Biography

Ken Knowlton, USA (1931 - )

----------------------------

Ken Knowlton is widely known as an innovator and developer of techniques and languages for computer graphics. He has been a programmer, inventor, collaborator, researcher, teacher, speaker, writer, artist and critic.

Knowlton has authored several computer languages for the computer depiction of scientific phenomena and for artistic expression, and has developed a number of techniques for person-machine interaction. He has published dozens of papers, given hundreds of talks, and holds 20 U.S. patents, with many more pending. Stories about his work have been seen on several TV programs and in hundreds of publications, and his graphic works have appeared on covers of numerous books and magazines. He has taught several workshops, and given extensive courses at the University of California at Santa Cruz and at New Mexico State University.

Having studied Engineering Physics at Cornell, and earned a Ph. D. in Computer Science from MIT, he joined and worked in the Computing Techinques Research Department of Bell Labs for 20 years. There, in 1963, he developed one of the earliest systems for movie-making by computer. He later spent eight years at Wang Laboratories, again in computer research and development. Recently he has co-founded and is now working at QuickBuy Inc., an internet commerce company in Tyngsboro MA.

Knowlton's artwork in the 1990's has consisted for the most part of computer-assisted mosaics, intriguing works whose appearance varies strikingly with distance -- from far away, most of them are portraits, but at close range each is a vast array of actual seashells, or dominoes, pottery shards, puzzle pieces, or other small objects. They raise the question: Why do you "see" what you think you see? In recent years, the seashell mosaics have won many awards in local and nation-wide art shows and competitions.

Knowlton still writes (and re-adapts) all of his own computer graphics programs. His attitude toward the use of computers in art, however, is still cautious and skeptical. "Do use the machine -- if, when, and where it helps in planning, experimenting with, or previewing an imagined artwork, but," he emphasizes, "remember that it's the artistic goal in each case, not the computer, that's important."