AI: Artistic Interpretations, Studio Art Quilt Associates
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Featuring 35 artists, AI: Artistic Interpretations examines the rapidly evolving relationship between human creativity and artificial intelligence. When asked if it can create art better than a human, ChatGPT responds, “I can produce artworks quickly, combine styles, and iterate without fatigue, but ‘better’ is subjective—humans bring intention, emotion, and lived experience. I excel at tools and variation; humans excel at meaning. The best art often comes from human–AI collaboration.”
Many artists, creators, and designers worry artificial intelligence will reduce art to mere data or algorithms, replacing their carefully honed skills and creative genius, potentially rendering them obsolete. Others see it as an opportunity to expand imaginative possibilities and explore new forms of expression. To them, AI is a collaborative tool. The fear is real, as is the endless potential, with both sides taking passionate stands. The artists in this exhibition embrace, question, resist, or reinterpret AI’s role in artistic practice:
Susan Polansky exuberantly embraces AI with her Self Portrait, stating, “I am excited to engage with artificial intelligence!! Once limited to science fiction and specialized fields, it is now on my desktop— and I get to be in the first wave of everyday users.” She views the technology as a collaborator, a method for generating novel ideas.
Marisa Marquez views AI as a means to an end, exploring that idea in her work Stitched Syntax. “Just as sewing machines, digital embroidery, and design software expanded our artistic possibilities, AI now emerges as another powerful, yet human-guided tool. This piece celebrates how fiber artists continue to adapt and enrich tradition with technology—not to replace the maker’s hand, but to amplify it.”
Kathy Nida, piece AI is Not My Friend makes her position clear. “Don’t get me wrong, I use AI for work all the time. But I don’t want it to take the place of my creativity. I don’t want it to replace the weird contortions my brain gets into trying to figure out how to make the next piece of art. That’s my joy. That’s what makes life amazing.”
Ultimately, the question isn’t whether AI can make art better than a human—it’s what we want art to be. This exhibition doesn’t offer a definitive answer; instead, it invites viewers to reflect on the evolving relationship between creativity and technology.
Organized by Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), the exhibition was juried by LSU professors Golden Richard III, Ph.D., Brendan Harmon, Ph.D., and LSUMOA Chief Curator Michelle Schulte. AI: Artistic Interpretations will travel nationally following its debut in Baton Rouge.
on view February 5–May 10, 2026
The LSU Museum of Art (LSUMOA) is pleased to announce two major spring exhibitions opening in February 2026: AI: Artistic Interpretations, Studio Art Quilt Associates and Daphnis and Chloe and Other Lovers: Lithographs by Marc Chagall. Together, these exhibitions offer powerful reflections on human creativity—one through the lens of emerging technology and contemporary fiber art, and the other through the timeless, luminous world of Marc Chagall.