Dragonsaber - Web Design and Computer Art

Artist's Biography

Kerwin Siy has displayed an interest in art throughout his childhood, but his first serious course was Studio Art I (a high school level course) in Felix Festa JHS (West Nyack, New York) during the 8th grade. Guided by his teacher, Meg Ekdahl, he was encouraged to continue pursuing his interests in high school. At Clarkstown High School North (New City, New York), his fundamental skills continued to grow under the tutelage of Nancy Khafif-Diamond (Drawing & Painting III & AP Art History) and Charles Mannino (AP Art IV). Both mentors taught advanced art and art history courses that prepared Kerwin for the next step in life... college.

In Fall of 1993, Kerwin chose to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, Georgia) because he was undecided about which art field to pursue and their program covered all of the possibilities. After taking a variety of courses that touched on computer animation, graphic design, art history, multimedia and illustration, he ended up moving ahead with the Computer Art major. Kerwin's experience in art and technology grew rapidly as the element of motion was added to traditional techniques, followed by the 3rd dimension, computer science and finally interactivity. Though computer art at SCAD during the late 90's was primarily an animation program, Kerwin fashioned his own concentration on multimedia design by taking elective courses outside of animation. In Winter of 1997, Kerwin completed the first interactive multimedia thesis project in the school (see Dragon-23 CD-ROM).

Shortly after graduation (Spring 1997), Kerwin was hired to freelance for a multimedia division of Simon & Schuster called Macmillan Digital USA, where he was responsible for a variety of tasks including, photo retouching, banner creation and HTML page building. In December 1997, he was hired as a full time employee. During this period, Kerwin became well versed in the Internet due to constant exposure to HTML, JavaScript, ColdFusion, and many other Web technologies/standards. His art skills also continued to evolve as he created original pieces for MCP.com and became their main graphics producer. He also became the lead designer for Frommers.com shortly afterwards and took that site through several redesigns over the years.

Since 1997, Frommers.com underwent several acquisitions and company mergers. Owned successively by Macmillan Publishing USA, Pearson Education, IDG Books, Inc. and Hungry Minds, Inc., it is currently a division of Wiley Publishing, Inc.. Over time, creativity at the job diminished and the technical responsibilities increased. Ever the artist, Kerwin had been able to satisfy his creative thirst by procuring freelance jobs on the side. He's currently a Web developer by day (as Web Production Manager of Frommers.com) and Web designer by night. Kerwin is also affiliated with RCT Performance, 38th Avenue Realty, R & R Dyno, KimEngYeo.com, Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew and Religions for Peace USA where he handles a variety of tasks including art direction, programming and Web development.

Edited by Alicia Ng.

Related: Savannah College of Art and Design, Dragon-23 CD-ROM, Kerwin's Resumé