Over Coffee®is on holiday hiatus. Please enjoy this reposting of one of our top episodes of 2024.

“Women have a lot of power,” says pioneering immersive artist Trish Gianakis.

Her work, in VR, AR and XR, explores this power, even as it empowers.

Trish, who created one of New York’s first virtual-reality art experience, has a Master’s degree in Fine Arts Computer Art and Art Installation from New York City’s School of Visual Arts. Among the accolades her work has received are an Emmy Award for “Best On-Air Graphics”, a Golden Addy Award for “Best Interactive Web Design” and the “Best in Show” award at Tempe, Arizona’s “Mill Avenue Artist Festival”, two years in a row.

A poet and sculptor, among her other professional classifications, Trish teaches in the Fine Arts Department of Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City. She is also Adjunct
professor for FIT’s Unity XR: AR, MR, VR Development Certificate Program, and teaches private art lessons and workshops at her studio.

Trish talked about her creative journey, offered a closer look at several of the works in her immersive gallery and previewed what’s coming up in the future.

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• What first inspired Trish to become an artist;

• How she first discovered digital technology as an artistic medium;

• Her experience, creating her first VR installation;

• An imaginary “walk” through her immersive-art gallery on Spatial;

• How a life event re-connected her with creating art;

• Some of her favorite resources for fellow artists who might like to know more about creating digital art;

• A lesson she gives her students, on creating an effective user experience;

• A closer look at the “Creatives Rebuild New York” program in which she’s involved;

• Her advice to students on finding professional opportunities, as artists;

• Some of the new technologies with which she’s looking forward to working;

• How NFTs work for her, as an artist.