Mandate
To record how academics and students in Canadian post-secondary craft programs articulate and understand the synergies between craft and digital technology...
History
This research evolved from two pilot studies which surveyed participants who use both traditional craft processes and digital tools. The interest engendered by these initial pilot projects encouraged this conversation with the larger academic craft community...
read moreTeam
Thinking Through Craft and the Digital Turn is a collaborative effort between Alberta University of the Arts, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, NSCAD University, OCAD University and Sheridan College...
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Craft and the Digital: Navigating the Folds
Thinking/Sinking into the Folds of Craft and the Digital Turn
Shiny New Toys: A History of Digital Technology in Canadian Post-Secondary Craft
IOTA 2021 Futuring Craft
An Exploration of Research Creation,
through exploration, innovation and invention!
Integral to our research is the production of visual representations of our enquiry which will be documented on an ongoing basis for inclusion in our exhibitions, articles and presentations.
RESEARCH INITIATIVES
Anne Kyung-Jin Lee, My Home, My Identity, 2016
Laser cut walnut wood, 3D printing forms castin sterling silver and brass, Hanji paper
photo: Nicholas Kalimin
With the support of OCAD University through seed funding, a SSHRC Institutional Grant, and a program to integrate graduate students into research labs, Gradlinks, we have completed a pilot project, titled Craft, Pedagogy and the Digital Challenge. We gathered qualitative data about attitudes to craft, pedagogy and digital tools through interviewing faculty, technicians and administrators at one institution. We then designed a research-creation response and delivered a conference paper on the findings.
Another significant pilot project was undertaken by MAAD faculty and the Faculty and Curriculum Development Centre (FCDC) at OCAD University, specially designed to address student experience and course-based research. It involved gathering and analyzing perspectives of students and project-based work that used applications of digital technologies and machinery in craft design and production. Issues that became apparent in the initial pilot project were further examined in this study of the perceptions of and experiences students had while learning digital technology in textiles and jewellery classes. A conference paper was delivered on the initial findings.
As craft and material culture scholars, educators and practitioners we are often confronted by critical questions, namely: “What are the affordances, if any, of digital technologies in the craft studio in relation, for example, to innovation, social practice, and alternative ways of learning and knowing?”; “What are the ways that makers work with digital technologies that are informed by craft methodology—a primary engagement with materials, process, tools and networks?" Those are some of the questions that we will be exploring in phase 03 of this cross-country project—Thinking Through Craft and the Digital Turn.
“Beautiful expensive machines are pretty useless if people do not know how to use them”
Nick Hooper
“How can we use this technology, but also at the same time make it human?”
Chung-Im Kim
“Machines do not run themselves.”
Laurie Wassink
“The term rapid prototyping is somewhat of a misnomer.”
Darrell Currington
“The digital calls into question the whole meaning of craft.”
Greg Sims
“Whether it is digital or analogue the subjectivity of the maker is paramount.”
Kathleen Morris
“It is rare that you just push a button and the hand is not further involved in the making.”
Marie O'Mahony
“I like working with the malfunctioning of a computer as the focus of investigation.”
Stan Krzyzanowski
“The digital privileges the design process over making.”
Dorie Millerson
“Materiality is the message.”
Lynne Heller
THANKS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to our OCAD University research assistants who were part of our pilot projects:
Claire Bartleman, Enna Kim, Ellie Manning, Keiko Hart
Thank you to all those who participated in our initial pilot project:
Darrell Currington, Nick Hooper, Chung-Im Kim, Stan Krzyzanowski, Kathleen Morris, Greg Sims, Marie O’Mahony, Laurie Wassink
Our very able video demonstrators are: Darrell Currington, Mark Jaroszewicz, Jillian Jerat, Dorie Millerson
Unless otherwise noted all photography on this site by Lynne Heller and Dorie Millerson.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Emily Carr University is situated on unceded, traditional and ancestral xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ(Tsleil-Waututh) territories.
NSCAD University is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet), and Passamaquoddy Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726. The treaties did not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognized Mi’kmaq and Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations.
OCAD University acknowledges the ancestral and traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe and the Huron-Wendat, who are the original owners and custodians of the land on which we stand and create.
Sheridan College acknowledges that for thousands of years this has been and still is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations, Anishinaabe Nation, Huron-Wendat and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Sheridan College sits on these lands and it is our collective responsibility to honour and respect those who have gone before us, those who are here, and those who have yet to come. We are grateful for the opportunity to be working on this land.
PARTICIPATING IN THE PROJECT
We welcome your participation in our initiatives. We will be conducting surveys, organizing exhibitions and writing for publications to name a few activities. If you would like to become involved or just be part of our mailing list, please get in touch with us.