Patricia Search
Holistic Worldviews
I am inspired by Indigenous cultures that use balance and symmetry in their visual designs to create sacred spaces that connect physical and spiritual worlds, and symbolize a holistic perspective of space and time that is cyclic and all-inclusive. I visualize this holistic synergy by integrating geometric forms—squares, triangles, circular curves—that represent connections to the spiritual world, with free-form elements that symbolize the poetic lyricism of the physical environment—blue skies and water, rolling hills, graceful flora, and gentle winds that blow across the land. I weave rays of reflected and refracted colored light into layers of transparency that symbolize the holistic nature of this energy and visualize the flexible, transient nature of memory and cognitive collages (formed over generations and through collective memory) that flow in and out of focus over time. The medium of light becomes a vehicle for visualizing the poetic synergy between the physical and spiritual worlds.
Spirit Song (2026)
Patricia Search is a multimedia artist and full professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, New York USA) where she teaches digital art and interaction design. She received a Fellowship in Computer Arts from the New York Foundation for the Arts and was awarded a Fulbright Senior Specialists grant to work on interactive, multimedia projects with two universities in Sydney, Australia. She has exhibited her art in 44 solo exhibitions and multimedia installations, and participated in over 200 juried group exhibitions throughout the world. Her digital art has been published in 20 journals and three television documentaries including a PBS documentary. She received several awards for her digital art and interaction design research, including the Creative Achievement Award from the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) and best paper awards from IVLA and the World Conference on Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia. She served as Fulbright Ambassador for the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, President of the International Visual Literacy Association, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Visual Literacy. She also served on the Board of Directors for Amos Eno Gallery in New York City, the Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts (ISEA), and the International Visual Literacy Association.