I had the pleasure of being a student under both Glen and Judy Felch at Principia College during my Studio Art BA program (1994-1998). As part of their retirement, the Art department is organizing a gift, whereby students and alumni are being invited to contribute a 4″ square piece of artwork that will be mounted on a square block. This is my piece, which shows the pen, notebook and computer that has led to my career as a designer.
In 1996 Judy Felch gave me a piece of advice that has stuck with me ever since. She said, “You should do something with computers and your art.” At the time, all I could imagine was doing something maybe with video games, or Macromedia Director CD-ROMs. The Web was still in its infancy. Shortly after receiving this advice, I typed this into Yahoo’s search box (this was pre-Google): “HTML tutorial”. I read through one the first night, then the next night went through another and actually built my first web page. I trace my subsequent career as a web and user interface designer directly to that excellent advice.
When I first decided to be an art major, I didn’t think that there was anything that I would be able to use my degree for to make any money. I decided to do what I enjoyed the most, however, and I’m happy to say that by embracing not only analog but also digital art I’ve been blessed with a very satisfying and financially rewarding career.
I am very grateful to the Felches, and wish them all the very best as they retire and focus on their own fine-art careers. They are both outstanding teachers, and I am very proud to call them friends.