Visiting Zugara and Zoic Studios

On Dec 6th, 12 Di students, DATA math teacher Cami Saliba and Di instructor Matt Cauthron, had an extremely rare opportunity to visit two ground breaking digital production studios in Culver City, California.

 Zugara - "an Augmented Reality Software Developer dedicated to creating strategy driven software that improves people's everyday lives."

 Zoic Studios - "an Emmy Award-winning visual effects company specializing in visual effects for feature films, episodic television, commercials, video games, advertising design, and interactive online media."


Students were able to sit with studio executives to learn how Augmented Reality and special effects for film and television are designed and produced for specific markets. Exclusive production facility tours, QandA, and educational/career pathways were addressed to ignite student curiousity and the pursuit of potential future goals.

Throughout the tours, students were exposed to advances in hardware and software production pipelines, advanced graphics/multimedia/animation commercial applications, and what the future might look like for individuals looking to enter highly technical creative fields.

A very special thank you goes out to 

- Matt Szymczyk and Hans Forsman at Zugara -

- Loni Peristere at Zoic Studios -

for making this opportunity happen!

Di 9th Grader Shoots Epidemic Skate Contest

Incoming Di 9th grader Austyn Moreno spent all day (and night) shooting the 2010 Epidemic Skateboard Competition at the Palm Springs Skateboard Park on Saturday, Dec 4th. The all ages competition, sponsored by Epidemic Skateboard Shop, hosted kids from all over the Coachella Valley, as well as the Epi skate team and professional skaters from major companies like Circa, Etnies, Element, Volcom, LRG, and DC Shoes.

View Austyn's Photostream!

Austyn's images can also be found on the Epidemic blog.

Shadowing Rock for Isaih

On November 20th, DATA Di student Reymundo Hernandez had the rare opportunity of shadowing photographer Chris Miller at the Rock for Isaih Benefit Concert held on the Blue Moon Ranch in rural Thermal, CA.

Not only did the concert have great local music from musicians of all ages, but it gave to a great cause. The concert was for Isaih Poag, a local two year old boy who was diagnosed with stage three Ependymoma Anaplastica, a rare form of brain cancer. All the proceeds were given to Isaih's family for assistance with their medical needs while at the St. Jude Children's Cancer Research Center.

"It was great working one-on-one with a pro like Chris. The relaxed, yet very low light, environment allowed for plenty of time to get pointers on taking pictures, as well as some good insight on what the career of a photographer is like. I also learned what degrees should be looked into, what equipment to consider, and what kind of jobs are available for aspiring photographers".

-Reymundo Hernandez

For information on Isaih, please visit....
Hope for Isaih
on Facebook

Please also visit Chris' images here!

(all proceeds go to the Paog family)

FiDM Returns to the Di Classroom

On November 30th, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FiDM) returned to the Di classroom. This years presentations engaged students in learning more about the creative process, characteristics of the brain, and types of careers in the media design arts.

Learn more about the presentations @

Discovering Your Creative Abilities 

Design & The Entertainment Industry

 

(Digital) Art Rocks the EduBlogs!

 The 2010 Edublog Awards is graced this year by the excellent work of classroom art educators from around the globe, including our beloved DAE Ning, the DATA Wikis, and the Student Creative wiki!

Please cast your vote for creativity before December 14th by visiting the links below

 Best Educational Use of a Social Network 
Digital Arts Education 

Best Educational Wiki
The Student Creative and DATA

 Best New Blog
New City Arts
 
Best Group Blog
Teaching Palette
 
Best Class Blog
The Mac Lab
 
Resource Sharing Blog
Art is Messy
 
Best Educational Use of Video/Visual
Fugleflicks

Student Design Hits Flak Photo

Congratulations to Di senior Victor Gonzalez for his design work being selected to represent the Earth Through a Lens (ETaL) contest on the Flak Photo photography community!

Flak Photo is a daily photography website that celebrates the art & culture of photography online. Produced by Andy Adams, the site highlights new series work, book projects and gallery exhibitions from an international community of contributors.

ETaL is a national juried photographic display held annually in Palm Springs to commemorate Earth Day.  

Di Covers School Arts Magazine

The Student Creative's first global photography challenge, Paint the World with Light, has gained even more yardage as the cover for the December 2010 issue of School Arts magazine. The article, written by co-collaborator David Gran, is available in both print and digital versions with the cover image by DATA Di student Spencer McQuinn (left).

SchoolArts is a national art education magazine committed to promoting excellence, advocacy, and professional support for educators in the visual arts since 1901.

The Student Creative is a collaboration driven by DATA Di, the Shanghai American School and the The Mac Lab at Valhalla High School.

Dia de los Muertos 2010

DATA Di is proud to launch its first annually occurring digital arts cultural challenge! Dia Dead invites students to investigate Dia de los Muertos through their own eyes and choice of selected media. Students shot and created content in the Di studio classroom, in their community, and at the annual Palm Springs Art Museum festivities.

View the project here!

Students Design Posters for PSUSD Schools

DATA Di students recently created two new poster designs for Palm Springs USD schools.

The new crest (above) for Cathedral City High School was collaboratively designed by senior Jocael Suarez, 2010 graduate Enrique Silva, and Ms. Haas's advanced art class with Jayke Stump completing the poster layout. The crest concept was implemented by CCHS principal Guillermo Chavez as a new tradition for the school (he's even sporting it as his new Twitter profile!).

The new Matador poster (left) was created by Victor Gonzalez in collaboration with Ms. Valenzuela and Raymond Cree Middle School in Palm Springs. Victor was faced with the challenge of cleaning up the school's low resolution images and preparing them for high res printing.

Both designs were created using Photoshop CS5 and will be sold to students and staff at each school to act as a fundraiser for the newly established DATA Skills USA chapter. One half of the proceeds from the Matador poster will go towards repainting the multipurpose room at Raymond Cree.

DATA Di Shoots El Grito!

On Sunday, October 12th, twenty-five DATA Di students worked collaboratively with Carol Pipitone, President of the Rotary Club of Cathedral City, to photograph the El Grito! event in celebration of Mexican Independence Day.

Di students shot performances throughout the day for the Rotary's website and ran a portrait booth to help raise funds for the DATA-Skills USA student organization.

Teen Docent at PS Art Museum

DATA Di senior Jocael Suarez was one of twenty-three Coachella Valley students chosen this year for the Palm Springs Art Museum's Teen Docent program. 

Out of the 50 students interviewed, twenty-three were selected for a two week long training at the Museum. 

"It is amazing to have the opportunity to talk to younger students about art and be part of a peer group that shares the same passion." -Jocael Suarez

Teen Docents provide tours to local elementary students at the museum, receive high school credit, and a small stipend for their time.

Students Assist Desert Photo Lab

For the third consecutive year, DATA Di students assisted AC Patel and his Desert Photo Lab crew during portrait sessions at Cathedral City High School. Over seven days, twenty-five students learned the work flow for handling large volumes of images, working with clients for image selection, shooting and posing for school portraits, techniques for lighting, and the enjoyment of a positive working environment.

"AC taught us about how important it is to be quick and efficient in addition to knowing the technical settings for portrait photography"

                                                    -Spencer McQuinn

"I learned how to stay organized and be productive in a busy environment"

                                             -Caroline Parra

"I learned the process of shooting, managing, and editing your work"

                                      -Aaron Teel

 "I enjoyed working with people to help them select the best possible image"

                                             -Elsa Castaneda

"I really enjoyed focusing on editing images for the CCHS yearbook as well as other schools"

                                                       -Alejandra Covaurrbias

Visit Desert Photo Lab Here!

Student Portfolios with Flavor

DATA Di students created their 2009 - 10 portfolios with a free service used by design industry professionals from around the world. Flavors.me allows creatives to integrate a range of social media into one single, easy to manage portal.

Di students were able to seamlessly connect their still and video portfolio pieces from Picasa and Vimeo collections to their Flavors sites, developing an ongoing collection of their talents to share with the world.

Learn more about Flavors.me here!

 

Skills USA Officers Selected for DATA

The Digital Arts Technology Academy would like to congratulate the following students for being selected as the first officers of the Skills USA Arts, Media, and Entertainment chapter at Cathedral City High School:

12th Grade President- Spencer McQuinn

11th Grade President- Jasmine Mikulak

10th Grade President- Tammy Melendez

Vice President- Jayke Stump

Secretary- Lupita Fuentes
Treasurer- Courtney Stump

Reporter- Kaylin Murphy

Parliamentarian- Israel Ruttenburg

Digital Imaging Rep- Angel Torres

Digital Storytelling Rep- Jennifer Juarez

Learn more about Skills USA here!

Adobe Education Exchange Awards Paint the World!

On September 2nd, the Adobe Education Exchange, a new global community for educators, announced Paint the World with Light as first runner up for digital arts and media projects posted on the 2400+ member site.

A copy of Photoshop CS5 was awarded by Adobe and will be donated to the Cahuilla CUE's Mini Tech Fair on Oct. 2nd.

Check out the Adobe Education Exchange!

Follow the Adobe Education Team on Twitter!

232FB1FC-6CAC-70AD-9047-22A257F0BC62

1.03.01

CS5 Locked and Loaded

The Adobe CS5 Design Premium is now loaded and being used by students in the DATA Di lab!

This suite of software is the standard and foundation for practically all aspects of the creative arts and media industries.

The CS5 suite includes:
Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash Catalyst, Flash Pro, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Acrobat Pro, and Bridge.

Learn more about the Design Premium at Adobe.com

Welcome to the 2010-11 School Year!

Welcome back students and parents! As a means of conserving paper (and being 'greener'), the syllabus for the DATA Di program can be found below. The full Google document was explained in class to students with the first and last pages sent home for signatures.

Please feel free to post comments or share thoughts on this post or any other entry. Looking forward to seeing you all at Back to School Night on September 22nd.

If you have problems viewing the above embedded item, 

here is the direct link!

Introducing the 2010 DATA Graduates

Congratulations to the 2010 graduates of the Digital Arts Technology Academy

(y'all ROCK!)

Visit the 2010 Graduate Gallery here!

Amplify Collaboration with Designer Luis Fausto

During the month of May DATA Di students worked with local designer Luis Fausto of Synergy Designs on the Amplify! Branding Challenge.  Students competed in teams to develop Identity Systems for the Amplify / Inksanity hair and tattoo studio in Palm Desert, Ca. which included a logo, studio photography, business card, rack card and promotional poster.  Each student on the team had different jobs during the process as they acted as a professional design agency.

Fausto emphasized the following items as students participated in the client briefing, worked out designs, shot original photography, and pitched final products

• art as the foundation for design
• the importance of sketching your designs before hitting the computer
• the importance of communication and working as a team
• what identity means for designers in today's industry 

The final products crafted by the two teams were pitched for client consideration to the owners of the hair and tattoo studio.

Visit the Amplify!  Challenge here!

Paint the World with Light Book Now On Sale!

Paint The World With Light by The Student Creative  is now available to purchase online.  DATA Di students collaborated with 19 other schools from 12 states in four countries to create the first book in the Student Creative series.  100% of the book's proceeds will go towards bringing technology to the Jacaranda School in Malawi.

For more information please visit:

 

The Jacaranda Foundation

OR

The Student Creative Wiki

The 2010 Lion's Quill

DATA Di was once again apart of The Lion's Quill, the Cathedral City High School arts and literary magazine.  This was the 13th issue published by English teacher Donna Fitzgerald and her Creative Minds club celebrating the poetry, photography, drawing, and painting of CCHS students.

Congratulations to the following students for their work being published in the 2010 issue!

Victor Gonzalez, (Cover image) Think, Believe, Create

Melissa Wilson, Placed 

 

Tyler Johnson, Abandoned

Erik Ramirez, Self Portrait

Jessica Hernandez, Split Image of Balboa

Tyler Johnson, Dead End

Jessica Hernandez, Austin and Elias

Mike Pena, How Do I Get There From Here?

Tyler Johnson, Fractured

Victor Gonzalez, (Back cover image) Believe

DATA Di Spring Scholarship Winners

Congratulations to the following 2010 DATA Di seniors who received scholarships!

Jose Murillo
$2,000 La Quinta Visual Arts Foundation Scholarship
$1,000 Fashion Group International of Palm Springs
$140.00 CCHS Guidance and Counseling  

Markie Hackwith
$1,000.00 Georgia Fogelson Scholarship, Palm Springs Art Museum

Enrique Silva
$1,000 La Quinta Visual Arts Foundation Scholarship

Cecilia Tellez 
$1,000 National Historical Society, Palm Springs

DATA Di at El Paseo Fashion Week 2010

The 2010 El Paseo Fashion Week hosted by Palm Springs Life Magazine provided DATA students with some amazing professional learning experiences.

Di photographers Melissa Flores, Markie Hackwith, and Jessica Hernandez all shot alongside professionals at the end of the cat walk.

Di graphic designer Victor Gonzalez worked directly with Palm Springs Life Magazine's fashion editor Susan Stein and David Vogel to create graphics for the El Paseo stores participating in the opening nite.  His imagery was blasted onto the giant screens on each side of the stage while models strutted in designer garb.

Other DATA students were involved in shooting video to document the event.



A very special thank you to PSUSD Visual & Performing Arts Coordinator Louisa Castrodale, Palm Springs Life Magazine Fashion Editor Susan Stein, and David Vogel for providing this opportunity for all DATA students!

Rotoball 2010: A Global Animation Challenge

Rotoball 2010 from The Carrot Revolution on Vimeo.


DATA Di animation students Joshua Bell, Isreal Ruttenburg, James Murray-Di Salvo, Gerardo Melero, and Jose Murillo worked for several months to get their 15 second animations submitted to Rotoball 2010, a global collaboration organized by Apple Distinguished Educator David Gran from the Shanghai American School in Shanghai, China.  The Di students each entered their creative and individualistic approaches to animation which included hand drawings w/digital ink & paint, 3D w/Cinema 4D, Flash, and 3D/video compositing.

This years Rotoball project included 23 schools from 12 states and 6 countries and was shown as part of the Shanghai Student Film Festival as well as on Vimeo.com (seen above).

"I had been waiting to work on this project since the 2008 - 09 school year.  It is great to finally see it online a year later for the world to see." -James Murray-Di Salvo

"It makes me feel great to have combined elements of 2D and 3D graphics to make a short animation that would be watched by people world wide." -Jose Murillo

"It was a good experience as a whole, but what really made it amazing was the fact that I got to participate in a project with other students on a global scale." -Isreal Rutenburg

"I spent 6 weeks learning how to rotoscope in Adobe After Effects to create our 15 second segment which combines video and 3D animation.  It was nice to learn software with a specific and very special project in mind." -Gerardo Melero

"I feel proud to make my cartoon to support DATA globally and be a part of the 2010 Rotoball project." -Joshua Bell

View the Rotoball website

My Community in B&W Shows at Garrow Gallery

My Community in Black and White, a photography exhibit from students in Cathedral City schools, is on display during the month of April, 2010 at the Garrow Gallery at College of the Desert.  This exhibit was organized by PSUSD Visual and Performing Arts Specialist Louisa Castrodale and judged by local photographer Ethan Kaminsky.

View the DATA Di entries!

DATA Di Student Recognized by The Palm Springs Mayor and Sustainabilty Commission for Photography

DATA Di junior, Victor Gonzalez (center), was recognized by Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet (left) and ETAL Chair Larry Flechter (right) for his image being accepted into the Earth Through a Lens photography exhibit along Palm Canyon Drive.  

The event was initiated by the Palm Springs Sustainability Commission.  23 photographers from across the country in addition to one local student photographer were selected for the show and accompanying catalog.  An Artist's reception was held at the Hyatt Regency Suites Hotel in Palm Springs, Ca. on April 22, 2010.  

"Earth Through a Lens a national photographic competition and exhibition was established by the Sustainability Commission of the City of Palm Springs to address a Commission mandate:  to enhance public education regarding development of a sustainable society. A side goal of this project is to encourage photographers, both amateur and professional, to document how human activity impacts the earth. “Earth Through a Lens” is a key piece of the Palm Springs’ Earth Day celebration and commitment to make Palm Springs a sustainable city."

-Larry Fechter

Chair, Earth Through a Lens

 Read More...

PSST - Earth Through a Lens - Palm Springs Life Magazine

Exhibit will mark 40th Earth Day with photos - My Desert.com

Earth Day to be marked with inaugural exhibit - My Desert.com

Visit the Earth Through a Lens website

View all of the DATA Di student submissions

 

 

Di Create Releases Issuu II

DATA Di is pleased to announce issue II of Di Create Magazine.  This issue is dedicated to the Fashion | Energy shoot at DST Studios in Palm Springs, Ca.

Thanks again to the following local professionals for the time and energy they graciously donated to DATA digital imaging students!

Dick Taylor and DST Studios, Imagine Imagery, Joel Cummins Photography, Brian Evans Photography, Epidemic Skateboard Shop, Josef Saliba Salon, JL Hair and Make Up, and DATA teachers Cami Saliba, Jill Nation, Rose Gonzalez, and Matt Cauthron

_______________________________________________________

Watch the behind the scenes video 

Visit the challenge based project and galleries

Subscribe to Di Create on issuu.com!

2010 Career Pathways Externship

During the month of April, DATA Digital Imaging instructor Matt Cauthron was fortunate enough to participate in the 2010 Faculty Externship Program sponsored by the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership's Career Pathway Initiative.

"This experience provided me with an insight into the professional careers of local creatives and expanded the curricular possibilities I can offer my students".


"It was amazing to work and assist on architectural shoots in Big Horn and Indian Wells country clubs, learn about lighting and video while shooting Healthy Living TV at the Eisenhower Medical Center, go behind the scenes while shooting a concert at The Show at the Agua Caliente Casino, shoot aerial photography over the 2010 Kraft Nabisco Golf Tournament, and plan student projects in graphic design, photography, and digital media".

-Matt Cauthron, Digital Imaging Instructor

A very special thank you to the following individuals for their support in making this happen!

Chris Miller, Imagine Imagery

Ethan Kaminsky, Kaminsky Productions

Luis Fausto, Synergy Designs

Donna Sturgeon, CVEP Career Pathways Initiative

Kim McNulty, CVEP Program Manager

Dr. Diana Verney, PSUSD CTE Coordinator

Fine Arts Creativity Awards at Palm Springs Art Museum

The 2010 FINE ARTS CREATIVITY AWARD AND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM at the Palm Springs Art Museum was once again a rewarding experience for DATA Di students.

Congratulations to the following!

Markie Hackwith
$1,000.00
Georgia Fogelson College Scholarship

Spencer McQuinn
Light Painting
Honorable Mention for Creative Use of Media








"The Fine Arts Creativity Awards Program was established to give young and emerging artists the opportunity to participate in a juried exhibition and to have their artwork displayed in the museum galleries in a professional manner. Each year the variety of artwork submitted and the statements they make are unique and thought-provoking. These artists express ideas that are always personal yet at the same time speak to wider social issues that impact their lives.

Since 1991, over 800 young artists have exhibited here at the museum. Many of these students have gone on to careers in the arts and the museum is proud to have been an early source of encouragement."                                                                                    -www.psmuseum.org

My Community in Black & White Winners

Congratulations to the following digital imaging students for their black and white photography receiving awards at the Live Arts! event on March 20th in the Cathedral City town square.

Jessica Hernandez
Inspiration
1st Place Advanced High School

Cecilia Tellez
Through My Camera
2nd Place Advanced High School

Paul Joven
The Mary Pickford
1st Place Beginning High School

Jocael Suarez
Flag at CCHS
2nd Place Beginning High School

Read The Desert Sun article 

View all the DATA Di entries here!