Category Archives: Art

Is AI Frying Our Brains? (Spoiler: No)

Posted on November 19, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

Well, buckle up or click away; this is going to be a long one. I started writing my “Creative Practice in the Age of AI” series of posts 1) because I was personally curious enough about generative AI (GenAI) and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creative Practice in the Age of AI, Creativity, generative AI, Writing with AI, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Saga of My Pumpkin Illustration (aka, ChatGPT’s comical failure)

Posted on October 6, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

On Friday I posted my comparison of Public AI’s attempt at writing an autumn poem versus ChatGPT’s—a head-to-head challenge that ChatGPT won handily. Then to illustrate my post, I asked ChatGPT to create a quick, simple image of pumpkins for … Continue reading →

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The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

Well. I’ve never cried in a museum before, but the Edmund Fitzgerald exhibition at the Grohmann Museum had me in tears yesterday afternoon. I was making my way through the special exhibit’s gallery, looking at photographs and paintings of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Life, Milwaukee | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Portrait of a Textile Worker (and Milwaukee’s Water Tower Dragon)

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m teaching two sections of the freshman composition class at MSOE, and among the things we cover in this course are how to “read” art as a “text” and how to talk about any work of art. We spend about … Continue reading →

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Art on a sunny September day: warm glow, crisp shadow

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

This little work of art sits on the windowsill in my office. I’ve photographed it before. It makes me happy. Today late-morning sun struck at a high angle, casting a well-defined shadow and giving the copper wire a warm, mellow … Continue reading →

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New “bloom patterns” type of origami introduces new possibilities in engineering

Posted on August 22, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

One of my favorite scenes in the movie Working Girl comes near the end, where our heroine, Tess (Melanie Griffith), seizes a last-ditch opportunity to stop her boss, Katherine (Sigourney Weaver) from stealing her deal. After Jack (Harrison Ford) corrals … Continue reading →

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Intersection of Beige and Cream

Posted on August 21, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

Because working on a computer for hours at a time (in a single sitting) is not good for anyone, I try to take short, frequent breaks to get in some stretching and walking as much as possible. Fortunately, my office … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Life, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

I See What You Mean

Posted on August 11, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

Today’s post is something different for me. My friend Kathleen is editor of a newsletter that publishes fiction, poetry, and essays. Because her publication is limited to black-and-white reproduction of images, and the article below contains a color image, she … Continue reading →

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The Influence of Influences

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

Inspiration may strike, but creativity accumulates. One is lightning in a bottle; the other is molasses—slow to pour, but sticky enough to catch the stray ephemera that lend rich flavor to whatever artistic projects you’ve got baking. Creativity is not … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creative Practice in the Age of AI, Creativity, design, Music, Photography, Popular culture, Technology, Writing with AI, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Southpaw Violinist (Or, ChatGPT makes a mistake)

Posted on August 2, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

When I asked ChatGPT for an image to illustrate “The Pianist’s Hands,” the short story I wrote with ChatGPT and posted earlier this week, I thought it was gorgeous and (for a few minutes) an “absolutely, breathtakingly PERFECT!!!” image to … Continue reading →

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