Graduating students from the Digital Media Art program at San José State held their Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) show called “BYTE ME” at the Hammer Theatre on Saturday. Students showcased various pieces of work integrating their skills in digital form.
Students explored different mediums in order to execute their own artwork by putting together skills like animations, videos, interactive installations, virtual reality experiences and more, according to SJSU’s event website.
“I am feeling so great,” Digital media art senior Catherine Thy Lê said. “I've had so many great conversations tonight.”
Lê’s artwork spanned across a large white cloth decorated in lace, ribbon, thread and red yarn. She used a laser to engrave letters, photographs and numbers on clear and red acrylic panels.
“These projects are focusing on the beauty, temporality and fragility of human existence,” Lê said. “Both are focusing on how our bodies and health are taken for granted and how our health can change at times we least expect and how aging is a luxury.”
The piece “Connected in Our Journeys, Divided in Our Paths” was a mix of Vietnamese and English text lasered on clear acrylic sheets from interviews she had with family members about health scares.
The piece “Body Map” next to it was a large red-laser engraved acrylic sheet of Lê’s body with five different holes drilled in it to represent the different injuries she had as a child.
Lê said she chose red and white as the color scheme for her project because she liked that the colors are stark from one another.
“It's kind of eerie because red is like blood, white is like your bones,” Lê said. “With the threads, think of the string of fate like the analogy of your life being a red thread, right? We're weaving together.”
Students and faculty began the installation process at noon and were told to be out by 8 p.m. on the night before the event.
“We had to know exactly what we were doing and exactly where stuff was gonna go,” digital media arts professor David Bayus said. “Be prepared for any hiccups and issues that may happen.”
Bayus said he was one of the professors that advised the students as they collaborated during the semester to create their own pieces to showcase as their final project.
“I don't want to say that it feels like seeing your children graduate and move away but it feels a little similar to that,” Bayus said. “I've worked with everyone since they were freshmen or a large majority of them, so I feel proud.”
Art and art history professor, James Morgan, said he was enthralled by the turnout of the event.
“I'm proud of everyone who is exhibiting,” Morgan said. “Each of them has something individually that displays their interests as an artist and what it is that they're trying to express.”
“I'm definitely thankful for the program,” said digital media art senior Serena Muñoz said. “These are all skills that we have learned and kind of just highlighted what we really liked in the program and showcase them.”
Muñoz photographed five portraits of women and added neon-colored projections created on Adobe Illustrator, MadMapper and Adobe Photoshop. She said the concept of the project “Line of Beauty” was about her college experience.
“I want to highlight womanhood and friendship,” Muñoz said.
