“Talking Craft” explores the creative practices of crafting and making. We target two events in the Spring term 2018 that feature an invited guest speaker, panel discussions, and connections to local creative communities. Each event will center around one material and one practice to allow students and faculty to recognize connections between particular practices, personal stories and technique, as well as material conditions.
Leah Buechley, the first speaker, is a designer, engineer, and educator. Her work explores integrations of electronics, computing, art, craft, and design. She has done foundational work in paper and fabric-based electronics. Her inventions include the LilyPad Arduino, a construction kit for sew-able electronics.
Craft as a material practice with long-standing social-economic traditions that are part of their cultural spheres are an ever-more relevant reference in the discussion of how technology and human development intersect. It allows a focus on material conditions that might be sidelined in a purely technological product-focused view and it asks questions about sustainability, creativity, and critical material practices.
The goal of “Talking Craft” is to provide an opportunity to discuss these questions. The events are centered around invited crafters/ designers to emphasize the interconnections between the practices of making, personal stories, and history. Next to the invited speaker, we will provide a discussion format with local crafters and scholars to widen the discussion. Where feasible, events will also include a practical component, such as a workshop, a lab tour, or a performance, to allow direct hands on engagement for participants.
Organized by Michael Nitsche in collaboration with Darien Oliver Arikoski-Johnson (GSU)