Intro to Mind's Eye Serenade


Despite committing my life for well over a decade now to creating computer art for the Internet, I would not describe myself as an expert on either computers or the Internet. More precisely, I would not describe myself as an expert on the software used to create computer art for the Internet. I do know that my computer art has been entirely dependent upon a single computer program: Adobe Photoshop. As the years passed Photoshop became part of a broader suite of programs: Adobe Creative Suite. When I recently installed the latest version of Creative Suite on my Mac, I discovered Photoshop no longer supported ImageReady, the animation program that for years came bundled with it. All my animations, which are animated GIFs, were put together on ImageReady. That it no longer exists does not mean I cannot create further animated GIFs. Rather, it means I must evolve with the evolving software. As I familiarize myself with the new software, I will continue to use the old software to create new animations. I chose to incorporate the above thoughts into the introduction to this piece because its rich texture butts up against the current limitations of the Internet. The four simultaneously running animations may initially appear jagged. The root image for the lower right animation is a photograph of Harlean Carpenter to whom the piece is dedicated. Let me just add that computers and the Internet have transformed the globe socially, politically. Art created for the Internet can transform it spiritually. For artists it is not a matter of becoming experts on software, but of being open to the purely creative processes that the software makes possible.


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