Copper Frances Giloth

Copper Frances Giloth is currently Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts Amherst having joined the faculty in 1985; she currently teaches courses in Digital Media, Information Design, Mobile Apps and Drawing. Previously, she spent many years as Director of Academic Computing in the Office of Information Technologies while continuing to teach part-time.

Giloth’s projects take the form of drawings, books, animations, videos, websites and installations. Her work has been exhibited in the U.S., Japan, Canada, and across Europe. In July 2014 she released “Labyrinth-of-Fables,” a 3D virtual reality mobile app that allows users to experience the Labyrinth of Versailles—which was constructed starting in 1665 and destroyed in 1775—either remotely or at the original site (http://www.labyrinth-of-fables.com/en/). An HTC Vive VR version was released in June 2018 improving upon an earlier Oculus Rift version from 2015. Her series of laser cut prints, “Alphabet Gestures,” was at Odetta Gallery, New York, in April–-May 2018 during Creative Tech Week and a solo exhibition of her artist book/daily practice piece “The Sudoku Diaries: Gaining or Seeding Control” was on view at Herter Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Sep–-Oct 2015. Her research papers can be found at ResearchGate.

In 1980, she was the first graduate of the MFA program in Electronic Visualization at the University of Illinois Chicago. Much of her earliest work was among the pioneering efforts in the then nascent field of computer art and computer graphics. She organized the first two international ACM Siggraph Art Show competitions in 1982 and 1983. The latter travelled to 30 locations in the U.S., Canada, France, and Japan. Her website documenting the1982 exhibition is located at: http://people.umass.edu/sig82art/ She is featured in New Media Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts (2018) published by the University of Illinois Press.

• 2018
  • New Media Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts, by Donna Cox, Ellen Sandor and Janine Fron, University of Illinois Press, June 2018 (featured artist with interview and documentation of pioneering/current work)
  • Labyrinth of Fables / Le Labyrinthe des Fables HTC Vive VR release: June 2018
    Currently installed in the WEB Dubois Library, Digital Media Center
  • Sur Les Traces du Labyrinthe Disparu, lecture, Venez rencontrer l’artiste américaine Copper Giloth et le développeur français Jonathan Tanant, à l’origine de la reconstitution 3D du Labyrinthe de Versailles, puis baladez-vous dans le labyrinthe grâce à deux outils, un casque de réalité virtuelle et l’application « Labyrinthe des Fables » disponible pour les smartphones. Dans le cadre des l’Université de Printemps. June 30, 2018
    Conférence "La Reconstitution 3D du Labyrinthe de Versailles" (French)
  • ODETTA Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Creative Tech Week Group Exhibition, April-May, 2018 Alphabet Gestures, laser cut / digital print series
• 2017
  • “VR in the Garden: The Labyrinthe of Versailles Revisited” paper and presentation for the VSMM2017 (International Society on Virtual Systems and Multi-Media) Conference in Dublin, Ireland October 31-November 3, 2017
    VR in the garden: The Labyrinthe of Versailles revisited
  • Labyrinth of Fables / Le Labyrinthe des Fables 1.30 – iOS – iPhone/iPad App release: Published in the Apple App Store - Major new version release August 30
  • Pioneers of the Prairie – Women in New Media Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, March18th (invited lecture)
  • Digital Cultural Heritage as Public Humanities Collaboration, panelist, College Art Assoc., Feb (juried)
  • Reviewer, Leonardo LABS (Leonardo Abstract Services – current MA/MFA/PHD theses) (invited)
• 2015
  • Labyrinth of Fables with an Oculus Rift, showcased inside the Archaeological Museum of Paestum related to a workshop about virtual heritage in Paestum

2016 - Using 3D Modeling to Digitally Preserve the Architectural Heritage of Massachusetts: Digital Preservation of Endangered Historical Buildings and Educational Outreach, $18,696 grant from UMass President’s Office 2016 Creative Economy Initiatives Fund (with Professor Duncan J. lrschick, Biology Department and Professor Marla Miller, Department of History)

Digital Media, Information Design, Mobile Apps and Drawing