May 31, 1996 - 5:00pm
Two years ago when Darlene Antal enrolled in the Malaspina University-College's Applied Arts (Graphics) diploma program she had heard of the World-Wide Web and the Internet but she certainly didn't expect her artistic career to take off into "New Media art."
"In addition to my graphic design courses, as an elective, I took a course in computer-mediated communications, English 290, and learned about a whole new artistic world in the area of Web publishing," said Antal. "As a class assignment we developed Web pages and I built one for myself as a virtual bookshelf, a combination portfolio and resume. Ever since, I've been getting calls about it."
Antal's Home page at: http://www.island.net/~dantal/ first garnered "The Canadian Cool Site of the Day" for May 20, 1996. As she is a mother of two school age children, she has a keen interest in illustrating for children and her virtual portfolio got her included on "Inkspot's Children's Illustrator Directory" and since then has received a steady flow of "hits" or visits by people wishing to view her work.
One of those visits came from a packaging company located in Atlanta, Georgia which liked her page so much they have hired her to design a page for them plus a video cassette cover.
"I've learned that the Internet is a wonderful tool to showcase talents of any genre. Eventually Web page design will be a required skill for graphic designers or anyone communicating on the Internet. Right now, though, I'm delighted to have skills that are in demand in New Media art," said Antal.
In the course of this interview Antal received another award for her digital artwork and was given "The Family Jewel Award - For Design Excellence."
In the near future Antal plans to move back to her hometown of Powell River where she will establish herself as a freelance graphic designer
Tags: In the Community
