Hi, everyone!
Last week one of my favorite annual events went up on 7th Avenue: ChalkFIT. The walls of the Pomerantz (aka D) building have been divided up by the students in the FIT BFA Illustration program and each one got a panel to sketch. This year there’s a new twist: each panel has an augmented reality component.
This year the theme is “The Future is…the Human Experience”. Each panel has accompanying videos which were then uploaded into Arilyn (an augmented reality software) by the professor. Download the app to your phone and then point it at the artworks to see the extra feature.
The Arilyn augmented reality app
This year’s students were especially efficient. The project began the first week of October and the students had mostly finished up their panels by Monday, October 15th.
One of the Illustration students has worked in the library’s Periodicals and Electronic Resources Department for several years. I watched Enza Indelicato working on her project several days.
Enza’s panel is on the corner of 7th Avenue nearest the 28th street side. It looks a little like her. I love how the drones above her look like flowers too.
I have pictures of the finished work, but I find the ones where the students are working side by side, supporting each other while also getting their work done, to be the most interesting. Finished artwork takes time and persistence.
FIT students are both creative and driven. Usually, it’s tough to see this unless you’re in the classroom with them. But this is one project where you can watch the work they’ve put in.
Working on 7th Avenue turns out to be a social event in itself. Lots of passers by stopped to talk to the students.
These two panels are in a shaded corner of the 7th Avenue face, past the Pomerantz lobby:
Facing up 7th Avenue on one of the busy afternoons near the beginning of the project:
I hope each of the students took the time to get good photos of themselves with their work. This is Enza, showing off her finished panel.
Be sure to check out the AR components of this row of fabulous FIT artwork!