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Why I paint spirals

In: Conceptual Art, Conceptual Art Examples, Conceptual Art Theory, Inspiration

Spirals are one of my favorite ways to compose pictures. Here is how I explain what it is about them I love so much.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away; I took Geometry. Like most of the other ninth graders in my class, I found it to be a refreshing diversion from arithmetic and equations (otherwise known as “Math”), and in getting to know and draw shapes, I was introduced to the spiral, properly. We had these nifty graphing calculators, black and brown screens and spirals would animate right out of the axes once the correct equation was entered - though by this time, bringing equations back to the shapes was a brilliant way to rekindle my fading interest in math. And then, there was the geometric theorem (I can’t find a reference) that stated that “all spirals are similar,”  as depending on the dimensions on the axes on which they are mapped, they can be made to look exactly like one another, even if arising from very different equations. So if the shape is a spiral, no matter how it looks, it’s just like every other spiral. cool.

It wasn’t long after this that I began to draw spirals. I could manage to draw a straight line, but drawing a spiral became effortless. The trick I found was that …

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Collectors Opportunity: One-time Signed and Numbered Twitterscapes

In: Conceptual Art, Exhibitions

An upcoming show featuring Twitterscapes has enabled me to open up a special opportunity to print a collector's edition. This is a unique chance to buy a Twitterscape at a larger format, signed and numbered; the first of their kind. Available here.

It’s going to be an exciting year for me as an artist. This spring, I’ll be attending SXSWi in Austin, then flying off to Paris in June - undoubtedly to see lots of artwork and sniff out a few galleries, hopefully. This March will also mark 1 year since Twitterscapes were first introduced to the public at Chroma Gallery, and as part of Creative Albuquerque’s Women in Creativity series, I’ve decided to share Twitterscapes again, this time at Petroglyph, with an exhibit of images that were produced as the first Twitterscapes, before the code in the script was set. There are up to 40 of these I could show as the progression the images took, though I dare say, I’m limited to showing only a few of these by cost.

The Story behind Twitterscapes

In case you don’t already know, Twitterscapes are images created from data provided by Twitter. The program, written by me exclusively to create Twitterscapes, pulls the users tweets out of Twitter’s Application Programming Interface (API) as well as information about the users who authored said tweets, matches the colors …

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SPREAD proposal for Site Santa Fe

In: Conceptual Art, Conceptual Art Examples, Studio

Site Santa Fe announced in November that they would begin a microfunding initiative called SPREAD, which gives artists in all disciplines the chance to compete for cash based on proposed uses for it. On January 1, 2011, the inaugural SPREAD applications were due. Here I share my contribution.

Project Summary 200 Words

Twitterscapes are images composed of pixels that derive their color and position directly from “tweets” on the popular social network Twitter. They are created by an online program that obtains the data and breaks it down, character for character, into colors chosen by that user to be a part of his/her profile. In their current iteration, Twitterscapes are derived from the public timeline and are titled by day and time created, as they are effectively social media snapshots of that very moment. My SPREAD proposal is to use Twitterscapes to create a live dialogue between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, via Twitter. The physical piece will exist in two installation areas, one in each city, and will comprise of a screen or projection, support equipment, and instructions: to send a tweet on Twitter including a particular word with a hash mark in front of it (called a hash tag), whereby the program will recognize these tweets and show them in Twitterscape format, in the other city, live, in real time. The result will be a cascade of colors and pixels created by human beings, exchanged back and forth; visible at the installation sites and online.

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