Digital Perceptions

Cathy Treadaway trained as a textile designer and moved to designing ceramic surfaces.  She believes computers are a tool and a medium which help emulate other media.  The computer liberates the designer and allows them to explore different patterns and colors quickly with the option of stepping backwards.  However, utilizing computers is only one part of her process in design.  A purely machine manufactured product lacks aura and humanity or the maker's touch.  Treadaway always adds a touch of traditional mediums into her pieces in the initial stages.  The concept behind her work always involves a memory or experience she sketches in a sketchbook and digitally records through photographs.  The next step is to blend the two together.  The virtual image is thus the artifact rather than the printed product.  The printed product is a manifestation of the binary code generated within the computer.  The artifact resides within the virtual world.  She can create endless versions of the same piece.  It is interesting to question the authorship behind the piece because the maker of the software may have played into the making of the artwork too.  The creative process, however, is how you utilize the tool and the decisions you make.