RAAC hosts first AI art exhibit in KY
Apr. 18—Sierra Marling
Wendy Barnett's recent art exhibit at the Richmond Area Arts Council (RAAC) required no brushes or pencils. Instead, she utilized a controversial, up-and-coming medium: artificial intelligence (AI) — making it the first AI art exhibit in Kentucky.
Barnett began using the AI-generator Midjourney in September 2022. As someone who also creates art using traditional mediums, she initially found the program useful for producing references for her art.
"I started using it because I wanted to create reference pieces so that I would have a unique and original reference piece when I draw or paint or anything on my own," she explained.
In January 2023, Barnett said the program came out with a new update where everything looked "so much better."
"So, I started to create landscapes, and then I put in 'Kentucky landscapes' and was looking at images that could have been anywhere in Kentucky. I thought this would be a great idea to introduce AI to the public, because — at that time — AI was still kind of scary. The media was announcing it as something that was going to take our jobs," she said.
Barnett has recently been showing her unique artwork around Richmond, both at the RAAC and the Richmond Register at the RAAC's recent Gallery Hop. At those shows, she shows her work and also guides people through the process of creating AI artwork.
She has also expanded her artistic horizons using AI. Barnetts said she has used it to create several coloring books and to illustrate a children's book.
Barnett acknowledged the controversy surrounding AI art, adding, "There were a lot of artists that were afraid that it was going to take their jobs. I thought, if people could just learn how to use it, and learn more about it, because usually, as humans, we fear what we don't know."
The controversy
AI has drawn controversy recently due to claims from artists that their livelihoods are being threatened.
Getty alleged that the infringement of its content "on a massive scale has been instrumental to" Stability AI's success.
The Feb. 3 complaint reads, "Stability AI has copied more than 12 million photographs from Getty Images' collection, along with the associated captions and metadata, without permission from or compensation to Getty Images, as part of its efforts to build a competing business."
While the Getty Images lawsuit has its unique complaints, the overarching argument behind this mindset is that previously created artwork is being used by AI generators to create this work. The blending of this work using manually input keywords and stylized presets from the generators are arguably not effective enough to make the work creatively inspired by their work versus copies.
So, instead of the work being deemed "unique," it is instead called "stealing."
The moral ambiguity of these lawsuits remain, as do the legal grounds due to no rulings being made as of yet.
When speaking of the controversy, Barnett does not minimize the feelings of the professionals in question.
"I believe that it's understandable that artists that rely on their bills being paid through their art would feel threatened by AI art," she acknowledged. In her experience, the concern has been higher due to the quality of the AI generators' work increasing.
"They're getting really good — to the point that it's hard, for some of the pictures that I've seen, to know the difference between a real photograph or something computer-made," she remarked.
Barnett reasoned there is ongoing AI innovation and automation "in most fields of careers" and that this is a time of innovation — not of fear.
"We're at such an interesting point in history in life, where we're seeing something drastic come in changing the landscape of how we do things," she said.
Barnett compared this landscape to the introduction of innovations in the past, such as the camera and the drum machine, asserting that "we have to look back a little bit to see what we can look forward to in the future."
"I remember back in the early '90s, MTV had a campaign that they had put on their channel about how the drum machine was going to be the end of rock and roll music. So they had all these hair metal bands and musicians come on MTV, saying 'We can't let it rock and roll die.' And, you know, here we are 30 years later, rock and roll hasn't died and there are still drummers who actually drum, and the drum machine has not taken over," she said.
Barnett's call for innovation gives a new medium for both amateur and experienced artists. She argues that everyone can utilize AI for their work, from using it to create references for paintings to developing patterns for embroidery projects. She said she had even seen a cake decorator use it for cake design work online.
"From what I had seen and watched other people do and make, it just seems like it's catapulting their creativity because it's giving them new ideas on new ways to do things that we might not have thought of before," she noted, adding that "sometimes we can get kind of get stuck in a box with the way we've done things."
Seeing others innovating — creating with the idea of something new and different — is the reasoning that she had when decided to create an exhibit of her art.
A new skill
Some artists assert that the lack of skill to create AI art is also a threat to the training they complete to create pieces. They argue that while it would take them many hours to create an image using traditional tools, AI could potentially generate a similar image in mere moments.
Barnett says that learning to use AI consistently is a skill in itself, comparing the problem-solving skills involved to those that she uses in her full-time work as WEKY's morning host and operations director. She enjoys the puzzle-building and problem-solving of programming and building technical workarounds to ensure that the radio station stays on the air.
"it is difficult to get it [results] narrowed down. It takes some time; it takes some patience. I think that's why the whole process attracts me so much. You've got to figure out what the solution is, and sometimes when you don't know what the solution is, you've got to figure out a workaround or a temporary solution to get where you want to go. Sometimes it's frustrating, because you don't have an immediate answer, but it's fun to learn," she said.
She added that AI generation is similar to working from a reference, comparing it to a word game. She says, to begin, she has an image in mind. Then, it's about finding the right verbiage to produce an image.
She has had to find the "right words" to create the various types of work she has produced, from vibrant landscapes to illustrative-style pieces.
"There's some degree of art in crafting words that can then create an image. It's being able to coerce the computer to give you the picture you want it to be. I think that it's just something that is so new that we haven't been able to really get our minds wrapped around it to call it art," she explained.
Her skills were tested while illustrating "A Young Lightning Bug Fell in Love with the Moon."
"The book was about lightning bugs, so the first prompt that I put it in was to ask Midjourney to create a lightning bug. Well, it's a very literal computer program. The image that it gave me back was an insect with lightning going around it. I had to laugh out loud," she recalled.
She said she likely generated a couple of hundred lightning bugs before she and the author, Tommy Jones, were fully satisfied with the product. In addition to making it accurate and attractive, she had to create a consistent style throughout the book. In the end, after many hours of work, she and Jones published the finished product.
Gallery Hop
Barnett's work, as well as many other local artists, can still be seen during the Gallery Hop events at the RAAC, Richmond Register, EKU's Giles Gallery, Madison Home, and Gallery on Main. The monthly event takes place on every second Friday of the month and is free and open to the public. Participants can 'hop' from gallery to gallery and view various art exhibits.
Some of Barnett's work is also available for purchase at: https://www.amazon.com/author/wendybarnett
