Visiting Artists
The Creative Arts & Technology program hosts visiting artists and industry professionals on a regular basis.
On most Wednesdays at noon, the Visiting Artist lecture series hosts guest artists in the 304-seat Van Fossan Theatre. Artists are chosen from a wide range of disciplines: musicians; sound designers; game developers, interactive and installation artists; painters; performers; as well as many inter-disciplinary artists. Each week a new artist steps up to the podium to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what they are trying to convey.
In March, CAT hosts an Industry Day with presentations, workshops, portfolio reviews, and panel discussions by industry professionals. The emphasis of the event is on networking, internships, employment, and career planning. Click here to read about the 2011 industry day.
Guest lecturer Jonathan Lyons
Visiting artists also are invited to specific classes to speak with the students and share work. For example, this September (2011) Hollywood lead animator Jonathan Lyons (Van Helsing; Pirates of the Caribbean 1–4) gave a presentation to the physical comedy class that was also attended by many animation and game development majors.
While the lectures are open to anybody who is interested, they are required to be attended by all students currently enrolled in Digital Media Studio I & II. As part of the course, students must watch the presentation and write up about a one page response to it according to the questions asked in the assignment. The essay topics are usually open-ended and call for critical thinking about both the work presented and the work of the students.