As it takes a well-deserved bow to commemorate its 30th anniversary year, SUNY Westchester Peekskill is looking to the future by presenting a special panel on artificial intelligence (AI), titled “Co-Creating with AI.” Featuring six distinguished creators, the session will look closely at the dynamic relationship between artists and evolving technologies in the 21st century. It is scheduled for Thursday, October 24, 2024, from 6p-8p at SUNY Westchester, 27 North Division Street, Peekskill 10566.
While some may view AI as a potential competitor for artist jobs, the panel proposes a more optimistic perspective—that AI can serve as a co-creator, propelling artistic endeavors to new and innovative heights.
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The panel will be moderated Dr. Sherry Mayo, Director of SUNY Westchester Center for the Digital Arts, who said the presentation will be of timely interest to students, faculty, and arts professionals, adding, “But I’m hoping for community members of all types to join us. This is an intriguing opportunity to learn more about AI, how it impacts what we make, and how we can express ourselves.”
The overarching goal is to explore ways in which AI can be harnessed to save time, illuminate new creative pathways, and allow humans to maximize their creative potential. the discussion aims to contribute valuable insights into the evolving landscape of art and technology, offering attendees a glimpse into the future of collaborative creativity in the age of artificial intelligence.
Panelists include designer Gerry Katzban, who has a diverse background in graphic design, industrial design, environmental studies, and fine art along with a deep interest in science and technology; Ben Moss, who has worked in IT, education, and graphic design with an interdisciplinary focus across art, social studies, and computer science; Aaron Porter, a graphic artist and illustrator who focused on scientific illustration and teaches a broad array of art technology; and 3D Animator Joe Thomas, who considers himself a computer graphics generalist, a character and creature artist, and a digital sculptor.
Full bios of the panelists are at sunywcc.edu/peekskill-30th
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Dr. Sherry Mayo’s Artist Process for Collaborating with AI
An example of using AI to aid in artistic digital creation is Dr. Sherry Mayo’s image she calls Crows and Poppies. She says, “I do some journal writing and then feed some of the text into ChatGPT. I let ChatGPT interact with my text and see what it produces, then take it back and do some editing. From there, I select text prompts that I feed into an AI image generator to build images with it. One of the text prompts was simply Crows, Cardinals, and Poppies.
“After it generates what I’m looking for, I bring some of these images into Photoshop and select various pieces of them to make a composite, then perhaps take some parts or the whole composite into Illustrator to make a digital drawing. I will go back and forth between Illustrator and Photoshop until I get what I want or maybe stick with one tool. I push the images until I can make the expression my own or at least a real collaboration.”
