Space Lace: An Interactive Kaleidoscope

Lucia Grossberger and Bob Bishop

Great Wave Software published our educational program, SpaceLace: An Interactive Kaleidoscope 1987

Carol Holzberg, Ph.D., reviewed SpaceLace for The Apple IIgs Buyer's Guide. This is an excerpt from the review: "What purpose does a program like SpaceLace serve? If this were the 1960s and a user was a self-identified hippie, providing a constantly changing color pattern on an RGB monitor might have an intrinsic "wow value." Nostalgia aside, Space Lace offers more than simple entertainment. It is a great learning tool and a valuable computer literacy aide."

Books and Software

Lucia Grossberger, Harry Vertelney and David Rifkind

Special Delivery Software, part of Apple Computer, Inc. 1982

A year after getting the Apple II Graphics Tablet and software, we got a glimpse of creating new tools. Harry and I understood the Apple II hardware and the software we were using. We designed the graphics program Designer's Tool Kit, which had significantly more tools. My focus was on how I could create more colors without adding extra hardware.

"Many artists consider Designer's Toolkit to be the best paint program available for the Apple II users. When first developed by artist Lucia Grossberger in 1982, it had many unique features, such as the ability to merge two images into one.

Says Grossberger, "I asked, 'What kind of program would I like to use?" Then I made the Designer's Toolkit with that in mind" IIComputing  June/July 1986

Designer’s Tool Kit

Applevisions: A Unique Approach to Assembly-Language Programming

Bob Bishop, Lucia Grossberger and Harry Vertelney

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1986

AppleVisions is a hands-on learning experience, an exciting software tool, and an essential reference manual all in one.

“I cannot imagine anyone completing Apple Visions without falling in love with the science of computers. The book is every bit as much a story as Lord of the Rings, with fantasy characters and intriguing plots, to those of us who really believe in a shimmering future for the world won by individuals pursuing "the right thing" - the perfect program. This is how the modern day computer hackers (pure information enthusiasts) are born.” Steve Wozniak.

On the Bridge Between Bolivia and Computer

Lucia Grossberger Morales

Amazon, 2015

In On the Bridge Between Bolivia and Computers, I documented my multimedia work from 1992 to 2002. Most of the work included interactivity, animation, sound, voice-over, music, and video. I was disappointed with the book because, even though it contained many color illustrations, the static images didn't represent the art.

Weaving Art with Computers

Lucia Grossberger Morales

Available on Apple Books, 2013

In 2012, Apple published iAuthor, a program for designing interactive, content-rich books. Using iAuthor, I included sound, voice-over, music, video, interactive images, interactive 3D movies, hyperlinks within the text, hyperlinks to the Internet, and limited interactivity. Bolivian weavings and the weavers inspire the artworks in this book. Weaving is the most essential art form for the Indigenous people of Bolivia. Weavings also play a role in the history of the modern computer. Charles Babbage, the inventor of the Analytical Engine, the first modern computer, figured out the logical workings of the computer but didn't know where to store the memory and the information. When he saw Jacquard Loom's punch cards, he found the answer. Ada, the countess of Lovelace, a contemporary of Babbage, was considered the first programmer. She wrote. "The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns, just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves."

Weaving Art with Computers describes works of the Indigenous people and how I reinterpreted weavings as a digital weaver.

Magic Light Box: My Art on the Apple II

Lucia Grossberger Morales

Available on Apple Books, 2018

Magic Light Box: My Art on the Apple II describes my decision, in 1979, to buy an Apple Computer, learn to communicate with a new intelligence, and eventually develop software packages, including Designer's Toolkit, Space Lace, and Applevisions.

The transition wasn't easy- from an intuitive painter to working on a very low-resolution computer with only four colors that responded to my commands, not my paintbrush. In the transition, I went from analog to digital. As a computer community, we were discovering what could be done on a computer. It was a new paradigm. Perhaps because I was fortunate to begin as an intuitive painter, I never lost sight of the role of human creativity and how we can collaborate with digital tools.