Artists use Skype to collaborate online

By Johnny Dickerson
Edited by Nikki Papadopulos

K.D. Lang's observation that art knows no boundaries is becoming even truer today when technology is quickly bridging the mountains, oceans and borders that separate artists.

And in the same way you can't talk about social networking without Facebook, you can't talk about online collaboration without Skype, the videophone service that lets artists see each other and work on projects in real time.

Skype is a popular way for artists to overcome challenges in getting together, and it allows those who don't live in cities to work with others outside their communities, said Caitlin Strokosch, executive director of the Alliance of Artists Communities. The group, based in Providence, R.I., advocates and supports places for artists of all disciplines to work together.

Bohumila Augustinova, manager of the Columbia Museum of Art shop, creates masks and costumes and uses Skype to reach her most trusted critical eye – her mother, who lives in the Czech Republic. By holding what she is working on up to the camera for her mother and brother to see, Augustinova gets coveted feedback – or even a small scolding to clean up her workspace.

"It's good that I get to show them what I do even though they're, you know, across the ocean," Augustinova said.

USC graduate CJ Shaffer, founder of the designer clothing line Elysium Era, uses Skype to review sample products, such as bathing suits, with his manufacturers overseas.

"You can take a lot of pictures, but it's not the same as holding it up and getting a 3-D look at it," he said.

When something is wrong with a product,  Shaffer said it's easier and saves money to work out problems over Skype rather than to pay for shipping and then realize the problem after he receives the product.

"They show the pieces and test it in front of the camera," Shaffer said. "If something isn't right, I say do it again."

USC media arts professor Northrop Davis, who teaches screenwriting and anime and manga studies, uses Skype to give guest lectures at other institutions now that travel budgets have been all but eliminated.

"It allows you to be places where otherwise you'd have to fly or travel to ... and that saves a tremendous amount of money, and money is very tight right now," he said.    

Davis can connect with his audience over the webcam, going so far as to call out a student who was nodding off during a lecture he gave to Howard University.

"I could see who was listening and who wasn't listening, and I could actually target my delivery to grabbing their attention."

Davis is also a producer and screenwriter working on bringing anime shows, a popular form of Japanese animation, from Japan to the U.S.  He uses Skype to discuss his anime projects with his colleagues in Japan.