​As part of Gray Area's weekly Patch Bay series, Render Settings brings together visual artists, designers, and anyone interested in creative experimentation for a timed art-making challenge. Inspired by music producers transforming the same sample into entirely different tracks, the event invites participants to create original work from a shared starting point.

​The evening kicks off with Ratha Nou introducing a creative brief and a selection of source materials for participants to use to develop their own interpretations using their preferred tools and techniques. Digital and physical media are equally encouraged, from illustration, collage, and painting to graphic design, 3D, and motion.

​We’ll close with a group showcase, where everyone can share their work, discuss their process, and exchange feedback with the curator and fellow participants.

​This is a noncompetitive space to try something unfamiliar, trust your instincts, and connect with other creatives. Work in progress is welcome, and a polished result isn’t required!

​What to Bring

​Please bring the tools and materials you’d like to work with. Digital participants should bring a laptop with creative software installed, a charger, and headphones if working with sound.

​Basic familiarity with your chosen medium is recommended. This is a hands-on creative session rather than a step-by-step class.

​About the Instructors

​Michael “Mikey J” Jensen is a San Francisco based visual artist, motion designer, and founder of Render Settings. His practice spans 3D, animation, and creative technology, following a career as a touring musician and music producer with I M U R. As a founder of Loop Sessions Vancouver and Los Angeles, he brought music producers together to make music from a shared sample. Render Settings carries that spirit into the visual arts: bringing people together to experiment, share their process, and make something new.

​Ratha "Ra" Nou is a first-generation Cambodian American artist, born and raised in San Jose, who has spent the majority of his creative career living in Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.
For roughly two decades he has worked as a multidisciplinary artist, starting with illustration and apparel design, then moving into motion graphics, 3D animation, VFX, music video direction, documentary filmmaking, and music production. He is the founder and creative director of Stablished Projects, an Oakland-based creative studio focused on motion graphics, 3D animation, video, and visual storytelling. Its clients include Nike, Meta, Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, and the Golden State Warriors. He has also worked alongside studios and agencies such as Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Ntropic, Bonfire Labs, First Person, and Corduroy Media. Ra came up as a b-boy in the early 2000s, which became the foundation for how he approaches creative work. His craft comes from staying inspired by nature, good music, good friends, and from taking on a variety of creative challenges. That same spirit runs through the Stablished Projects apparel line, which is synonymous with "Work Ethic."
He is always a student, still evolving, and leading by example for the community that raised him.

​About Patch Bay:

​A weekly series of workshops, demos, and talks for media artists creative technologists in the Bay Area

​Wednesdays, 6 – 9 PM

​Patch Bay is a new weekly series for anyone in the Bay Area who wants to get hands-on with emerging technology, grapple with the big questions AI is raising in creative fields, and connect with the wider world of media arts, design, and engineering. It's a space to plug in for newcomers who want to get involved at Gray Area for the first time, and for longtime members of our community ready to share new, experimental work.

​We keep the format flexible from week to week, so there's room to experiment, talk, and learn. You might catch a workshop on building poetic tools for the web, a round of lightning talks on agentic AI experiments, an artist talk on immersive installations, or a live-coded audiovisual performance that turns code into sound and image in real time. No two weeks look the same.

​All Patch Bay events are sliding scale, NOTAFLOF.

​Got an idea for a future session?
Email learn@grayarea.org and tell us about it.
We especially want to hear from people who've been looking for a way to share their bold, critical, and creative work at Gray Area but weren't sure where to get started.