Guest Speaker: Carla Gannis

Having Carla come and speak in class was very informative. She is not only a very inspirational person to listen to but a great artist and designer. Carla told us about the beginnings of her artistic career and the education she received to get there. Also, about her past and how it was influenced by the jobs and influences her father had on her. He worked with media and computer art more than she had ever dreamed she would. He warned her that computer design was the future but she was more focused on oil painting, for that was her undergraduate major. She focused all of her undergraduate time on oil painting and physical, less-able-to-change art like that. She enjoyed it a lot but did not realize that her dad would be right and that she would end up in the computer world.

Carla spoke about numerous jobs and opportunities she was given. Being an art major it did not seem surprising to me that her first job out of school was working in a library. Without having a major experience or job before graduation it could be hard to find an art job immediately out of school. She was then presented with opportunities to expand her art career and grow into new forms of art and expression. She has a unique style and works a lot in series. This meaning that she will do a lot of digital works to even such things as light presentations or videos on a the same subject just a new variation of it. Seeing a lot of her work on the powerpoint presentation was inspirational for numerous reasons. Not only was it inspiring that she had a very unique style and picked up a lot of graphic technique along her career path but the many means in which she expressed her unique thoughts and designs were original in themselves. In a few of her galleries she has actually had fiber glass cut to the shapes of her designs and shot light and video on them to make them look real. This is such a unique approach to any design. One of my favorites that she mentioned was a "holograph" of a genie coming out of a cheap soda bottle. She had created the video and actually projected it on the fiber glass. Carla even mentioned that this exhibit was well-liked by people in Germany which means her art is seen in a vast majority of places.

Carla not only had an interesting story to share with us but lots of artwork to show on her powerpoint presentation. She showed us a lot of her digital work and even some paintings. Her work was interesting and in a lot of cases, surreal. She brings real life situation and ironys to the table and is able to put her own creative spin on them. On top of showing us her own art work she was able to add in other artists that she knows or admires and compare her work to theirs in an educational way. She had a great presentation and a spunky personality which made her enjoyable to watch.