Because you can store so much information on a CD-ROM, I have access to many more paintings than would be possible with slides. Unlike slides, CD-ROMs don't require much storage space, and I can easily reconfigure my lecture as often as I want. The future of computers in the graphic arts is almost without limit. Until fairly recently, the range of programs available for creating and manipulating images was relatively limited. As computers have become more powerful and easier to use, these programs have become tremendously sophisticated.
Students are less constrained by software today and better able to create anything they can imagine.
Color printers and other output devices have become highly affordable, removing what had formerly been a severe restriction to creating art on computers. Increasingly at Belmont Hill and in classrooms around the nation, the computer is being recognized as a general purpose tool that is as powerful in the hands of a creative artist as a pencil, brush or pen. Today, however, they are used more often as tools of communication. Perhaps that distinction is most apparent at Belmont Hill, an independent school for boys, located in Belmont, Massachusetts. Since the mid-1970s, when Belmont bought its first mainframe, the role of computers has evolved from a toy and a distraction to a valuable teaching tool that helps students explore art and the creative process in exciting new ways.