Nathaniel Stern
@nathanielstern.bsky.social
artist, writer, teacher, poet, dad. prof of art, engineering, entrepreneurship. 'you are not your title; you are how you spend your time.' digital art for 25+ yrs.
The Word After Us was my first generative art / AI poetry collab with @sashastiles. The installation version is summary of our work: hand-made paper as analog generative art, out of bounds iterations from the software, metal, resin, letterpress, & more art from our collab
Shout out to my dear friend and collaborator @sashastiles, who has been pioneering poetry and digital arts for decades. It's been an honor (and super fun!) to work with you on Generation to Generation, and a thrill to see your successes in the past year and more.
Join me in my studio on September 28, any time from 11-2. Dozens of studios will be open at Kenilworth Square East (KSE), plus lots of fun activities for all ages! I'm in KSE 535, address: 1925 East Kenilworth Pl, Milwaukee https://uwm.edu/arts/event/kenilworth-open-studios/
In Milwaukee? ☕ Free coffee + ideas! 📅 Fri Sept 19, 9am @ LEC Grind, 2100 E Kenwood blvd Kickoff of Grounds for Inquiry, a new monthly innovation talk series. Dr. Nathaniel Stern introduces LEC Fellows + shares work on Generation to Generation + Post-AI Futures.
A big thank you to @sashastiles for representing poetry, language art, nuanced AI dialog, digital craft, and generosity at @themuseumofmodernart. Good luck with your opening and show (not that you need it).
First day of classes for both me and my precious little ones!
Yeh, so I admittedly lost the plot a bit with my Compressionism throwbacks this week (these images were gonna be next: https://nathanielstern.com/rippling) because I was busy doing Director and Co-Chair things at UW-Milwaukee. But at least I looked real good doing it. #newSuit
In 2014, I premiered Rippling Images, where I had built a custom scuba rig for my scanner to produce underwater slit scan prints up close.
UWM receives $100,000 NEA grant to continue autism-focused creativity research uwm.edu/news/uwm-rec...
UWM receives $100,000 NEA grant to continue autism-focused creativity research
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to continue its pioneering research into
uwm.edu
Trust doesn’t always mean what we think it means. What does it mean to trust someone with your feelings, versus trusting them with your life, versus trusting them to get everything on your grocery list?
Throwback Thursday, remember when me and Scott @kildall beamed Twitter messages 22 light years away as an absurd performance about the depth and shallowness of social media? That was 2012.
"Empowering autistic creativity through art and technology" was just published, open access, in the Journal of Creativity online! Super proud of the ongoing work I'm doing with the Autism Brilliance Lab for Entrepreneurship at @uwm and Islands of Brilliance @iobmke https://tinyurl.com/3yzjd2da
Do I feel like the Co-Chair of Art and Design and the Director of Academic Engagement and Creative Impact at our Entrepreneurship Center? Maybe. Probably. But I definitely look the part.
I have been working for the last 3+ years with @sashastiles on #generationToGeneration, which premiered at the Krasl Art Center and will be traveling for the next few years. Look out for the documentary coming next week! https://lumenprize.org/2025-literature-poetry-award-finalists/nathaniel-stern
Self compassion should be considered in time. This < 1m video shares an essential part of my recovery.
Hit 500 classes with my favorite studio @empoweryogamke (since they updated their system a few years ago anyhow… I've been going there a long time!). Locally owned and operated, founded by a woman of color, three hot yoga spaces in and around the Milwaukee area.
I love that I live in a world where Sasha Stiles, an artist with so much integrity, care, and talent, succeeds. Check out A Living Poem at the Museum of Modern Art Sept 10 - Spring 2026. https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5839
@sashastiles #generationtogeneration #g2g #kindredtechnologies #aiart #artificialintelligence #machinelearning #sashastiles #artandscience #poetry #languageart
Who do you spend your time with? #howyouspendyourtime #atomichabits #selfcompassion #letThem #biastowardsaction #designyourlife #hysyt #prototypinglife #trystuff #dostuff #milwaukee #mke #entrepreneurship #careertips
"The hard… work of self-care is about the everyday… getting through your life in a world that would prefer you… compliant. That’s the kind of love we’re terribly bad at giving ourselves, especially on the left."
The Word After Us, with @sashastiles, is an AI-powered poem about the future of language, connection and understanding, “published” anew in each exhibition venue as a generative, modular mural. Metal, resin, hand-made paper, generative prints, digital prints, light boxes, and letterpress.
Oral Binary w @sashastiles is a walled-off listening booth within the gallery, where visitors are invited to put on headphones and enjoy an intimate performance of generative spoken word poetry and music created in collaboration with AI — fusing ancient oral tradition with cutting-edge tools.
The E-Waste Land w/ @sashastiles embodies the relationship between technology and remembrance. Entangled & obsolescing computers, projectors, phones, radios & other relics of human communication, painted white & inscribed w excerpts from an AI poem about progress & loss.
Still Moving w/ @sashastiles is an interactive “mirror” built from web cams, an AI poem and font, & custom motion tracking tech. Wave your hands & play in front of the camera(s); watch as your movements translate into poetry in real time, activating the space between human & machine
Weighing w @sashastiles is a material metaphor for the weight of technology’s ecological consequences. Each letter in the phrase “Mother Computer” is 3x drawn by AI & forged of recovered metal from a broad range of recycled media: electronic waste, mine tailings, & more
OMG welcome to middle-age ER visits and the amazing world of kidney stones!
#feralfont as an installation - with @sashastiles - invites us to explore the material practice of writing, ourselves and with AI.#generationtogeneration #g2g #kindredtechnologies #aiart #artificialintelligence #machinelearning #sashastiles #artandscience #poetry #languageart
Pro tip: get an NFC digital business card! Near Field Communication is what things like Apple Pay use; you can tap your info into a colleague's phone.
