Member Profile: Courtney Starrett
1. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I am a visual artist and educator. Data is my medium, and I have been creating art since I was a toddler. I started teaching art and technology in higher ed in 2005.
2. What was your first job?
My first job which paid a paycheck was lifeguarding. I was a lifeguard through college.
3. Where did you complete your formal education?
I spent my freshman year at the University of Missouri and didn’t declare a major – I was on the swim team. I like to say I “retired” from swimming to make room for my art major. I transferred to the University of Kansas and studied metalsmithing, where I earned my BFA. After a little break, I went to Tyler School of Art of Temple University for my MFA in metals and jewelry design, and CAD-CAM.
4. How did you first get involved with ACM SIGGRAPH?
I remember one of my instructors at Tyler, Kimberly Voigt was the chair of the 2006 SIGGRAPH Guerilla Studio, which is when I first learned of SIGGRAPH and then Rebecca Strzelec invited me to help on-site in the Guerilla Studio at SIGGRAPH 2007 in San Diego. That was my first SIGGRAPH and I was hooked! I have been involved in every SIGGRAPH since, in some way or another.
5. What is your favorite memory of a SIGGRAPH conference?
There is something very special about that first year in the Studio at SIGGRAPH. We spent all day interacting with attendees and assisting the artists-in-residence and all night working on our own projects in the studio after hours. The adrenaline was flowing, and being part of the community was exhilarating. At the time not many had access to the cutting-edge digital fabrication technology that was in The Studio and we didn’t waste a second on sleep!
6. Describe a project that you would like to share with the ACM SIGGRAPH community.
I am currently working on a couple of projects that are so fun that it is hard to call them work. Susan Reiser, my amazing collaborator, and I have been working on defining ‘data materialization’ for a decade and we have recently come up with a project called Data Shapes which allows us to visit different locations and work with site-specific environmental data to generate shapes to help visually communicate the data through abstract data stories. We have been exploring different materials to share this project with the public from cyanotypes to clay vessels…it’s a lot of fun. I am also collaborating with a few of my colleagues at Texas A&M on a video poem using our Ice Melt worry beads. We should be sharing this early this summer.
7. If you could have dinner with one living or non-living person, who would it be and why?
I would have dinner with my grandmother, who I have been missing since 2018.
8. What is something most people don’t know about you?
I was once stung by a stingray on the top of my foot…two days before my wedding. But it hasn’t stopped me from swimming in the ocean whenever I get the chance.
9. From which single individual have you learned the most in your life? What did they teach you?
This might be the hardest question…I would say that I have learned so much from my collaborator, Susan. Working with Susan has taught me how much in common any act of creation is, from computer programming to making a sculpture, the design process is so similar. She has also shown me how work only gets better when perspectives are broadened. But to be perfectly honest in this answer, I think my life has been rich with people who have all taught me something meaningful. When I think of just my ACM SIGGRAPH relationships even, there is a little something that has stuck with me from each person I have had the privilege to work with and know. And of course, my family, from my parents to my kids, I am always learning from them.
10. Is there someone in particular who has influenced your decision to work with ACM SIGGRAPH?
Thierry Frey was the chair of nominations and elections when he convinced me to run for the Executive Committee; he can be very persuasive! In all seriousness though, it’s the collective that keeps me involved with SIGGRAPH. I have met the absolute BEST humans by being involved with ACM SIGGRAPH. Community is at the heart of why I am involved and invested in ACM SIGGRAPH.
11. What can you point to in your career as your proudest moment?
I’ve had a few but most recently, I had a piece acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts – Houston. They have an amazing collection of Arts, Crafts, and Design and I am humbled to be a part of it. It’s still sinking in.