We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ivan Cruz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ivan, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

My early years of community college were driven by curiosity. I took so many electives that helped me create a framework on how technology and communication are intertwined. In my philosophy classes, I learned about different ways of seeing the world through Metaphysics. In History of Mass Communication, I discovered how Maxwell’s discovery of wave equations paved the way for mass communication through radio and television. And in Kinetic Sculpture, I experimented with wireless micro-controllers (Arduinos) which helped me see the interconnections of art and technology.

After taking Sculpture, and wanting to share what I learned, I teamed up with my friend Pam and I created an Arduino musical instrument workshop. But I was so inexperienced; I didn’t take into account how to mount the pieces, how long it would take to explain concepts, and how my method of using my webcam for closeups failed to get my point across. About 10 minutes into the workshop, a few irritated participants walked away. This challenging first attempt taught me valuable lessons in planning and teaching.

After getting my portfolio ready, I transferred over to the Motion Design program at ArtCenter in Pasadena, and I had the pleasure of taking Mediatecture, an upper term graphic design class. The experimental class was about communicating in space using projectors to quickly prototype installations. Since the class was in its infancy, I was able to introduce new platforms like Processing, an artist friendly programming language, that can process and visualize designs using depth sensors like the Kinect, and other sensors using the Arduino.

My first project was pivotal in this class. Inspired by bioluminescent communication, I captured WiFi traffic in real time and poetically visualized them as a flow of particles on an array of strings. This new trajectory helped redefine the class into the interactive installation class it is today, which brought new ways of creating and thinking into the Graphic Design Program.

Ivan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Yes, I’ll continue my story! After I graduated from ArtCenter, I freelanced at several motion design studios, including Mirada, Logan, and Imaginary Forces. This experience offered me a firsthand view of how design enables companies such as IBM, Exxon, and Apple to articulate their narratives.

And since I was also co-teaching Mediatecture after I graduated, I was able to introduce object-oriented programming concepts that enabled me to execute highly complex animations, each particle having a mind of its own — reminiscent of seeing complex traffic patterns from afar. Which is showcased in the IBM THINK exhibit, where each car in traffic has its speed calculated and displayed in a circle, or in UCLA’s Centennial event, where the contours of the Los Angeles coastline and freeways are revealed with particles of light.

I then had the privilege of collaborating with Nikolaus Hafermaas on a series of projects that explored the dynamic capabilities of E Ink Corporation’s e-paper material. This reignited my craft and creative programming skills.

The first piece we worked on was called eºFLOW, an interactive sculpture that explores the unique capabilities of E Ink Prism™ film. The installation consists of two rings bridged by double-sided E Ink ribbons, with one ring rotated 180 degrees so we can see both the inside and outside of the ribbons. Using an iterative time shifting process in the programming, I created unique behaviors that we anthropomorphized into an elusive sea creature: Like a startled effect where all the ribbons would change colors, or a mesmerizing luring effect to bring you closer to the installation.

I continued to hone my craft with the following projects: For the San Diego Airport DAZZLE media façade installation, we were inspired by the WWII Dazzle camouflage found on battleships. The camouflage, invented by Norman Wilkinson, was designed to disguise a ship’s speed and direction. Using After Effects, I animated a series of camouflages for the façade, then in Processing, I created a custom 3D application that took animations and exported out the correct timing and data structure for the E Ink controllers.

One of the biggest challenges was exporting out a manual that contained the exact positions of all the tiles. As a motion designer, I hardly think about exact measurements, but as a creative technologist I had to make the application precise.

At CES, I worked with Nik to present the all-electric BMW iX as a color-changing ensemble of car and architecture. Using all the skills I learned from the previous projects, we reimagined the motion not only on the car but on the surrounding façade. Since E Ink does not emit light, having the whole environment and the iX surface in motion, gave everyone a moment of awe and excitement.

Now, I’m currently working on a significant installation called Deep Time: Sea Dragons of Nevada, set to be displayed at the Nevada Museum of Art, starting September 7, 2024. This project, under the artistic direction of Nik, with insights from Chief Curator Ann Wolfe and leading paleontologist Dr. Martin Sander (who discovered a gigantic ichthyosaur in Nevada), aims to revive these Jurassic swimming creatures as they would have appeared over 200 million years ago.

Inspired by technologies like LiDAR and photogrammetry, which are used in the field to 3D scan terrains and fossils, I designed a mesmerizing point cloud technique to interpret how ichthyosaurs’ enormous eyes might have detected pinpoints of bioluminescent disturbance in the dark ocean depths. I can’t wait to see the visual impact these giant creatures have as they swim across the 80-foot projection surface, prompting audiences to ponder the lives of these ancient beings. For more information on this exhibit, visit: nevadaart.org

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

During a talk at USC, a student asked me if I’m passionate about the projects I work on. I had to stop and reflect, since I’m excited to work on all my projects and the people that I’m working with. And having the ability to share my stories, inspiration, and discoveries with my students, amplifies my love of the creative process. Each project now helps me understand and practice the creative endeavors such as leadership, communication, project management, the essential frameworks that support creativity.

This constant cycle of learning, practicing my craft and sharing represents the most rewarding aspect of being creative. For instance, during the April 8th Solar Eclipse I took my students to the rooftop garden and explored typography through the use of pinholes in aluminum foil. There was one moment where I picked up a chair that had several holes on it, which projected hundreds of crescent shapes onto my students. This unique exercise was a fun way to play with analog elements around us as designers.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Non-creatives usually point out the unpredictable nature of my career. And there’s an irony about this story. I was told that there was no viable career in art when I was in high school. So I chose a safer path by pursuing a degree in Environmental Science and applied to state and UC schools. But rejection letter after rejection letter made me realize my path was guiding me back to art. It actually gave me a sense of freedom knowing that I can pick my own creative journey.

There was still a lot of uncertainty. What happens if I don’t get a job? During my grad show at ArtCenter, I had several studios and companies tell me that my skill sets didn’t fit what they were looking for. Luckily, freelancing gave me the flexibility to take on projects that genuinely intrigued me, while teaching gave me the space to delve deeper into the creative process.

After years of exploration, experimentation and learning in this unpredictable space, I found comfort and confidence in embracing the unknown. From working on a color changing car in a secret location to going down the underground levels of the Natural History Museum to study the skull of the Ichthyosaur. It’s these unpredictable moments in the creative process that remind me why I fell in love with this creative path in the first place.

Contact Info:

• Website: ivanjcruz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_ivanjcruz
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanjcruz

Image Credits
Joan Chen, Nik Hafermaas, Pablo Mason, Madison Dawn, Tori kwon