The Illinois State University School of Creative Technologies will host three guest artists as part of this year’s David Brian Williams Creative Technologies Visiting Artist Series. Artist talks and performances are free and open to the public.
Jim Rohn
Thursday, October 24, at 5 p.m.
The first guest artist in the series, Jim Rohn, will present a public artist talk on Thursday, October 24, at 5 p.m. in the Center for the Visual Arts (CVA), room 145 on the campus of Illinois State University.
Rohn is an associate professor in Columbia College Chicago’s School of Design where he teaches computer and traditional animation production and preproduction. Rohn’s professional work while teaching at Columbia includes serving as animation supervisor for Head Games, the critically-acclaimed documentary on the effects of head injuries in school and professional sports. He is currently developing AfterBlast, a post-apocalyptic animated comedy.
Prior to Columbia, Rohn worked for nine years in the video game industry (Midway Games, Sega Midwest) and was involved in all aspects of game art: cinematics, character design, environmental modeling, character animation, and motion capture.
He also worked in the comic book and graphic novel field, writing and illustrating creator-owned comic series for Fantagraphics Books and DC Comic’s Paradox Press. He created cover illustrations for Dark Horse Comics and was senior instructor at the Screenwriter’s Group, a screenwriting workshop in Chicago.
Rohn has been a full-time instructor at Columbia since 2003. He has a B.A. in liberal arts from Northern Illinois University and attended the Joe Kubert School, a private art school focusing on illustration, cartooning, and animation.
Franck Vigroux
Thursday, February 20, at 6 p.m.
Franck Vigroux will present a performance on Thursday, February 20, at 6 p.m. at University Galleries of Illinois State University, in Uptown Normal.
Vigroux is a multifaceted artist whose works range from experimental electronic music to modern composition and music theatre. Vigroux’s music is made of tectonic tensions, beats, electronic textures, and a very personal approach to sonic exploration.
He is equally prolific as a solo artist and as a collaborator, and he has worked with musicians such as Elliott Sharp, Mika Vainio, Reinhold Friedl, and Ars Nova. Vigroux’s uniqueness comes from his artistic approach that integrates new media and performance arts.
He designs transdisciplinary shows and audiovisual concerts, collaborating with visual artists such as Antoine Schmitt and Kurt d’Haeseleer.
Mary Pat McGuire
Tuesday, March 25, at 5 p.m.
Mary Pat McGuire will present an artist lecture on Tuesday, March 25, at 5 p.m. The location is to be determined.
McGuire is a landscape architect and associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She serves as a Dean’s Fellow for Research in the College of Fine and Applied Arts.
Her design research and teaching in landscape architecture is focused on transformation of the material, topographic, infrastructural, and social ground of cities and regions. She engages with NGOs, CBOs, scientists, engineers, municipalities, schools, and communities to support interdisciplinary, place-based approaches to complex urban design problems and climate change.
In 2022, McGuire formed Depave Chicago to support communities in actively removing and transforming pavement into healing and life-supportive landscapes, from which their pilot project design was exhibited in the Fifth Chicago Architecture Biennial This is a Rehearsal.
McGuire’s collaborations and research have been supported by the Walder Foundation, National Sea Grant (NOAA), U.S.-EPA, Wright-Ingraham Institute, Landscape Architecture Foundation, Morton Arboretum, University of Illinois Research Board, and Illinois Extension, among others. Publications can be found in The Plan Journal, Landscape Journal, Journal of Landscape Architecture, Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, Topos, Grist, Next City, and her co-edited book Fresh Water: Design Research for Inland Water Territories (AR+D, 2019).
McGuire earned her master’s degree in landscape architecture at the University of Virginia.
Established in 2017 by David B. and Kay Williams, the David Brian Williams Creative Technologies Visiting Artist Series Fund was created to establish an annual dedicated creative technologies visiting artist series designed to enhance the program’s curriculum and raise the overall profile of the program on campus, statewide, regionally, and nationally. The fund supports bringing professionals in the creative technologies field to Illinois State University to engage with current students. David Brian Williams is Professor Emeritus of Creative Technologies and Music. Williams created the Arts Technology program (now the School of Creative Technologies) in 1980. His pioneering vision was to integrate technology into the fine arts, creating a unique, interdisciplinary program that spans music, art, and theatre.
The series has funded previous visiting artists including:
- Steve DiPaola—artist, scientist, and professor working in cognitive-based artificial intelligence and virtual reality at Simon Fraser University, 2018
- Rosśa Crean—Illinois State University alum, composer, and sound designer who premiered three new works at Illinois State University, 2019
- Deborah Johnson aka Candystations—interdisciplinary artist and designer specializing in performance visuals and stage design, 2021
- a canary torsi: Yanira Castro and Stephan Moore—group of artists working within performance, installation, social practice, and technology who gave a public artist talk and scoring workshop, 2022
- Dr. Henry Panion III—noted producer, composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, and educator, who presented a public lecture, “So you want to be in the entertainment industry,” 2023
- Dr. Theresa Jean Tannenbaum—game designer, composer, consultant, speaker, and scholar who presented a public lecture, “Restorying game studies: playing with memory, fiction, and magic as sites for transformative identity work” and workshop for students titled, “Magick is real: play as resistance and ritual,” 2023
- John Toenjes—professor, music director, producer, and scholar who gave a public talk, “Interactive dance performances, a 20-year history,” 2024
- Mason Bates—Illinois State University alum, game designer, and scripter who served as a judge for the March 2024 Creative Technologies Serious Game Jam, gave a public talk, “The most important part of game development,” and led a professional development workshop for students, 2024
Learn more about supporting the David Brian Williams Creative Technologies Visiting Artist Series.
The School of Creative Technologies is an interdisciplinary degree program in the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts where students combine technology with the fine arts. Students learn game design, music production, character animation, web design, sound design, virtual and extended reality, human-computer interaction, user interface and experience design, and more.
If you need accommodations to fully participate in this program, please contact Rose Marshack at rmarsha@illinoisState.edu. Please allow sufficient time to arrange the accommodation.
