new media index

I am often tempted to tinker with these early works, insert Cascading Style Sheets, clean up raggedy-edged animations, perform other assorted fixes and upgrades. But there comes a time to move forward. As both a visual artist and a writer, my first work for the web combined images and text, using links to 'turn the pages'. One example is The Lady From Donalda (1999), a simple narrative chronicling the transformation of a found object. Other work included .gif animations that were temporarily lost when a server went offline. One series, called the Block Suite, has been moved to the trAce server.

I have always been fascinated with found objects. My introduction to the process of art was through photography - documenting discarded artifacts and derelict buildings. After several years as a darkroom technician, I began to explore various techniques of photographic manipulation. An inveterate collector of odd objects, I have worked with mixed media constructions and sculpture.

Through a brew of photography, writing and mixed-media, I examine relationships between people and memory. These works are best viewed using the full screen function in Internet Explorer 5+, with a resolution of 800 X 600. Most of these works open in new windows, close them to return to this page. They should work in most browsers.

Ctrl Esc (1999): explores the idea that the web can be viewed as a form of travel. It uses html image-mapping as a method of linking various pages, or stops along a journey from Nanaimo (on the east coast of Vancouver Island) to Hornby Island. The work uses photographs, computer-manipulated portions of photographs, and found objects (a chip of red paint, an oyster shell, the faded-blue background from a postcard). The main page scrolls horizontally, making reference to real-life travel. Certain images (objects) have been placed along the 'map' of the journey. Each of these 'objects' opens a separate window that interprets 'location'. Navigation is intuitive -- there are no guides saying ‘click here'. The 'map' has to be followed and interpreted. If the the map stops moving or doesn't fully load, refresh (reload) the page. [ All html files written in simple Windows Notepad; images (.gifs) made with Paint Shop Pro 4. ]
Encounters & Allusions and Fragments & Artifacts (2000): old computer punch cards were scanned and then manipulated with image-editing software. The resulting images (.gif) was used as a templates for presenting layered photographs and text. The backgrounds are also drawn from the punch cards, and further manipulated using an animation program. The animations -- scrolling 0's, and tiled images (like computer chips) -- suggest the appearance of the guts of a computer. Both pieces are imagemaps with links to 'locations' layered beneath. [ All html files developed using Dreamweaver; images (.gifs) made with Paint Shop Pro 4. ]
[con]artist (network appropriation, 2001): the first of my new media works that can be legitimately called web.art. The 'poems' are cutups of texts appropriated from certain web pages, stripped of content except for a few key words, like imprints. All images were found on the web and manipulated using image-editing software. There are subjective and intuitive relationships between the images and the cutups. Technically, [con]artist is very fundamental, using hypertext, frames, and layers. Simple refresh tags move the piece along, making it possible for the viewer to find relationships that I did not intend, or even realize. The work apes the way in which people often browse though dozens of web pages at one sitting. The music is optional, atmospheric, for which you will need a Real Player plugin to play the .ra file. The title is obviously a play on words, but it also refers to a bedeviling distrust that often haunts my psyche -- am I faking it? The opening html file (frameset) is called homage.html, because the entire work pays homage to web artists and netizens who have influenced my new media work. [ All html files written with the aid of Dreamweaver; images (.gifs) made with Paint Shop Pro 4. ]

is a Mutual Web entertainment created by Randy Adams, Pauline Masurel, and Everdeen Tree. Claims previewed at Incubation2 with a demonstration of Claims Version 0.0.[A hearty thanks to the Canada Council for the travel grant allowing me to travel to Nottingham for the 2002 Incubation conference. Thanks also to the trAce volunteer team for their patience and many kindnesses. Thanks especially to Sue Thomas. ]

doodles (updated 12 august 2003) : these simple animations were made by importing images (.gifs) into Flash. They are like doodles, created offhandedly for no reason except to tinker with the software.