One aim of DART classes is the help students develop proficiency in industry-standard software, but the more fundamental focus is on developing a facility for creative expression and creative problem-solving. While digital media has its own specific qualities, there isn’t an impenetrable wall separating digital and analog practices, and access to other Fine Art facilities and disciplines often informs the work done in DART classes. There is an open dialogue between drawing, painting, photography and sculpture, and video practices, web design, computer animation and digital image manipulation. Some central questions addressed in DART classes include: How does the digital infrastructure of distribution systems like the internet change the relationship between artist and audience? What makes an image memorable and effective? How can images and text relate to one another? How is it possible – both legally and aesthetically – to appropriate cultural artifacts, and make them your own? How have techniques of advertising influenced the fine arts, and vice-versa? DART facilities include a Mac lab with scanning and digital printing resources, digital imaging, animation and video production software, and access to digital still and video cameras.

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