Technology-Based Art & Music Workshop

 Class Description:

Visual artist Cassandra C. Jones and Grammy award winning musician Mikael Jorgensen will introduce manipulating photographs in Adobe Photoshop and creating and remixing music in Ableton Live. Class participants will learn basic techniques in each program, utilize their new skills, and work towards one collaborative group project. Each student will start with a common theme and make a short animation by remixing existing photographs and music found in the Public Domain. We will then link all the videos into a final timeline and host a screening at the end of the workshop.

Pre-requisite:

Experience in Photoshop or Ableton Live is not necessary, but basic computer skills are required.

SOFTWARE and Equipment:

The students will need access to the Internet and the latest Adobe Photoshop and Ableton Live installed on their laptops or school computers. Both platforms offer a 30-day free trial and low-cost monthly subscriptions for students. Students can use personal laptops or school computers.

Timeline:

The workshop takes 15-20 hours of class time to complete, depending on class size.

Age Groups:

This workshop is appropriate for ages 12 and up.

Class Size:

Up to 20 students.

Facility Needs:

A classroom with enough desks, outlets for the class size, a projector, screen, and an adequate sound system.

CLASS HISTORY:

2016: Stanford University, ITALIC program, Palo Alto, CA
2017: Oak Grove School, Summer Enrichment Workshop, Ojai CA
2018: Oak Grove School, Summer Enrichment Workshop, Ojai, CA
2022: Thacher School, Visiting Artist Workshop, Ojai, CA

EXAMPLE:

In the spring of 2022, Cassandra and Mikael held their workshop at Thacher School in Ojai, CA. In this collaborative timeline, the student's common theme and source imagery came from the Public Domain archives of NASA. They also wrote and mixed the soundtrack to accompany their videos. The results were inventive and often humorous: