Join us for an in gallery discussion of Frederick Hammersley’s computer drawings from the late 1960’s with Nancy Zastudil, administrative director of the Frederick Hammersley Foundation. Zastudil will discuss these early examples of an artist working with a computer to create original artwork.
In 1968, after Frederick Hammersley moved to Albuquerque, he took an Art1 class at the University of New Mexico. Written in the computer programming language Fortran, Art1 was one of the first computer programs designed for visual artists. Using computer punch cards, an IBM 360/40 computer, and an IBM 1403 line printer as his tools, Hammersley made what he dubbed “computer drawings.”
On view in Frederick Hammersley : To Paint Without Thinking are 15 of the 72 computer drawings created by the artist.
Image : Frederick Hammersley, Busy Lion on Jelly Centers, #39, 1969, From one incomplete set of the series of 72. Computer-generated drawing on paper. 11 x 15 in. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of the Frederick Hammersley Foundation 2015.10.32.41 © Frederick Hammersley Foundation.
