Beyond the Brush explores how women artists working with physical media - paint, charcoal, clay, pencil - reconsider their communications and creative practice as artificial intelligence increasingly redefines the very nature of art itself.
Women, already historically marginalized in the art world, now face the disruptive presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in addition to myriad other systemic inequities they must continually confront in the course of their work. Carrie T. Welch weaves together concepts from communication, art history, AI and technology studies, and feminist inquiry to analyze how women artists whose work falls on the analog end of the spectrum must still make choices about incorporating or refusing AI in their own practice.
Welch examines the intersectionality of AI access and, drawing on 20 in-depth interviews, foregrounds women's lived experiences by recording and contextualizing those stories within the history of gendered oppression and erasure in the arts. Through a dual feminist and communication lens, Welch's analysis identifies key themes prompting us to consider the implications of AI in redefining human value, artistic meaning, and the evolving role of art, ultimately revealing a complex portrait of how women artists navigate creativity and visibility at a cultural crossroads.