PSU Magazine Fall 1988

graphic arts system. "We have planted the seed," says Young. She would like to see an art lab set up for students and faculty with five full-color screen terminals. But this $40,000 project needs some serious equipment or money donations from in– dustry or the community. Until Portland State got its color system, Young had been doing black and white art on her system at home, along with booklet and brochure design work for paying clients. Young estimates that 75 percent of com– puter art is used in commercial art graphics, and much of this can be seen daily on TV news programs and in com– mercials. Advertising is a natural for computer graphics because it is so ver– satile, fast and therefore cost-cutting. showpieces Young saw in 1978 and was only picked up by major aircraft and automobile industries that could justify the high capital costs for design work. The prevalent use of computers today is testament to how far the technology has come. Printers for the color systems are another matter: a few have just come on the market, but their limited capabilities and expense make them a risky buy at the moment. Young has occasional use of a very new Tektronix thermal wax color printer, a wonderful machine as far as she is con– cerned. Tektronix loans the printer to the University allowing Young to use it and also showcase its capabilities to anyone who is interested. The machine's hefty price, between $8,000 and $11,000, is North and Middle Sisters, Ore. , created by Young on a computer (1988). C omputer graphics originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech– nology (MIT) in 1950 when the first computer-driven display, linked to a computer, generated some very simple pictures. The first important step forward came in 1963 when a system called SKETCHPAD was demonstrated at the Lincoln Laboratory of MIT. That system was even more costly than the Ohio State PSU 10 keeping it out of the average artist's studio for now. Fortunately, determined artists have other ways to print their computer disk originals, as is evident at Abaci Gallery in downtown Portland. Abaci specializes in computer art and, according to owner/artist Daria Barclay, is one of only two galleries with this specialty in the country, the other being in New York. The Future of Art P ortland is taking computer art seriously and one of the reasons is PSU student Chad Saddler. Sad– dler, a third year communications student, has been producing the show "Com– puters: The Future of Art" for the last year through Multnomah Cable Access. With 20 shows under his belt, Saddler, 31, has a good feel for the "mushroom– ing" computer graphics industry. From jet propulsion computer graphics to Emily Young's computer art, each show presents the guest and their work and then allows the guest to get into the nitty gritty of the computer itself. Saddler sees this as a less threatening method for familiarizing the not-so-computer-literate with the amazing functions of the machine. And, as it turns out, many of today's systems do not require a lot of technical skills just the ability to jump in and get started. "We can hook-in (the audience) visual– ly using some pretty fantastic imagery and then explain how to utilize the tool ," says Saddler. From his research, Saddler estimates visualization and computer graphics will be a $5 million industry by 1990. But he cautions that the individuals who work these machines will have to be both technically attuned and aesthetically and emotionally perceptive. Just owning the proper hardware and software does not an artist make. In his five year plan , Saddler hopes to market his show to broadcast television, specifically the Public Broadcasting System. For now the program can be viewed Sundays at 9:30 a.m . on Channel 21 , and for TCI viewers, the second Tues– day at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 11. 0 "For these artists the computer is the designing tool. That main thread is con– sistent, but then each artist takes his or her work in other directions," says Barclay. She sees artists who reproduce their work on silk screens, ones like Young who use a thermal wax color printer, others who photograph their work (Continued on page 22)