Who is Abby Aresty?

One might expect a technical director and lecturer in the TIMARA department to have a related interest in sound, but did you know that Abby Aresty wore a traffic cone on her head in her preschool class photo? Learn more about Aresty in this installment of Who Am I?

Full Name: Abby Aresty 

Department and location on campus: Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) located in the basement of Bibbins Hall

How many years at Oberlin? Four

Job title: Technical Director and Lecturer 

What does your job entail? I manage the TIMARA studios and supervise the student workers who help to keep things running smoothly. I also teach classes in sound art, making, community-engaged art, and hybrid technologies, and manage a small lab of student workers who help with a variety of TIMARA-related community-engaged projects. 

Have you always had a fascination with music? Yes, I started playing the horn in the fourth grade.

TIMARA is such a unique artform. What is it about this genre that interests you? I'm interested in all things related to sound and listening. TIMARA's combination of music, technology, and related arts affords a great deal of room for creative experimentation around these themes and across disciplines. 

Favorite keepsake? The chuppah my mom wove for our wedding. 

Favorite place in Oberlin and why? Home. My second favorite place in Oberlin is the TIMARA studios, for obvious reasons. 

Favorite childhood memory? I have a group photo of my preschool class in which I am front and center, with a traffic cone on my head—the photo reminds me not to take myself too seriously.

Best vacation ever? Camping as a kid 

Any recent achievements you would like to tell us about? I'm super proud of all the work we have put into the Girls Electronic Arts Retreat over the past two years. 

Any new projects you would like to tell us about? I’m pretty excited about the throw pillow synthesizers we are making for the TIMARA lobby—shout out to Lily Lansdell and Kiera Saltz for all their work!

Hobbies? Dabbling in new things, especially crafts.

Nickname(s)? My favorite nickname, though it hasn't stuck yet, is Tabby, for all the web browser tabs I tend to have open.