Category Archives: iPad Art

Technology and the Arts Exhibition: L.H. Horton Art Gallery at San Joaquin Delta College, March 5-April 3, Opening Reception March 5th

Opening Reception March 5th, 5-7pm

George by artist Daniel Leighton
George by artist Daniel Leighton

The Exhibition Features
• Interactive Digital Ecosystems
• Augmented Reality Paintings
• Digital Conversations brought into physical space
• Images and Popular Quotes Captured by Algorithms
• 3D Printed Sculpture
• Digitally Animated Sculpture
• Virtual Reality Experience

Image: Kevin Mack, “Zen Parade”, Virtual Reality Experience

The LH Horton Jr Gallery presents Technology & the Arts Exhibition, An Interactive Experience, March 5 – April 3, 2020. The Gallery Reception is planned for Thursday, March 5th, from 5:00 to 7:00pm. Admission to the Gallery exhibition, reception and Artist Talk are free and open to the public.

In addition to the exhibition, the Gallery is very excited to present an Artist Talk with Marpi Studio on March 12th at 12:30-1:30pm in the Tillie Lewis Theater, followed by a Gallery tour of the exhibition. Marpi Studio collaborators will present several of their creative projects on the intersection of technology and the arts. The presentation includes discussion on how to evolve your artistic practice into an independent and financially sound studio. They’ll share tried-and-true lessons from forming their own digital art studio, and discuss their vision for sustaining a creative business in future economies.

The exhibition is curated by Gallery Director, Jan Marlese, and features the work of seven artists whose creations are produced through a variety of computer-based technologies. Many of the works are interactive, including samples from San Francisco-based artist, Marpi, who designs vast digital ecosystems that are brought into being and shaped by users. Visitors may also engage with Daniel Leighton’s 2D printed digital paintings, which come to life through the viewer’s Gallery provided iPad. Rushali’s Silent Words brings digital conversations into physical space. Other works taking physical form include Sophia Brueckner’s commemorative plate series produced using Amazon Kindle Popular Highlight algorithm and Photoshop Photomerge algorithm. Also displayed is Can Büyükberber’s digital sculpture and animated artwork series, 3D printed sculpture by Joshua Harker, as well as augmented reality painting and 3D printed sculpture by Academy Award winning visual effects pioneer, Kevin Mack.

The exhibition was conceived on the belief that “technology and the need for new skills are shifting the workforce — requiring workers to be more creative and demanding culturally competent and innovative thinkers who are prepared to solve new global problems. Advocates for STEAM education — the intersection of science, technology, engineering, arts and math — believe it builds the habits of mind for life and work in the 21st century,” according to the Education Commission of the States 2019 policy brief, Preparing Students for Learning, Work and Life through STEAM Education.

Gallery Exhibition Hours: T 11am–4pm, W–Th 11am–6:30pm, F 11am–1pm | Posted Saturday Hours: March 7 • 11am–3pm | Closed Spring Break March 16 – 20

The Exhibition and Artist Talk is supported in-part by a grant from the Stockton Arts Commission.

L.H. Horton Art Gallery show page.

Also posted in Art, Augmented Reality, Events, Exhibitions, Featured, Technology Tagged , , , |

One More Touch Before I Die

“One More Touch Before I Die” (2011-2018)


This painting was inspired by a dream I had the night before the memorial service for a dear friend and mentor who died, suddenly, back in 2011. He was a true healer and I became much healthier from the work that he and a couple of the other doctors he had trained did on me. He had incredible power in his hands and I was able to learn some of his magic.

In the dream, he knew he was about to die and he was perfectly fine with it. Before he left, though, he wanted me to lay my hands on him as he had on me. He wanted me to use what I had learned from him on him.

As the mentor is lost, the space opens for the student to occupy more space in their own life, to incorporate what the teacher has taught, make it their own and share it with smaller and larger circles.

This painting is on view as part of the “Electric Abstractions” exhibit at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA) featuring the work of Jayne Behman, Robert Chapman and Daniel Leighton. The exhibit is curated by Ruta Saliklis and is on view April 20, 2018 through June 10, 2018. More info at http://www.danielleighton.com and http://www.sloma.org.

For purchase inquiries, please contact the museum.

Also posted in Art, Featured

New Huffington Post Blog: An Artist With Crohn’s Disease Looks Back at Living Without A Colon For 35 Years

First Surgery - A painting by Daniel Leighton

First Surgery (2011) A depiction of what I was like when I was in ICU recovering from that first surgery. My intestine was coming out of my body (I had an ileostomy), along with 5 or 6 tubes.

35 years and 1 week ago today I had my entire colon (large intestine) removed (known as a “colectomy”). I was 11 years old. 6 years earlier I had been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis.It was the first of what would be 6 surgeries. I had one each at age 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, and 21.

When I had that first operation, part of what we were expecting was that I would be cured. That was the language and thinking used by the medical community and the CCFA (Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America), one of the primary funders of research for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD, which includes both Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease). The idea is that you if you take out the colon, you can’t have Ulcerative Colitis. This didn’t work out for me, though, because when I was 20, I was re-diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. Even if it did work out I think the word “cure” used in the context of removing your entire colon which alters your life permanently in big and small ways is misleading to patients and their families. To their credit, some, including the CCFA, have stopped calling colectomies cures.

Anyway, when they told me I had Crohn’s, it meant that I was not cured and I thought I was going to have to go through all the horrible things I went through in the first 20 years of my life again and I just really didn’t think I could. So far, it’s turned out that I had one more surgery at age 21 and haven’t had to have one since. I do have number 7 coming up but not for Crohn’s, for a torn rotator cuff. One fear I have about it is that I will get sick again as I did before my last surgery. I was so terrified of having another surgery that I think I stressed myself into sickness because I took a major downturn that began when we finalized the date and ended with the removal of more of my small intestine (some had previously been removed in other surgeries).

Read the rest on Huffington Post

Also posted in Art, Biographical, Crohn's/Ulcerative Colitis, Featured, Health, Inspiring, Writing

Our First Kickstarter Campaign Goes Live

After wanting to for several years, we finally launched our first crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter. This one will fund my next solo show, Permission To Enter, which opens on October 17th at LAAA/Gallery 825. We’re two days in and we’re already 25% funded. I recently read a statistic that 79% of the campaigns on Kickstarter that reached the 20% mark so we’re pretty happy with where we are after launching on Sunday afternoon. I’m still anxious, though, and will be until we’re fully funded. Of course, I hope to surpass our $8000 goal. We have some great rewards and I am really happy with how our video turned out, so I think we have a great chance to get some extra excitement around what we are doing.

The rewards include, digital downloads, fine art prints, augmented reality t-shirts, the ability to add your name into the AR.

I’d love your support. Please consider becoming a backer and spreading the word.

Also posted in Apple, Art, Augmented Reality, Crohn's/Ulcerative Colitis, Funding, Technology

New Huffington Post Blog: “In the Cave — Going Into Darkness”

In the Cave by Daniel Leighton

In the Cave by Daniel Leighton

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.” – Joseph Campbell

Experiencing pain and loss is part of every human’s experience, but too often we skip over the feelings that come with it. Experiencing those feelings is a way to understand what we have gone through and to learn and grow from it. It is a pathway into the deepest part of ourselves. If we skip over those feelings, we relinquish a critical opportunity to create positive change in our lives.

The painting above is called In the Cave. I’ve had recurring visions of cave scenes for much of my life. I view a cave as a “container” which causes fear and provides protection. On the one hand, there is the fear of collapse, as well as one of the hidden terrors lurking in the dark. But there is also a sense of safety from various threats and invasions, both physical and emotional, that comes from the insulation that a cave can offer from the outside world. Since you are often alone in a cave, you need not worry about causing upset or judgment in others when you express your feelings. I imagine we all feel that need at some point. Having been ill as a child, and having, at times, a tenuous hold on life, I often felt the eyes of those around me were fixated, looking for the slightest indication of which way I was headed. I noticed that the slightest reaction might evoke an intense response from those around me. This feeling became very uncomfortable to live with.

A purple giant releases a primal scream in his cave. It is the only place where he can express himself without having to respond to others’ reactions. He needs to express himself because he knows that if he doesn’t, it will kill him. The energy that he has released through this expression, gathers at the top of the cave. It is a brew of molten, lava-like energy that vacillates between receiving the expression and transmitting protection. In this scene, the angel protects his more fragile parts, his inner child. His expression fuels the protection. Together, they are a more powerful force, moving towards integration.

There are ways in which my illness has been a blessing. Right now, as I am writing this, I am lying in bed because I feel so exhausted. I am nauseous and every cell in my body is oscillating to a shaky, staccato beat that I can’t quite catch up to. This feeling is not fun and is, in fact, sometimes downright depressing. When I am able to let go of my judgment and be present with the feelings, it creates an opening into a deeper part of me. If I can isolate myself from the noise of the world – much of it requests and demands that I can’t possibly meet in my current condition – I can enter that opening and access a level of connection, to myself, that can bring great peace. This is not an easy task to achieve; it takes both training and practice. It takes courage and commitment. You must be willing to face the darkest and most painful parts of yourself. It is can be a long and arduous process, but it is work worth doing because it expands the terrain of our heart and our ability to feel and experience emotional connections to other human beings.

I move in and out of this process. I must dole out the time spent in the darkness, often across days, months, and decades, so that it does not become overwhelming. That’s why my mind stored it away in the first place and I need to respect its wisdom. It’s astonishing how well bodies and minds can recover from severe trauma when they are given the space and support to do so. To whatever extent possible, we must give this to ourselves and those around us.

When I do go into the darkness, I need to constantly monitor myself to make sure I can find my way back; that is when I must let go and simply rest, or get up and tackle some task which feels, as least on this day, like it will require a Herculean effort.

It is a deeply felt life which is not the same as an easy life; far from it in many ways. But it is a richer life and, regardless of any of that, it is the only life that would allow me to, as the great Mahalia Jackson sang, “leave this old world with a satisfied mind.”

The piece above was originally published on The Huffington Post

Also posted in Art, Featured, Writing Tagged , |

“Many Faces, One Head”

Many Faces, One Head

Moving through the world, he has taken on many roles. Some of these he’s chosen, some were forced upon him. Now he has come to a place in his life where he can decide for himself which of these he wants to keep and which he wants to discard. At any moment he can choose to step into any of his possible selves and immediately embody all of its attendant traits and characteristics.

Also posted in Art, Featured, Writing Tagged |

New Huffington Post Blog: “Tied Up At The Hospital”

Tied Up At The Hospital

Tied Up At The Hospital (2011), Daniel Leighton

Three days before my first solo show, I stood alone in a Dallas art gallery staring at one of my paintings. Tied Up At The Hospital is about my first visit to the hospital when I was five years old (which I referenced in my last post). Nurses were trying to place a tube into my stomach through my nose; I attempted, with my little arms and legs, to fight them off, until they finally held me down and tied me up. This painting is about the moment after that; the moment when I realized that I was powerless in this fight. I became detached from the whole experience, causing me to cut-off my emotions because they were too painful to feel. It was the right reaction at the time, especially since there were to be many more incidents, of a similar nature and magnitude, yet to come. Read more on the Huffington Post

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