Through the Looking Glass:
An exploration of the GIF file in an artistic and educational context
About
My name is Kristina Smatrakaleva, and I'm currently anticipating to graduate the University of South Florida on December 2014 with my Bachelors Degree in Psychology and Studio Art.
This project is my two-semester Thesis work for USF's Honors College, and I was able to complete this work under the guidence and direction of Doctor Cesar Cornejo and Professor Dana Corrigan. While I came across many challanges during the creation of these GIFs, I feel that this work has bettered me as an artist, and a person.
What drove this project was the idea that, eventually, animated illustrations would be paired with electronic or digital textbooks. Students who purchase these textbooks will, theoretically, benefit from better information retention and comprehension. In addition, e-textbooks with this kind of visual media have the potential of lessening the average student's college debts and benefitting the envronment.
I was also closely interested in the Graphic Interchange Format file's role in today's online society, and in the relationship between digital art and the viewer.
In the future, I hope to work closely with scientists and other experts to make this goal a reality.