Char Davies was born on June 17, 1954, in Canada. After she had received her B.F.A. at the University of Victoria (British Columbia), she went to Bennington College in Vermount and Havergal College in Toronto. From 1979 to 1987 she worked as a self-employed visual artist and freelance filmmaker. Since 1988 she has been doing visual research for the Softimage Inc. in Montreal. During recent years she directed several films including "Ciel de Metal" "Faux Pax" and "Adele & the Ponies of Ardmore".

This image was created with an interactive 3D animation software, the SOFTIMAGE Creative Environment. The technique involved modelling 3D forms by extruding patches along splines.

The computer is a seductive tool, in this instance encompassing aspects of painting, sculpture, photography, film and theatre set design, with entirely new syntactic elements. Besides the present technical limitations concerning output/reproduction methods, the only creative satisfaction I find lacking is that of tactility: this is a tool of and for the mind.

I am also aware there are certain value-laden conventions such as Cartesian space, linear perspective and "objective" realism which are probably intrinsic to the computer as a product of western scientific tradition. For me personally, the challenge is to go beyond these conventions, using the technology to create subjective visions, layered and ambiguous. In its ability to simulate reality, the computer may be distancing us from direct physical experience of the natural world: in compensation, these images "Vessel" and "Leaf express a yearning for organic, flowing matter; internal realities of blossom, flesh, blood, chlorophyll, as vessels of life.

Technical Background

HW: Silicon Graphics Personal Iris
SW: Softimage Creative Environment