among those on
display in a computer art show at the Blacksburg branch library.
color.