The IBIS Project: Early Computer-Assisted Art in the Northwest

June 21 – September 8, 2002

Between 1985 and 1987, eight Northwest artists – Carl Chew, Karen Guzak, Lorna Jordan, Carolyn Law, Gail McCall, Bill Ritchie, Norie Sato, and Janet Yang – created a series of prints via state-of the-art computer, color monitor, and color inkjet printer. These artists created images using the IBIS System, an early color graphics program developed in 1982-83 by Carl Youngmann, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Washington, and Ellie Mathews, a graphic designer. Based in Guzak’s studio in Seattle, these pioneering artists shared technical solutions and encouraged one another to explore the potential of the computers as an art making tool.