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BIO

Jenn Karson’s art practice uses scientific processes and technologies as creative catalysts. Employing both a tactile art practice and generative computer algorithms, her work explodes architectural elements into visual systems and vocabularies. In collaboration with researchers of the  , which she founded in 2020, Karson expands her compositions with emerging technologies that include machine learning (neural networks and genetic algorithms), latent space visualizations, and digital fabrication. The resulting body of work—encompassing mapping, animation, programming, plotting, printmaking, sculpture, and soundscape— challenges traditional concepts of artistic authorship and human-machine collaboration. These are artifacts of porous boundaries between human and machine, real and fake, original and copy, analog and digital; breaking down these binaries is always iterative and generative of new possibilities. Notes Karson: “I’m much more interested in doing experiments than pursuing a masterpiece.” 

Links:

Courses

• ARTS 2620 and CIS 2460 Digital Fabrication
• ARTS 2410 Graphic Design
• Special Topics courses with Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Machines, and Sound
• ARTS 4994 Teaching Assistantship
• ARTS ARTS 3995 Undergraduate Research

Publications

List of Research and Creative Work (DOCX)

Awards and Achievements

• 2023 – 2028  CAREER: An Embodied Intelligence Approach to Neural Architecture, PI Nick Cheney. National Science Foundation, No. 2239691. Art + AI public engagement program design and facilitation. 
• 2022 – 2027  RII Track-2 FEC: Explainable and Adaptable Artificial Intelligence for Advanced Manufacturing, PI Yifeng Zhu (University of Maine), National Science Foundation, No. 2218063. Art + AI public engagement program design and facilitation.
• 2025 The Generative Tree (solo exhibition), The Phoenix, Waterbury, VT 
• 2021 - 2024  CatCoders Computer Science Department funding, undergraduate student internships. ����̽̽, Burlington, VT 
• 2024 Art and AI Symposium, Northern Illinois University School of Art and Design, DeKalb, Illinois/virtual, April 12. 
• 2024 “Environment, Data Science, and the Arts,” Inclusive Arts Initiative, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, ����̽̽, Burlington VT, March 7.  
• 2024 “AI in the Studio Art Classroom," College Arts Association 112th Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois, February 16.   
• 2023 Multidisciplinary Collegial Network Grant, ����̽̽ Humanities Center, Burlington, Vermont 
• 2023 Faculty Development Grant in the Arts, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Vermont 
• 2023 Aberrant Creativity, The Arts Council of Brazos Valley, College Stations, TX. 
• 2023 Praxis: Recent Work by Studio Art Faculty at ����̽̽, Fleming Museum of Art, Burlington, VT 
• 2023 Center for Machine Arts, Peekskill, NY  
• 2023 Co-Created: The Artist in the Age of Intelligent Machines, Burlington City Arts Gallery, Burlington, VT 
• 2023 One Week, One Night; Colburn Gallery; Williams Hall, ����̽̽, Burlington, VT 
• 2023 Bantam Tools Remote Artist Residency, Peekskill, NY  
• 2023 Center for Machine Arts. Peekskill, N.Y.  June 11 – 17 and July 16 – 23 
• 2023 “Why are Culture and Creativity Powerful Assets for a Vibrant Economy?” Research, Innovation, and Sustainability (RISE) Summit and Entrepreneurship Summit, ����̽̽, Burlington, VT, June 21.  
• 2023 “Own Your Dataset,” Creative AI Vermont: Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Art, Burlington City Arts, Burlington, VT, April 15.  
• 2023 “Situated Language: Local Constructions of Time, Space, and Action,” Ars Poetica: Art/Text/Context, Colburn Gallery, ����̽̽, Burlington, VT, March 31.  
• 2022 Nominated for Prelock Online Teaching Award, ����̽̽, Burlington, VT 
• 2022 Haystack Labs Residency, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME. May 23 – 28
• 2022 Liquid Architectures and Leaky Territories, Francis Colburn Gallery, Williams Hall, ����̽̽, Burlington, VT 
• 2022 Liquid Architectures and Leaky Territories, Francis Colburn Gallery, Williams Hall, ����̽̽, Burlington, VT 
• 2022 “Embodiment and Datafication,” Future Bodies New Media Caucus of the College Arts Association, Blacksburg, VA, September 30. 
• 2022 “Appraising Your Research as Data: Managing, Visualizing, and Preserving Your Scholarship,” sponsored by Art Libraries Society of North America, The 110th College Arts Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL/virtual, February 16–19. 
• 2021 “Northeast and CAREERS Cyberteams: Supporting Research at Small and Mid-Sized Institutions with Student Research Computing Facilitators,” SuperComputing21/virtual, November 18.  
• 2020 “Outbreaks from the Grid,” Alife 2020. New Frontiers in AI: What Alife can offer AI, Montréal, Canada/virtual. July 14 + July 16. 

Area(s) of expertise

Design and Technology, Artificial Intelligence