Richard Kopp (artist/professor)
While earning his master of fine arts degree in the early 1980’s, Richard focused on traditional printmaking and drawing. Most of his early work was autobiographical and continued to be until recently. As most people gain experience with age, Richard has focused his work on both the national and global state of affairs. His topics include energy, politics, economics and conflict. Richard’s point of view is intended to communicate, if not document those topics, incorporating artistic techniques that he developed through the use of digital tools since 1987.
When not creating art, Richard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology for Purdue College of Technology Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. Prior to joining the faculty Richard was a publishing manager at Voluforms Inc. Jeffersonville, Indiana. His current interests are in computer illustration and interactive media.
Professor Kopp has been teaching for Purdue since 1994 and from 2001 - 2006 he was the Director of the College of Technology Southeast at New Albany. He has extensive industry experience in computer illustration and design. Richard is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques and a past president of the Society of Technical Communication's local Kentuckiana chapter.
Work by the artist currently appears at the Actor’s Theater of Louisville Gallery and is represented by Swanson-Reed Gallery of Louisville.
John Campbell Finnegan (artist/professor)
John wants the pieces he creates to echo and resonate with the viewer. Many of his pieces have references, or echoes, to the theater, as John is an actor, director and designer for the theater. John is interested in finding ways to incorporate the theater in his fine art work and adheres to the principle that the audience is the partner to the artists expression so the reonance and disonance between the piece and the viewer is carefully and purposefully manipulated.
Of his process, John says:
"Digital printmaking and painting is an interesting medium in which to be creating art. The assumption for the most part is that it is easier and takes less time than traditional methods, but I haven’t found that to be so. I approach each piece as I would a traditional piece. I have an idea of what I want and where I want to go and then I begin. I also leave myself open to fortuitous accidents and serendipity, so the work evolves. In some ways it might be easier to predict the outcome of a digital piece, but working that restrictively has never been appealing to me. I still have to master the digital tools in order to exert any control over the process and that doesn’t come with the software. It still takes time and perspiration, experimentation and failure in order to produce the work."
John's Computer Graphic Fine Art has been displayed in numerous galleries in Indiana and across the United States . His work will appear in Art in the Digital Age, edited by Bruce Wands of The Digital Salon. In 2007, John had a showing of his work in Seoul, South Korea. Since 1998, John has been an active member of ACMSIGGRAPH (www.siggraph.org) and chaired the SIGGRAPH 2006 conference in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts.
John’s work is privately held by many collector’s across the United States.
Additionally, Finnegan is an Associate Professor of Computer Graphics Technology at the Purdue College of Technology Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. He received his bachelors degree in theatre at the University of Massachusetts concentrating in acting/directing and lighting design. His MFA is from The Ohio State University in Acting and Design. John studied a year and a half at the Advanced Center for Computer Art and Design at The Ohio State University focusing on 2D imaging and three-dimensional computer animation and rendering.
Work by the artist currently appears at the Actor’s Theater of Louisville Gallery and is represented by Swanson-Reed Gallery of Louisville.
