Nettrice Gaskins facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nettrice R. Gaskins
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | September 25, 1970 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
|
| Nationality | American |
| Education | BFA from Pratt Institute, MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Art & Technology |
Nettrice R. Gaskins is an American artist, teacher, and writer. She was born on September 25, 1970. She uses computers to create art and explores how art, science, and technology can work together. Her work often looks at "techno-vernacular creativity." This means she studies how people use technology in their own unique ways. She also explores Afrofuturism, which is about the future through the eyes of Black culture.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Nettrice Gaskins was born in Baltimore, Maryland. When she was in high school, she showed a strong interest in both art and science. She once painted a math-themed mural in her classroom. She also created computer art that connected modern earrings to traditional Ghanaian accessories. This early work showed her passion for combining art and science.
She went on to study at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. There, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in 1992. In 1994, she received her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Art and Technology. She earned this from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
After working for several years, Gaskins continued her studies. She earned her doctorate degree in Digital Media in 2014. This degree was from Georgia Tech. Her research for her doctorate explored the connections between graffiti art and math.
Career and Teaching
Dr. Gaskins is known for her work in STEAM education. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. She believes that adding Art to the traditional STEM subjects creates more opportunities. Especially for students of color, it helps them see themselves in technology fields.
She argues that STEM ideas have always been present in many cultures. She thinks that through arts like hip-hop, film, dance, and video games, people can realize this. She is inspired by creative thinkers who found new ways to use technology. These include musicians like John Coltrane and Grandmaster Flash.
From 2014, Gaskins directed the STEAM Lab at Boston Arts Academy. This school serves many Black and Latino high school students. She helped them explore art and technology. Later, she worked as a program manager at the Fab Foundation. This is a non-profit organization based in Boston.
In 2019, she was an artist-in-residence at MathTalk PBC. She also participated in the Autodesk Technology Center Residency program. Currently, she is the assistant director of the Lesley STEAM Learning Lab at Lesley University.
Art and Technology
Dr. Gaskins' art often explores the relationship between humans and nature. She also looks at how sound and images connect. She wants to create spaces where people of color can see themselves in digital technology. Her work aims to inspire change within communities.
She began working with artificial intelligence (AI) in her art. This started when she taught high school students about DeepDream. DeepDream is an AI program that creates dream-like images.
In 2015, Gaskins created a digital art piece called AR Virtual Sounding Space. This was shown at the Paseo Pop Up festival in Taos, New Mexico. It used physical computing and projection mapping. The art was projected onto a chapel and was inspired by cosmograms. These are cultural maps of space and time. People could interact with the art using special gloves. These gloves changed the sound and color of the projection.
She also performed Electrofunk Mixtape: Illuminus Edition with Hank Shocklee in Boston. This was part of the Illuminus outdoor festival.
Exhibitions and Talks
Nettrice Gaskins' art has been shown in many exhibitions. In 2017, her work was part of We Have Always Lived in the Future at Flux Factory in New York. This show was praised for its ability to inspire.
In 2018, she was part of Probability & Uncertainty at Union College in New York. Her work, "Afrofuturism Amplified in Three Dimensions," was featured. She also gave lectures and workshops. She presented at conferences in Seattle, Barcelona, and Madrid.
In 2019, Gaskins' art was shown in Genoa, Italy. Her AI-generated portrait of Wangari Maathai was featured in an exhibit called Horticultural Heroes. This was at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Massachusetts.
Her "Featured Futurists" portraits were part of the Smithsonian's FUTURES exhibition. This exhibition opened in November 2021. These portraits, which include figures like Octavia Butler, were made using the DeepDream AI program.
In 2021, Gaskins' work was in the Transfiguration exhibition at the Frost Art Museum in Miami, Florida. This show focused on themes of race, diversity, and social justice.
In 2022, an AI-generated portrait by Gaskins was installed as an outdoor mural. This was done by the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA) in Brooklyn, New York. The same image was also displayed at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Her AI-generated artwork was also shown at Carnegie Hall in New York. This was part of The Black Angel of History: Myth-Science, Metamodernism, and the Metaverse. She also created five AI-generated portraits for the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. These were for their opera series about history, race, and justice.
|
See also
In Spanish: Nettrice Gaskins para niños
