Petaluma’s Stephen Milborrow will be taking his spectacular “Portrait Drawing Machine,” dubbed Monoti, on a little tour of local art galleries over the next couple of weeks, and they are both looking forward to meeting (and drawing) you.
Well, maybe the machine isn’t “looking forward” to the upcoming series of public appearances. It’s a machine. But it is being prepped and readied to engage with the public, who have been hearing a lot about AI and the future of technology but probably never expected to sit down and pose as an artificially intelligent contraption produces a gorgeously-detailed black-and-white drawing of their face.
The Portrait Drawing Machine ‒ part Etch-a-Sketch, part camera, part robot ‒ has, in fact, been programmed to draw gorgeous sketches, just like a human artist would.
Monoti even signs its work when it has completed the drawing. Each sitting takes about 10 minutes, and the resulting sketch is suitable for framing.
And makes for a great story to tell your friends!
Milborrow and Monoti will be at Petaluma’s Usher Gallery (1 Petaluma Blvd. N.) on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 9 and 10, from 1-5 p.m. On the following Tuesday, Aug. 13, from 5-10 p.m., they will be at San Francisco’s Sketch (111 Minna St.), and will then return to Petaluma for the next Arts Alive day on Thursday, Aug. 15, where they will be sketching portraits from 5-8 p.m. at Life On Art, 133 Copeland St.