Exploring the World of Digital Art
Creative youngsters are using digital art to create a stunning array of computer-generated creations.
Acclaimed digital art team Genetic Moo are working with children at Ramsgate Arts Primary School and are guiding them on an adventure of discovery through learning basic computer skills.
A series of workshops over three days has resulted in a range of graphics as pupils create and populate their own world for a digital installation that will be screened for parents and families and will also be shown at Dreamland in Margate which is co-ordinating the project as part of a six month residency with Genetic Moo.
Their project work included building an underwater city and populating it with ‘squidlet’ creatures that bear their names and faces, and art with a winter wonderland theme.
Genetic Moo - a collaboration between Nicola Schauerman and Tim Pickup – focussed on a range of skills including design, coding, drawing and digital dance using a Kinect sensor. The sessions showed pupils how to be creative with computers, learn new skills, and work together on a large art project.
Nicola said: “Digital art gives children free reign to really explore their imaginations. Its enables them to take their creativity to a new dimension.”
Tim added: “The children have been open to exploring just what they can create on screen and then see it translated to a collaborative artwork. We used free and open software with them so they can carry on learning the skills we have shown them when they get home to continue exploring digital art on their own computers.”
Head of School Nick Budge said: “As an arts primary school we are open to all types of creative learning.
“Genetic Moo opened a new world of learning for our pupils, taking what they are already familiar with through computer literacy and 
expanding their skill levels by showing them just what they can achieve through coding and digital art. The results are fascinating and certainly energised the pupils’ learning.
“The collaboration between artists like Genetic Moo and Dreamland at Margate as a creative hub is important for Ramsgate Arts Primary in the same way as our partnership with the Turner Contemporary Gallery and other musicians, performers and artists. It means were are offering a wide range of experience across the arts spectrum for our children.”
Here is what Genetic Moo say about their work. “We build living installations in pixels and light. In dark spaces you can interact with fantastical creatures or immerse yourself in ever changing digital ecosystems. We’re inspired by popular science, particularly in the areas of ecology, symbiosis, morphology, mutation and artificial life.
“We live in Margate but work all over the UK and abroad with digital arts organisations. We are members of the arts collective The London Group and associate artists at Spare Tyre.
“We designed a series of workshops where beginners could learn some creative coding and make small generative animations – unique to each person. The Processing language enables almost instantaneous production – in the space of an hour anyone can create a code-driven animation with a rich variety of output over time. In a superorganism project, each person’s code is brought into a larger container program which allows everyone’s code snippets to run at once in a shared space. We can then all sit back and see what happens.”
Genetic Moo have shown extensively in the UK and abroad, including The Science Centre, Singapore; LABoral, Gijon; Watermans, London; ICC Open Sky Gallery, Hong Kong; Dreamland, Margate; D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, Dundee; Glastonbury; The Wellcome Collection; The Old Vic Tunnels..
To book a tour of RAPS and see the arts learning in action, contact Head of School Nick Budge on 01843 582847.
Ramsgate Arts Primary School is part of the Viking Academy Trust with Upton Junior School at Broadstairs and Chilton Primary School, Ramsgate.
