We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Aaron Artrip. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Aaron below.

Aaron, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The risk I took was following my gut. After one semester studying Civil Engineering, I realized this wasn’t for me, and decided to transfer to Kennesaw State to ‘figure it out.’

I’ve never had a dream job other than doing what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do so. So I followed my creative aspirations and studied fine arts, specifically printmaking.

Music has played a large role in my life, so much that I chose to never study it academically. Its what drove me to learn how to draw and learn graphic design. I was first making posters for bands I played in and bands my friends played in. This lead me to consider studying graphic design, however I ultimately decided to study printmaking.

My roommate (and now best friend) brought home some printmaking prints from a screen printing class he was in. I was drawing to the tactile nature of hand pulled prints, the smell of the ink, and the ecstasy to working through the grueling process of printmaking. The DIY nature of printmaking felt close to home of making band posters. I loved printmaking so much I began to teach printmaking in many forms: through Atlanta Printmakers Studio for adult classes, as well as through a Cobb County program for K-12 students.

After graduating from Kennesaw State in 2011, I spent 5 years working many jobs, some creative, others not so much. During this time, I learned about electronic music production with some friends while we created an 80’s synth wave studio project. Check out ‘Pure Secks: Greatest Hits’ on Spotify/Apple Music!

Learning about sound design launched me into my obsession with the science and physics of sound. I would spend the next 10 years learning as much as I could about the history of electronic music and its many influences on sound design, the births of many genres/sub genres and their impact on media/culture.

In 2016, I went to Georgia State University to study Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking. My initial intention was to become a printmaking instructor, but that soon changed. During my studies, I met Professor Craig Dongoski who had a major impact on my approach to art making. He was instrumental in providing my with the historical evidence to support my interest in music and the sonic arts was just as valid as my interest in visual art. This newly found artist licence would lead me to create my thesis exhibition: A Series of Quiet Decisions. This body of work was a study in how sound is used to generate imagery.

A Series of Quiet Decisions was a collection of Cyanotypes created using sound modulated light. Essentially using a crude laser drawing device, I would use sound to drive and direct a UV light source, thus leaving an indexical mark upon the cyanotype paper. Click here to see the results: http://www.aaronartrip.com/image.html
I was coming up on the intersection of Art, Music, and Technology and that lead me to become a STEM/STEAM educator.

Upon graduation in 2019, I got a job working as an Innovator In Residence for CEISMC (Center of Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing). This position aligned me with K-12 public schools in Gwinnett County helping teachers integrate creative and artistic projects that helped support their standards.

As of January of 2021, I have been hired on full-time to CEISMC as a Research Associate I position. This position allows me work behind the scenes of helping develop and integrate STEM/STEAM learning not only with students, but with teachers as well. My current job responsibilities are: graphic design, web design, curriculum development, project planning, and acting as lead Innovator In Residence for Gwinnett County K-12 schools.

I could have NEVER planned this path out and it was a long and hard road to get here.

I just had to follow my gut and trust that I was headed in the right direction.

Aaron, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an audio/visual artist who has a keen interest in the physics of sound. I use synthesizers, consumer audio/video equipment computer software, and printmaking to discuss my interest in the natural world with multi-media results such as performances, objects, prints, and installations.

I am also a STEM/STEAM Research Associate for CEISMC, a K-12 non-profit platform on Georgia Techs campus. This job allows me to share my creative interests in an educational platform, hopefully to inspire students to see the connections all areas of study.

I have always liked making things and was able to find work through working fabrication shops in Atlanta, working on film sets and commercial shoots, constantly honing my crafts as an artist while meeting people and making professional connections.

I am most proud following my gut while allowing other to guide me along the way. No one gets anywhere without help and I couldn’t have got this far without the help of many generous and encouraging mentors.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

NFT’s (in their current state) are beanie babies for the well lined pockets of the ‘tech bro grind-life hustle-prenuers,’ however, they do provide an interesting discussion on inherent monetary value. That being said, the only way NFT’s are profitable (in their current state) are when they sell to the next dupe who isn’t savvy enough to realize the NFT’s value is inflated through(spelling) speculation and conspiracy by those who are setting prices in the first place, similar to the art market. This is, of course, not a new idea but merely snake oil for the post-internet world, or ‘Pixel-Oil’ if you will., citing that ‘you too can be RICH by holding these pixels steady while this blockchain crunches numbers.’

In addition, Art is being used to sell the idea of NFT’s because Art will always have an inherent spiritual (priceless) value to the human experience, but we will continue to commodify Art because our lived (mortal) experience operates in the physical realm.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

As an educator, providing more funds for The Arts in schools is an obvious answer. Use the Arts as a method of teaching for expression, as opposed to directed methods of checking boxes for administrators would be a nice step forward. Providing opportunities for children to make anything without the threat of being graded against a rubric would do a lot for this world.

As an Artist, provide laws that create a limit to how much real estate developers/investors can profit from development. When artists or creatives provide a lush culture in a city, money comes in, buys it out, slaps a coat of paint on it, and calls it “innovation.” This raises costs for everyone who helped make it diverse and tech entrepreneurs move in to white wash everything, giving us $19 gentrification taco meals that no-body asked for. I’m looking at you, Atlanta.

Additionally, until Art and Entertainment became unraveled from each other, we will continue to use Art as a vehicle to sell cultural ideologies that take advantage of the creative spirit.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aaronartrip.com
• Instagram: Artrip.tv
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aaron.artrip.3/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-artrip-723a6872/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRQmz7fIbHQrSFcGrQwgzjg