Infusing Art Into Tech: Skai’s Artist In Residence

At Skai, we have long believed that digital marketing is both an art and a science – a balance of creativity and technology to make an impact on consumers and achieve your goals.

Now, we’re taking the combination of art and science to a new level with a partnership with Code and Canvas. Skai is thrilled to be the first company participating in a pilot program sponsored by Code and Canvas that connects San Francisco-based artists with San Francisco-based tech companies to bridge the gap between the two and bring these communities closer together.

Skai’s been lucky enough to be paired with Nathan Richard Phelps, an artist who delves into perfection of forms through black lines and repetitive rules.

San Francisco’s typically been an extremely creative place, though rising rents have forced many artists to take refuge outside the city. We’re supporting Code and Canvas to help demonstrate that artists are vital to the city, and vital to tech companies as well. Not only are our office walls enriched by art, but the culture and fabric of our office is also positively impacted.

Having an artist in our midst has been fun on all sorts of levels – from a new mural boldly displayed at the front of the office, to the watercolor paintings we’ve been collaborating on, to the lunch & learns about the art world and how it works.

We’ve especially enjoyed sharing our own process with Nathan, describing how Skai’s algorithms work, the sort of data we look at, our UX process, and the services we provide to our clients. It’s informed his work, and his work is already informing ours.

Nathan’s passion and enthusiasm for this project can be seen in his work. Check out the progress on his incredible mural here:

To help get the word out on this project, we’re kicking things off in a public way at E6 Gallery on Thursday with an Art + Tech = US event. If you find yourself in San Francisco on Thursday, come on out!