Intermedia Welcomes New Faculty Member Gene Felice

The Intermedia and New Media programs at the University of Maine are pleased to announce the addition of their newest faculty member, Gene Felice. Gene brings an exciting new presence to both programs as well as a broad array of skills that will be immensely beneficial to both the short and long term success of each program. His extensive skill set and impressive history will provide students with an invaluable resource throughout their academic careers and beyond.

Hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gene completed his undergraduate work at Ohio State University, where he studied photography before transitioning into their Art and Technology program. During these formative years, Gene found his mentors in artists Ken Rinaldo and Amy Young. Furthermore, he worked as a studio assistant to the renowned Anne Hamilton.

After graduation, Gene remained in Columbus for six years where he continued his design work in the private sector. This work lead him from “small start ups, to freelance, to the post dot com boom, to large corporate design firms.” But after six years within the industry, Gene returned to Ohio State to teach classes in both 3D Modeling and Animation in the Art and Tech program. He even took the lead on their Digital Imaging Research Lab, which afforded him his “first truly collaborative format with both the Art and Architecture departments.”

When his time at OSU came to an end, Gene headed to Asheville, North Carolina. Seeking “a new balance within his life,” Gene focused on rekindling his connection with nature, a pivotal source of inspiration for him and his art work. Over the course of his five years in Asheville, he reconnected not only with nature but with the local community as well. In addition to serving a number of non profits, he was the volunteer director for the Bob Moog Foundation, as well as a board member for the Black Mountain College Museum. During his time as a board member, Gene worked to create a community art event titled, The {Re}Happening (www.rehappening.com), which “brought over a hundred artists back to the original Black Mountain College campus each year, for three years.” He was an adjunct professor in the New Media dept. and the University of North Carolina Asheville for two years. Gene also became director of the Creative Technology and Art Center, a space “dedicated to education and community outreach and exploring new combinations of art and technology for local middle & high school students.”

Although his work was fulfilling, a desire to learn more about his own practice lead Gene to the graduate program at UC Santa Cruz, where he received his Master of Fine Arts in Digital Art and New Media. He also served as the 3D prototyping lab director and as an adjunct instructor, teaching in the DANM, Engineering and Art departments.  His time in and after graduate school allowed him to “develop an interdisciplinary collaboration across the arts and sciences.” This cross disciplinary collaboration can be seen in his piece, Oceanic Scales (www.oceanicscales.com), which utilizes an artistic framework to teach viewers about the science and metaphor behind phytoplankton and its role within the Earth’s ecosystem. It can also be seen in his community driven art event “Bloom Santa Cruz” (www.lighthousebloom.com) which brought over 25 artists and community ecology advocates to the sight of the Santa Cruz lighthouse for an evening of art and science collaboration. Gene also went on to become a Science and Justice Fellow, thereby allowing him to further “…discuss, build shared vocabularies, and work on issues across the sciences and humanities.”

Now at the University of Maine, Gene plans to continue building bridges of collaboration between the arts and sciences. He hopes further connections between New Media, and Intermedia, can be made with departments like Marine Science, Engineering, Computer Science, and others. “The goal is to create an interdisciplinary hub,” and in the future, “…set up a Co-Action Lab, which will be dedicated to a systems based approach for art and science collaboration, but with an ecological focus.” Gene’s goal is to not only discover ennobling problems that inspire action in a wide range of people, but more importantly, find solutions to those real world problems.

Students within the Intermedia and New Media programs can look forward to Gene’s collaborative and design style thinking. Furthermore, students will now have access to Gene’s expert level knowledge in regards to new and emerging technologies, an invaluable asset in today’s digital world. These unique skills, especially in relation with Gene’s forward thinking and ecological approach, will allow students the chance to grow and develop in a multitude of ways.

His website can be found at: www.genefelice.com