Digital Media Art

“I’m from the Los Angeles-Pasadena area originally. I didn’t know anyone in New York City, but I think leaving home was probably the best decision I’ve made. It gives you the freedom to be your own individual and figure things out for yourself without being so sheltered. You may have a rough time at first, but in the end it’s always worth it because you did it yourself and you’re not leaning on other people to get you through. You just have to commit to it.

"A lot of my Digital Media Arts classes are three-hour labs, where you learn interactively on the computer, and then you have an assignment to complete. I took digital drawing, graphic design, and now I’m in digital photography. The Mac lab in Hayden Hall — it’s one of my favorite places. I have to be there for extended hours, but it’s nice. I come in, set up at my spot and I just work with no distraction.

"I studied abroad at the end of sophomore year in Florence, and Dr. Savoy taught an Architecture of the City class, which was really, really cool. I’d learned a lot about that kind of art when I started as an art history major, so when I went, and I saw everything from my textbooks. It was just so much better in person, so helpful. You could be walking down an alley and turn into a random church that you had no idea was there, and you’d see this amazing artwork in front of you.

"I also took an arts entrepreneurship and marketing class, which was interesting. The professor was a School of Business teacher, but it qualified as an arts elective class. It tied in with my major and interests in museums and nonprofit marketing. This semester, I’m writing my senior seminar thesis on how new digital technologies are affecting the art world. For instance, The Met has every piece of artwork logged in its online catalog. They actually have more online than they have in the museum! This is also the case with the Louvre, which has the second largest online library.

"I intern at M. Patricof Creative Group, which is an advertising, public relations and consulting agency. I do a lot of social media postings, I help update the website, and sometimes I’ll send out press releases or do follow-up calls. Marsha Patricof works with fine jewelry clients, so we work on getting her pieces out to a bunch of major magazines like Harper's Bazaar and InStyle.

"On campus, I’m part of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) student ambassador program, and I’m the liaison for fair trade. I guess you could say that CRS kind of sparked my other interests in social justice. I went on a L.O.V.E. trip to Ecuador, which was amazing. Because of that L.O.V.E. trip, recently I’ve been thinking about a potential volunteer year after I graduate, so I’ve been looking into programs like Lasallian Volunteers.”

Careers of interest for digital media art minors include the following. See each link for more details about job outlook and salaries.

• Sound engineer
• Creative marketing manager
• Art director
• Fashion designer
• Industrial designer
• Digital content writer
• Digital illustrator
• Photographer
• Graphic designer
• Filmmaker
• Video editor
• Architect