Artists@Grinnell hosts Alex Dodge

Artists@Grinnell hosted Brooklyn-based artist and technologist Alex Dodge for a two-week residency in early October. Dodge spent his residency creating new work and engaging in dialogue with students and faculty about his work and process. He led discussions over student lunches, gave a public talk, and exhibited works he completed during his residency in a pop-up exhibition.

His artistic career began as a painter, with a BFA degree from Rhode Island School of Design. A decade later, Dodge decided to indulge his interest in new technology by enrolling in the ITP program in New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.

Continuing his education brought a different focus to Dodge’s current work. He often combines traditional art making techniques such as drawing and painting with digital fabrication techniques such as 3D modeling. This integration of technology allowed some overlap of ideas with computer science professors and students during his residency on campus. Dodge selected articles for a short reading discussion at the weekly computer science lunch table, and met with Professors Rebelsky and Stone about his work.

Dodge’s interest in computer programming also led him to develop an algorithm that takes a linguistic approach. His algorithm can create words that sound possible based on patterns from existing words, but are not already used or defined. He tested this algorithm using Japanese (a language he studied earlier in life) and presented his work to professors and students during a talk hosted with the Japanese department.

His residency culminated in a pop-up exhibition of works created over his two-weeks in Grinnell. During his stay, Dodge lived and worked at the Grin City Collective farm, an artist residency situated just north of Grinnell. He produced three drawings and a wooden sculpture of forms imagined using 3D modeling and presented for one day in a makeshift gallery space in one of the Faulconer Gallery’s staff offices.

The interdisciplinary aspects of Dodge’s work allowed him to connect with at least three typically separate departments of the college. He later reflected on these connections, noting that the variety of resources available to him at the college and dialogues with students, faculty, and staff of diverse backgrounds made his residency at Artists@Grinnell unique from traditional artist residencies.

Alex Dodge’s residency was organized by Artists@Grinnell, post-baccalaureate fellow Kathlyn Cabrera ’14, and Lesley Wright, director of the Faulconer Gallery. Artists@Grinnell is made possible through an Innovation Fund grant.