Arizona State University professor of intermedia speaks to art and engineering students at USU

By Ashlie Albrecht

Dan Collins, a professor of intermedia, or art involving the use of multiple mediums, within the School of Art at Arizona State University, spoke to both art and engineering students at Utah State University today in the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. The guest lecture was part of Art Museum and Engineering Week, a collaboration between the curators of the museum and the professors in the engineering department. Collins discussed his work with mediated sculptures, figures made with or by incorporating technology, as a demonstration of how artists can pool resources with engineers.

Collins presented many examples of the work he has done using three dimensional scanning lasers. He scanned his subjects and then used computer technology to morph the digital 3-D images into pieces of artwork.

“Your capacity as an artist, who has refined visualization skills, brings certain skills that are of great value to the engineers who can partner with artists to do these higher level kinds of experiments,” Collins said.

Mark Lee Koven, an assistant professor of art at USU, invited Collins to be the keynote speaker of the week because he feels Collins’ artwork embodies the thinking engineers should be using in their research.

“Dan is a perfect fit as an artist who is using art at the onset of the research rather than just as it is typically used, at the end of a research component,” Lee Koven said.

Katie Lee Koven, the director of the museum, said Collins showed there are many opportunities for artists who are asking questions and engineers who are seeking answers to work together.

“When you are able to combine these two, from opposite ends of the spectrum, and incorporate different technologies and tools, some really interesting things can happen,” Katie Lee Koven said.

Brooke Jacques is a graphic design student at USU who is very interested in art combined with technology, like the pieces Collins created.

“I think it is a good direction for me,” Jacques said. “I don’t consider myself entirely an artist. I do graphic design which is more of a functional art, so I think his type of work could take me to the next level.”

Collins’ art is not just influenced by science, but it also utilizes science, according to Mark Lee Koven.

Collins explained there are often limitations to the things that can be produced and encouraged the students to develop patience and endurance.

"Sometimes we’re ahead of what machines can actually accommodate,” Collins said. “At other moments machines are ahead of what we can actually imagine.”