Digital mixed-media artist Anne Spalter is an academic pioneer who founded the original digital fine arts programs at Brown University and The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the 1990s. With a decades-long goal of integrating art and technology, Spalter has authored over a dozen academic papers and the seminal, internationally taught textbook, The Computer in the Visual Arts (Addison-Wesley, 1999).
Spalter’s classical arts education (she received an MFA in painting from RISD) combined with her foundational command of digital art theory and practice suited her well when she transitioned from academia to a full-time studio practice in 2009. Her artwork now adorns the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK); the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY); the Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence, RI); and others.
She is also noted for her large-scale public projects; in 2016, MTA Arts commissioned Spalter to create a 52-screen digital art installation, New York Dreaming, which remained on view in one of its most crowded commuter hubs (Fulton Center) through Fall 2017.
Spalter’s artistic process employs a hybrid arsenal of traditional and innovative digital tools. For her digital mark making, Spalter uses custom software to transform source footage—captured by herself during multisensory experiences such as riding the Coney Island Cyclone; walking through an open-air flower market in Bangkok; and gazing down from a helicopter over downtown Dubai—into kaleidoscopic, algorithmically manipulated Modern Landscapes. Having studied mathematics as a Brown undergraduate (and with additional cross-disciplinary masteries including a 2010 black belt and 2011 Sensei designation in Kenpo Karate), Spalter’s eclectic influences in the studio are as diverse as Buddhist art, pure mathematics, Futurism, and Action Painting.
Spalter regularly lectures on digital art practice and theory, with recent speaking venues including the National Arts Club (New York) and Design Miami, for the latter of which she discussed the cultural impact of new technologies. Spalter currently serves on the board of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).
