I’m Theo. A. Artz—an artist, craftsman, and lifelong toy collector from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Growing up around the region’s farming and industrial traditions shaped how I think and work, as my artistic practice moves back and forth between the physical and the ethereal digital.
I work with both hand tools and computer tools, choosing (and often combining) whatever best serves the idea. I’m an accomplished woodworker, and I’ve been creating digital media since around 1972*, when I first started experimenting with programming computer graphics.
Earlier professional visual assets for animation, commercial film and video, electronic games, interaction design, and museum exhibits. I’ve also designed user experience projects for emerging systems—including Sony CD‑i and Spitz Inc.’s ElectricSky®. In 1998, I was a founder of Drexel University’s Digital Media Program, and in 2018, was granted Emeritus Professor status.
Over the years, aside my studio art, my focus expanded into immersive media as a director and producer of fulldome animations, virtual environments, and multimedia experiences. My work has been exhibited internationally in galleries, festivals, and showcases.
- *Yes, I’m claiming my teenage years’ FORTRAN punched-card programming to generate type characters into the Playboy Bunny as (very early) “digital media”.