Lesley Etherson– High School Web and Digital Arts Teacher
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
With 28 years of teaching experience, I am passionate about empowering students to explore their creativity through art and technology. I spent the first 10 years of my career teaching visual art at the middle school level before transitioning to high school, where I’ve specialized in digital art, web design, graphic design, and photography for the past 18 years.
Photography has always been my specialty, but I have recently discovered a new passion for creating and teaching art using Artificial Intelligence. On this page, you’ll find works created in Adobe Illustrator and with tools like the Midjourney AI art generator, showcasing the intersection of traditional design and cutting-edge technology.
My students are encouraged to experiment with a variety of techniques and mediums, and they have the option to integrate AI into their projects. Together, we are exploring the future of art, blending innovation with creativity in exciting ways.
Mastery Website, 2024-2025
This gallery of work draws inspiration from Yayoi Kusama, the renowned Japanese artist celebrated for her extensive use of polka dots. Kusama’s art spans paintings, sculptures, and immersive installations, all characterized by her signature dot motif. For Kusama, the meticulous process of creating hundreds of dots becomes a meditative experience.
These works were created using Midjourney AI and became a similarly reflective process for me. As a feminist artist, I am deeply interested in exploring women’s roles in society, both historically and in the present day. While creating this series, I was influenced not only by Kusama’s polka-dotted world but also by her description of the process as meditative.
Though I did find a sense of calm in creating a cohesive series, the intricate patterns themselves did not provide tranquility. Instead, their busy, layered nature felt emblematic of the tumultuous and complex world that women navigate today.
