by Olena Zozulevich ’17

Hello, my name is Olena Zozulevich! I am a senior East Asian Language major with a deep interest in art. This year I’ve been devoted to working on cataloguing for Smith College’s image collection – and this work has inspired me to pursue a Masters degree in Library Science after I graduate from Smith in May. While you will most often find me working on an image order or a spreadsheet, I do sometimes get bigger projects. One of those ongoing projects involves the late Michael Mazur’s slide collection of his works.

Michael Mazur (1935-2009) was a well-known printmaker and painter. His work is documented in a slide collection, donated by his wife (a Smith alumna!) to Smith College and Massachusetts College of Art. The cataloguing of the massive collection is a joint project by the two colleges: MassArt scanned and edited the slides, and we at the Smith College Imaging Center handle the cataloguing and metadata. We plan to have the collection up on ArtStor’s Shared Shelf.

The number of slides is massive, to say the least! I spent many days last semester combing through binders full of them to get information and match slides. And yet this was just one small part of the massive project. I’m really excited to see everything move forward and onto ArtStor.

My efforts are not without reward – I got to know Mazur’s beautiful art really well. I admit I had never heard of him before I started working on this project, but I am definitely a fan of his now. I never get tired of looking at his prints, paintings, and drawings, no matter how many times I have to return to any page of those binders. It’ll be even better when I’m not squinting at small slide images!

by Fiona Twiford ’18

Hello! My name is Fiona and I am a new Media and Cataloging Assistant at the Imagining Center. I am an Architecture major and Engineering minor here at Smith. So far I have been working on equipment checkouts and scanning and I have started to write a Scanning Guide along with Betsy. As an architect, both digital modeling and representation are integral parts of what I do and I look forward to expanding on my digital skills through my work at the Imaging Center.

So far this semester in my Advanced Architecture course we have been rethinking housing in Manhattan to combat overcrowding and are submitting our proposals to an international competition. We used Rhino and Photoshop to represent our designs both in 2D and 3D. We are continuing to expand on these techniques to explore 3D modeling through the 3D printer and the laser cutter. I am very excited to start some more personal projects working with digital fabrication.

I am also interested in the research of both historical and contemporary architecture from around the world. Over this past summer I traveled to Ecuador, Tanzania, and Zanzibar to research and document local earth construction techniques. I photographed, sketched, interviewed, and participated in physical construction.  Through my work scanning, editing, and digitizing documents and images in the Imaging Center I am gaining skills that I will use throughout my academic life. These skills will be helpful in creating a digital compilation of this body of work and further research to come.

I have recently gotten really excited about installation digital art and I often draw upon the intersection of technology and nature in my work. Through my work at the Imaging Center I want to use my connection to the architecture program to increase awareness of the amazing recourses that the Imaging Center has available for architects!

by Chloe Lee ’17

It’s my last semester at Smith, and I am hoping to complete some of the projects that I have been telling myself I would do since I started working in the Imaging Center. I’ll miss having access to so many programs, my favorite being Illustrator. I’m really excited about the new shaper tool- I think it’s really intuitive. I hope that I don’t go back to crashing my computer making simple patterns in MS Paint (as I did a lot in high school). I do still find myself making use of the reflect function of photoshop the same way I did in high school, but before I leave Smith, I want to try my hand at animation, video editing, and data visualization using Processing.

Find me in the VCRC on Sundays from 4pm to 8 pm, or the Imaging Center on Mondays from 6pm to 9pm.

by Emma Crumbley ’19, Media and Cataloging Assistant

Hello! My name is Emma and I am an assistant in the Imaging Center.  This semester I am working largely with the equipment here, facilitating checkouts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 12-1.   I am a declared Art History major, and soon to double major in English. I really enjoy when I get to work with the slides and prints we have in the Imaging Center, as well as learning about equipment and new software to use for creative projects.

Last semester I made a 3D printed pinhole camera. I found the design for the body online and modified it on Tinkercad, and then printed, assembled, and painted it.   Although the camera looks pretty rad from the outside (see image below) I can’t be sure that it is completely functional until I develop the film and see if the images actually came out, and if there are any issues like light leaks.  I haven’t yet had the chance to process the film I have attempted to expose but I will update you when I do.  Making this camera was really fun and not as challenging as it looks, and I would love to help anyone who is interested in making a camera of their own!

by Jessie Cole ’17

Hi! My name is Jessie Cole and I am a Media & Cataloging Assistant at the Imaging Center. Most of my job involves updating the catalog of our collection on ARTSTOR, scanning images, and checking records of what types of images and works we have on file. I decided to work at the Imaging Center because I am passionate about Art History and fascinated by archives and collections. Working in cataloging has allowed me to explore Smith’s incredibly diverse art collections and discover new pieces and artists to get excited about.

When I’m not in the Imaging Center, I am almost undoubtedly in the theatre building. I am a theatre major with a concentration in design, and most of my time is spent working in electrics, making plots, and designing as many shows as I can before I graduate. This semester, my main project is working as the lighting designer for the department’s spring production of THE BAKKHAI. I also create and produce theatre with Student Theatre Committee, Smith’s independent theatre organization. This semester, I am spearheading a project in work devised from design aspects. If you’ll allow a shameless plug, make sure to like us on Facebook for more information about risk-taking theatre on campus! (Left: a photo of me doing my lighting thing).

One of the reasons why I love designing for the stage so much is because it is the perfect intersection between my passion for theatre and my passion for art. I love finding new artists to research and different mediums and eras to explore. Lighting design is exciting because most of my work draws inspiration from these artists, and in a way, I get to bring my favorite paintings and photographs to life in a different medium and different context. This has made my last couple of projects at the Imaging Center invaluable and fascinating. I have been going through various art books and cataloging works into ARTSTOR. The last round of books I worked from gave me a variety of different types of art to look at, from vintage movie posters to work by communist artists of the 1930s-50s. I’m excited to continue working with the new additions to ARTSTOR and see what new discoveries I can make.

(Image Left: Detroit Federal Theatre Unit of Michigan Works Progress Administration Presents “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis, 1936-37. Poster, silkscreen print on board; 35.5 x 55.8 cm (14 x 22 in). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC. From America After the Fall: Painting in the 1930s. Edited by Judith A. Barter.)

(Image Right: Dracula. 1931. US 22 x 28 in. (56 x 71 cm). From Film Posters of the 30s: The Essential Movies of the Decade from the Reel Poster Gallery Collection. Edited by Tony Nourman and Graham Marsh.)

by Julia Sabbagh ’19

I’m excited to be back working in the VCRC and Imaging Center this semester! I had fun last semester learning new things and getting to know the department. I was introduced to 3D printing, laser cutting, and laser printing (all great methods for crafting gifts for Christmas and birthdays). I spent a lot of time learning more about different programs, like Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, and I started learning HTML and CSS coding.

We also spent some time at the end of the semester filming the senior studio art major exhibition. We filmed a few students working on their pieces and the opening of the exhibition. Eventually the footage will be edited and put on the Imaging Center website. The seniors we talked to seemed excited about having their work being documented, and I think it’ll be neat for other people to be able to see the process as well.

This semester I plan to work more with Photoshop and coding, but also learn new programs like InDesign. I’m working on developing my portfolio so I’ll be taking pictures in the Imaging Center photo room of things I’ve done and then using Photoshop to adjust them. I’ve been wanting to learn InDesign for a while since it seems useful and like every internship I’m applying to has knowledge of InDesign as a requirement.

This semester I’ll be in the VCRC on Sunday and Wednesday nights from 7-10. Come by if you have any questions or problems!

Artstor and Larry Qualls have released approximately 32,000 images of contemporary art exhibited in the New York area in the past three decades. This release joins the more than 100,000 images already available in the Larry Qualls Archive, making it our largest survey of contemporary art, and completes the collection in the Digital Library.

The Larry Qualls Archive includes all of the major figures equated with contemporary art from the 1980s to the present. Subscribers are able to see the development of such world-renowned artists as graffiti-inspired painters Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat; Neo-Geo practitioners Peter Halley and Jeff Koons; controversy-courting photographers Nan Goldin and Robert Mapplethorpe; Young British Artists Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin; relational artists Rirkrit Tiravanija and Carsten Holler; interdisciplinary artists Matthew Barney and Coco Fusco; and current headliners Ai Weiwei and Marina Abramovic. The collection also includes retrospective showings of veteran heavyweights such as Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, pioneer Pop artists Larry Rivers and Roy Lichtenstein, and minimalist sculptors Richard Serra and Carl Andre.

Qualls has been writing about and documenting the arts in New York for most of his career, and his extensive archive, now housed at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, surveys work exhibited in the New York area from 1988-2012. Qualls views this contribution to Artstor as an important source for future art studies. He says, “Not only will my work be preserved for generations to come, but the digitization will make the images available widely and in better and more stable form than could ever have been possible with film technology.”

Explore this collection in the Artstor Digital Library

by Chloe Lee ’17, Visual Media Specialist

I am happy to be returning again this year for my second year as a visual media specialist in the VCRC. Hopefully I that means that I will be even better at answering your questions than before. To find out, drop in on Monday or Wednesday nights from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m.!​

During my day shifts, I have been trying to learn how to use 3D modeling software, which I hope to use to design something worth printing sometime this year. I’ve still yet to come to a decision about what that might be, but I’m on the lookout for inspiration.

When I’m not working in the VCRC or the Imaging Center, I probably should be working on my thesis studying the evolution of agricultural species. Often, I’ll be climbing trees or walking along the Mill River.

I spent my summer hiking around the Oregon coast, monitoring the long term effects of sea level rise on an estuary. When we weren’t working in the field, I spent quite a bit of time in the office doing graphic design for the 100+ page management plan, and trying to teach some of the full time employees at the research reserve how to use inDesign so that they would be good to go when I left. Now that I’m back at Smith, I’ve been playing around with all of the photos that I took during my adventures traveling and working across the country. Now that I have gone through most of those, I think I want to learn more about data visualization, as it relates to what I think I want to do in the future.

Above, is a picture of me at work this summer. It was the closest I’ve come in my life to getting caught in quicksand, and even though there was no harm done, hopefully it’s the most stuck in the mud I will ever be. If you get stuck on something in the VCRC, look for that face & maybe I can help you out!

by Emma Crumbley ’19, Media and Cataloging Assistant

The original pinhole camera design by Clint O’Connor

Recently I’ve been learning how to use 3D design software. I am currently working on a project with the software Tinkercad, making a 3D printed, functional pinhole camera. I started with a pre-designed camera body by Clint O’Connor, which was shared on the website Thingiverse under a creative commons license, so anyone can modify and print it.

Camera interior

I really love this design because it is very simple, and leaves room for a lot of modifications. The inside of the camera just has room for a roll of film, and is loaded very easily.

I decided that I wanted to make my camera look more more like a typical 35mm camera with some additional funky details, and I’ve also been adding some adjustments to make the camera a bit easier to use, including a fake lens with a built in slide shutter. A big part of the project will take place after printing, when I’ll need to add the actual pinhole lens, and paint/decorate the camera body.

Some pictures of my current progress

In the end this camera will be roughly the same size of an average 35mm film camera, and will (hopefully) be able to shoot 35mm film. This has been a really wonderful project to work on because I get to learn something new, while also working with cameras and photography which are both long-held interests of mine. I am really looking forward to adding the finishing touches and trying it out!

by Abby Bernard ’18, Media and Cataloging Assistant

My name is Abby Bernard. I am a junior at Smith and I am an Imaging Center Assistant. My main project this year has been helping Betsy switch the equipment checkout software with a more cohesive version. Along with figuring out the new software I facilitate equipment checkout on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays making sure that students are able to check out the equipment they need. I am studying Visual Arts and minoring in Study of Women and Gender which has allowed me to explore classes that are held in a many different disciplines. My interest in art was one of the things that lead me to the Imaging Center, because I wanted to learn about the 3D printers and how they can be utilized. I have been playing around with a few ideas of projects that I might create using the printers. Recently concrete has caught my eye and I have been formulating a way to translate the texture and shape of a cracked concrete sidewalk in MeshMixer. I’m hoping to find a way to convey the way that concrete looks through 3D printed material. My interest in using the 3D printers has recently involved mimicking the textures of items that are clearly in contrast to the textures typically created by the printers. I want to see how much I can push and pull the material to transform it into something new. Below you can see some of the reference photos I have collected for my concrete sidewalk project.

Outside of the Imaging Center and classes I enjoy learning about how to use new materials and processes as well as just spending time with my friends. Last summer I worked at a summer camp as the camp photographer, which was a great chance to expand on my photography skills. I was responsible for documenting the daily lives of campers, providing the camp with marketing photos for their off season, as well as all camp and cabin group photos. I came out of the job with a renewed interest in photography and have actually started borrowing 35mm cameras from the Imaging Center as I start to learn about shooting with film versus digital. Next semester I will be studying abroad in Berlin, Germany where I will be taking studio and art history classes.

Likes:
-Blinking in photos
-Blowing out candles
-The sound a 35mm camera makes when you progress the film
-Stock photos of people laughing

Dislikes:
-Escalators
-Fossil Fuels
-Stubbed Toes
-Windy Days