TIMMINS - A local artist is part of a showcase highlighting what art might look like in the future.
Candyce Rowlandson, who works under the name Charoa, has received a residency with the Wide Worlds AI Artist Residency program in Miami, which went up last week. Her work, along with other artists worldwide, will be displayed on the biggest LED screen in the world.
“We take our own art, and we feed it to an AI to build an AI model of our own art,” she said. “So what we did was blend our art style with the art style of somebody else in a unique, collaborative kind of project.”
Rowlandson worked with two artists, one from Ireland and one from the Netherlands, on pieces for the show.
“We took it another step where we opened it up and invited artists from everywhere in the world to come and try our style and they got to make a piece of art,” she said.
The show in Miami includes both the works by the resident artists and the exploration pieces.
The art is being displayed on the world’s largest LED screen, with six of her pieces on display.
“Having this artwork presented with our names in lights down the side of the building, that’s pretty cool,” she said.
Rowlandson said she’s very conscious about the concerns other artists have when it comes to AI art.
“About two years ago, I started playing around with it because these are the new tools, this is the new thing that’s coming out and I need to be leading edge,” she said.
The current show is one of many Rowlandson has participated in recently.
Her piece, Be Bold, inspired by her daughter was a part of NFT NYC 2024.
SEE: Timmins artist's bold work tours New York City streets
She said she’s amazed by how quickly things have moved since she started working with AI.
“I have a strict rule to never use an artist’s name in any of my prompts,” she said. “Whatever I create gets finished and completely changed in Photoshop, so it’s modified quite a bit from what the AI puts out.”
She started her career in journalism and graphic design but was looking for a new outlet when AI was starting to take off.
“I’m old enough to remember when Photoshop was controversial,” she said. “It’s exactly what they’re saying about AI these days, but it’s really amazing. It’s an amazing tool to use.”
Rowlandson's journey with AI has been fast and wild.
“I started submitting to open calls and started winning on open calls,” she said. “It’s like anything, it takes time, you have to put in the investment.”
She says the open calls are a chance to share art on issues she feels are important.
“A lot of the calls I’ve been in are revolving around women’s rights and mental health,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of work in the last year specifically about using art for improving mental health.”
She is currently putting together a show about that topic that will premiere in January.
“Lots of big stuff going on,” she said. “I always wanted to do this, and when I was young, I wanted to go to art school and was discouraged because artists make no money. Don’t be a starving artist.”
She said this art form allowed her to pursue her dreams.
“Now, my kids are getting older but I have a little bit more free time, and it felt like now’s the time to go back and resize that dream and go all in,” she said. “And it’s paying off!”