PORT ANGELES — The inaugural lecture of the First Fed Community Conversations will be with Alvy Ray Smith, co-founder of Pixar, on Monday.
First Fed is partnering with Field Arts & Events Hall at 201 W. Front St., in Port Angeles. The hall will be the venue for the series of discussions spanning the arts, sciences, and humanities. Monday’s Community Conversation, sponsored by First Fed and presented with the support of Barbara L. Noble and Joe W. Floyd, marks the launch of this lecture and discussion event series.
Monday’s event will be at 5:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public but RSVPs are requested at www.fieldhall events.org/tickets.
Smith co-founded two successful startups: Pixar, which was later acquired by Disney, and Altamira, subsequently acquired by Microsoft. He also served as the pioneering director of computer graphics at Lucasfilm, contributing significantly to the evolution of digital animation in the entertainment industry.
An original member of the Computer Graphics Lab at the New York Institute of Technology and as the first Graphics Fellow at Microsoft, Smith was at the forefront of technological innovation during the birth of the personal computer and the internet and played a significant role in the development of early color pixel technology, according to Steve Raider-Ginsburg, Field Hall executive director.
Smith,who has a doctorate from Stanford University, has received two technical Academy Awards for his work on the alpha channel and digital paint systems. He is credited with inventing the first full-color paint program and the HSV (or HSB) color transform, as well as co-inventing the alpha channel.
In 2021, Smith published “A Biography of the Pixel” with MIT Press. Copies of the book, which regards the history and impact of this fundamental element of digital imaging, will be available for purchase during the event.
Raider-Ginsburg said he is pleased by the new partnership.
“We have always envisioned Field Arts & Events Hall as a gathering space for our community, and a place where thought-provoking ideas could be presented and discussed,” he said.
“Thanks to First Fed Bank and other generous donors we are able to kick off Community Conversations.”
First Fed is among the supporters of Field Hall. It pledged $2 million to the development of the venue in 2022.
Field Hall will be open before the lecture at 4:30 p.m. to allow visitors time to explore the Field Hall Gallery, where“Creations of the Klallam People,” is on display. On Monday, the gallery will be open at Field Hall until 7 p.m.
For more information, see www.fieldhallevents.org.
