Arts, Media, and Design at AIC

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Food and Society Art Show Opening Celebration at American International College 4/24/24

Art show opening celebration Wednesday 4/24/24 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Location: West Wing Gallery of the Karen Sprague Cultural Arts Center, 1000 State Street, Springfield, MA Food will be served. You are invited to join us.

This semester, Midterm Projects focused on Food and Society created by students in Digital Photography 1 and 2, Graphic Design 2 and Cultivating Creativity. Student responded to the following assignment prompt:

What we eat, how food is produced, and the conditions of the workers who farm, prepare and serve food have huge implications for our lives.

Absorb the provided resources. Or, you may have your own personal connection to Food and Society. Find an issue relating to Food and Society that resonates with you. Then, imagine how you would visually portray this issue. Finally, create the artwork to express your ideas.

(Click any image to enlarge it.)

Ingredients by Jermal Streeter, Digital Photo 2

To aid student research, Information Literacy Librarian Maxine Girard visited Professor Nordell's classes to explain using the Gale in Context: Environmental Studies Database. Maxine also made a tutorial video that shows effective use of the database.

Resources provided to students:

The diet that helps fight climate change
Meatpacking: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Op-ed: I’m a Restaurant Worker, Not a Robot | Civil Eats
Meet The Undocumented Coachella Farmworkers Feeding America - YouTube
Safe Workplaces for Fast Food workers NOW! - IUF
How Are Factory Farms Cruel to Animals?

Can Organic Farming Solve the Climate Crisis?

The Hidden Truth by Kaitlyn Baek, Cultivating Creativity

Taking the role of a curator, History of Art student Charlotte Tvelia distills the essence of the exhibition:

The following pieces illustrate the consequences of the processes and people involved in preparing the foods we consume. Each year, twice as much greenhouse gas is emitted from agriculture and farm usage compared to emissions from cars. As a society, we tend to overlook the workers involved and the compensation they receive working in industries ranging from farming, to serving in a restaurant. The students used a variety of art styles and mediums to convey these messages, as well as to encourage more eco-friendly practices in the foods we choose.

Sustainable Agriculture by Grace Boisvert, Digital Photo 2

The Poison of Capitalism by Kendyl Vermette, Cultivating Creativity

GMO by Mar Busqueta, Digital Photo 1

Salt, taste and repeat if necessary by Taisha Jones, Graphic Design 2

Saturday, April 6, 2024

AIC Offering New Creative Minor in the Fall

Madeline Jacyszn created the photos and text for this blog post to fulfill her Creating Content for Community assignment in Digital Photography 2.

Coming Fall of 2024, AIC will be adding an exciting new minor to the roster: Creative Writing! Students choosing this minor will be exposed to different forms of creative writing and be coached through various modes of written expression. They will also engage in receiving and giving peer feedback.

Currently, AIC only offers Creative Writing I, but talking to the current students of this class can offer insight into the benefits of deciding to pick up this minor in the Fall.

Student Justin Howard cultivated a high opinion of Professor Steffen during a prior class and this factored significantly into his reasoning to take Creative Writing I. There were also personal elements involved, such as wanting to rehabilitate his relationship with creative writing and emerge from the class a more productive writer. He concluded that he enjoys the class overall; the open discussions about the literature are useful and he believes that he understands the writing process better.

Another student in the class who wished to remain anonymous stated that they found and took the class at their advisor's suggestion. When asked if they liked the class so far or not, they said that they did because they believed the teacher was helping the students open up and draw on personal experiences to channel into their writing. Overall, they want to be a better writer and think that the class has been useful in helping them towards that goal.

Professor Steffen said that he started teaching Creative Writing I when the previous professor resigned. Having to pick up teaching the class resulted in Professor Steffen being "bitten by the creative bug"; he found himself doing more creative writing and submitting more of his work to be published.

By teaching the class, Professor Steffen hopes the students will continue writing beyond coursework and develop better expression and communication skills in the process. He also wants to help students get their work published through various writing contests to help get their names out there as writers.

Regarding barriers students face with creative writing, Professor Steffen believes part of it is because students are discouraged from creative writing by other things. To reference Justin Howard, some students have a complicated relationship with creative writing or have trouble expressing themselves through it, which can make it a strenuous or unpleasant experience. Creating a more positive association and giving students direction with their creative writing is one way he tries to help students through this. Professor Steffen also believes that confidence is another factor that students can struggle with regarding creative writing. There are many potential facets to this, but hopefully guidance and an encouraging atmosphere can help them overcome this.

Maybe you are curious about creative writing too. Maybe you want to learn and engage more with the craft. Either way, the benefits of the Creative Writing minor cannot be understated. Please consider signing up in Fall of 2024!

From the Course Catalog:

The minor in Creative Writing will prepare students to express themselves creatively through a variety of literary forms and genres. Students will practice writing in a variety of literary genres, and sharpen their skills in writing short fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and playwriting. Students will learn how to market their work for a variety of different audiences in various print and digital media and will be introduced to venues for publishing and strategies for self-publication. This minor also gives students the opportunity to edit the student literary magazine, The Criterion. Students will produce a professional and polished portfolio of written creative work.

Upon completion of the minor in Creative Writing, students will be able to:

· Express themselves creatively through a variety of literary forms and genres
· Present a marketable portfolio of quality artistic work
· Market their creative writing for a variety of audiences in various print and digital media
· Use creative expression as a tool for solving problems in the real world
· Communicate effectively through writing

Required Courses:

Creative Writing I (3 credits)
The Short Narrative / Creative Writing II (3 credits)
Poetry / Creative Writing III (3 credits)
Creative Non-Fiction/ Creative Writing IV (3 credits)
Writing for Stage and Screen (3 Credits)
Creative Writing Capstone (3 credits)

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Team Captain Jayden Renehan on Rugby Warriors and Samurai Codes

I decided to do my virtual art museum in Professor Nordell's class on Japan. I had multiple paintings and lots of history included in the museum with brilliant pieces of work from times ago. Professor Nordell also had the opportunity to come to my rugby game at American International College to take some photos of the game. To blend these 2 themes, I decided to use a picture from Japan and Professor's picture at the rugby game to make a curatorial statement.

Click to view Jayden's virtual museum.

“In the collision of two worlds, the unyielding spirit of a rugby warrior meets the disciplined elegance of a samurai's code. Both embody strength, resilience, and a commitment to honor, whether on the fierce rugby field battlefield or in the serene dojo of ancient Japan. Different arenas, same essence: the relentless pursuit of excellence and the unwavering courage to face challenges head-on.”

Jayden in action by Professor Nordell

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

American International College Students From Across Campus Recreate Art at Home

Cultivating Creativity students created works answering this challenge from the Getty Museum: recreate a work of art with objects (and people) in your home. You might want to try it yourself!

1. Choose your favorite artwork.

2. Find three things lying around your house.

3. Recreate the artwork with those items.

Cultivating Creativity attracts students from across campus as it satisfies an Exploring the Arts and Humanities general education requirement.

Click any image to enlarge.

By Zulma - a Nursing Major

By Chase - a Visual and Digital Arts Major

By Jasmine - a Psychology Major

By Shannen- a Nursing Major

By Grace - a General Business Major

Monday, December 18, 2023

The Allegory of AI - History of Photojournalism Final Project by Madeline Jacyszn

My set of illustrations were intended to comment on how I don't believe images generated by AI can qualify as photojournalism or even can replace photojournalism. In my first image, a photojournalist is documenting an event, caught in a moment of checking on their camera before resuming shooting while the people around them continue to protest. The second image is of a computer monitor, a representation of AI, "watching" the events but is unable to understand them or absorb them in full detail, hence why the people are mere silhouettes as opposed to the fully colored versions in the first image.

The inspiration for the premise of my illustrations was frustration at AI image generator users often trying to draw a false equivalency between photography in general and AI image generators, a video posted by Vox called "Why AI Art Struggles with Hands", and Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

The frustration with AI image generator users comes from my personal experience. When challenged on their views, a lot of AI image generator users try to bring up photography which extends to photojournalism when they want to justify their use and the increasing prevalence of AI image generators. Broadly it is a ludicrous point, but for photojournalism especially, AI simply cannot replace the function of photojournalists. Maybe they can approximate a "photo", but the AI cannot do the "journalist" part. Even if it generates an image that is on the subject of a current event, that it was generated in of itself is not photojournalism. The ethics of photojournalism are strict on just editing images because authenticity is important for the viewership of the photos to trust that the events are actually happening as they see it in the photographs.

In "Why AI Art Struggles with Hands", at 1:43 the speaker Phil Edwards says. "All the [AI] has to learn from are the pictures..." to help understand why AI struggles with such things like rendering hands properly. The jist of what he's saying is that the images AI trains off of are good at helping it spot patterns, but the AI doesn't understand the object in a 3D space.

That concept of AI being unable to understand objects in a 3D space off of just images is what inspired me to represent the AI in what is essentially Plato's Cave. This is because in the original allegory, the people chained to the wall who had never seen the outside world only saw shadows cast on a cave wall, which limited their information and understanding but they didn't have the knowledge to understand that. It is like the AI in that way, where the AI's shadows cast on the wall are the images it is fed to be trained off of, but it can't go beyond that and "leave the cave", so to say.

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Madeline's Midterm Project on Red-Tagging is not to be missed. From her introduction:

Red-tagging is when a journalist has been branded as a member or an associate of an enemy party of the government, leading to blacklisting and harassment of the journalist in the hopes of stifling their work. This topic is of interest to me because red-tagging is a problem in the Philippines, my mom’s country, where photojournalists will be branded as terrorists or communists so the government has a public excuse to kill them.

Art Dealer Karl McLaurin Makes a Virtual Visit to History of Art Class at American International College

Last May, Professor Nordell met Karl McLaurin at a Black Ancestral Legacies professional development workshop at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Learning that McLaurin was an art dealer who represented artists of color, Nordell invited him to join his History of Art class to share art world insider knowledge.

The week before McLaurin joined ART1000 via Zoom, students were assigned to formulate a relevant question and then practiced their oral communications skills by asking questions of the guest speaker.

Jacqueline asked, "How do you handle creative blocks and find inspiration when you feel stuck?"
Listen to the question and answer.

Full video from the question and answer session:

Uptown Magazine featured McLaurin with an article: The Great Connector - After three decades as a marketing, political, and corporate strategist, Karl McLaurin sets his sights on the art world.

Spend 15 minutes with Karl McLaurin and you realize that he's an indefatigable people person. While friends refer to the Brooklyn-born, Boston-raised networker as the unofficial mayor of Martha’s Vineyard, clients describe him as a killer businessman with an authentic creative spirit. This made him a natural fit for former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s administration, where McLaurin served as director of marketing, and was known for his unique ability to create buzz-generating, community-based partnerships between the public and private sectors.

McLaurin responds to Jordan's query about how he determines which artists to invest in that will make a lot of money in the future versus those that will not be successful.
Listen to the question and answer.

After the Zoom session, students shared ideas gleaned from Karl McLaurin.

"One idea I learned from Karl is that even though he graduated as a marketing major, he has pursued art in many ways."

"People look at Karl in a very respected manner. If he likes a piece or an artist, other people are going to trust his opinion and like it as well. This can make the pieces more valuable."

"I learned that working in art is more than just drawing, painting, sketching, or looking at art. There is much more that goes into it whether from the artist side, curator side, critic side, or representation side. It is not an easy job and you kind of need an eye or touch for it."

Amelia asked, "How do you represent artwork and how is this achieved?"
Listen to question and answer.

"What I learned from Karl McLaurin is that art is really what you make it and if you have a passion, go for it, take the risk, and you'll be good in the end."

"I learned that artists need to get out their emotions and it’s not always about the money."

"One thing I learned is that Karl has a lot of control on where the art ends up."

Nick asked which piece of art McLaurin likes that has gained a great deal of value over time.
Listen to the question and answer.

Big thanks to Karl McLaurin for joining our class!

Friday, November 17, 2023

Food and Society Art Show Opening Celebration at American International College 11/29/23

Art show opening celebration Wednesday 11/29/23 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Location: West Wing Gallery of the Karen Sprague Cultural Arts Center, 1000 State Street, Springfield, MA Food will be served. You are invited to join us.

We heard an interview with Stanford Professor Christopher Gardner, PHD on the Rich Roll Podcast. Dr. Gardner mentioned his course Food and Society. We reached out to him for background information related to the course

This led to Midterm Projects focused on Food and Society created by students in Digital Photography 1 and Cultivating Creativity. Student responded to the following assignment prompt:

(Click any image to enlarge it.)