Talking Craft - Event Series

How do craft and "making" affect the construction of who we are?

Craft is emerging an ever-more relevant reference in the discussion of technology and interaction. As material practices with long-standing social-economic traditions that shape and are shaped by their cultural spheres different craft provides distinct domains to explore how technology and human development intersect.
The Talking Craft series provides a platform to discuss particular craft practices and histories. Each event centers around a particular material, an invited speaker, and a panel discussion among designers, crafters, and scholars.
The main goal of these events is to question how crafts and making affect the construction of those involved, whether this might be on the personal level and reflected in individual developments or on a larger community level and through shared histories.
The event series receive(d) support from Georgia Tech's Serve Learn and Sustain program (SLS), the Digital Integrative Liberal Arts Center (DILAC), and the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) MS program at Tech.

The events are a collaboration between Georgia Tech's Digital Media program and the School of LMC and Georgia State University's Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design.
For more information email the organizers Michael Nitsche michael.nitsche[at]gatech.edu and Darien Oliver Arikoski-Johnson dajohnson[at]gsu.edu .

Hybrids - April 20th 2018

Friday April 20 2018 TSRB(GVU cafe) 85 Fifth Str Atlanta

Visiting Speaker: Amit Zoran
Panelists: James Hallam, Lamtharn Hantrakul, Moderator: Michael Nitsche

"I hope more makers, researchers, designers and scientists will explore the hybrid territories—territories that seek integration of the old with the new, rather than replacing it. I truly believe that innovation, while important, is limited and can’t serve as a source for instant cultural values. Culture is important and complex; let’s respect it and find a place to preserve what we did in what we do."
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Ceramics II - March 8th 2018

Wednesday Jan 14 2018 TSRB(auditorium) 85 Fifth Str Atlanta

Visiting Speaker: Del Harrow
Panelists: Jeff Campana, Rachel K. Garceau, Michelle Laxalt, Moderator: Darien Arikoski-Johnson (GSU)

"I work through a combination of old media and new media; forming clay directly by hand or in tandem with digital modeling and computer controlled machines. This way of working demands a continuous movement between the abstract and the concrete, between information and manual skill."
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Fabrics - February 14th 2018

Wednesday Jan 14 2018 TSRB(auditorium) 85 Fifth Str Atlanta

Visiting Speaker: Leah Buechley
Panelists: Jess Jones (GSU), Clint Zeagler (Georgia Tech), Julie Rhoad (Names), Moderator: Michael Nitsche (Georgia Tech)

“My thinking about design and technology is largely driven by explorations of materials and their affordances. So materials are always delightful. But the real-world adoption of tools I’ve designed and the prospect this presents for changing technology culture is perhaps what’s most exciting.”
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Ceramics I - January 26th 2017

Wednesday Jan 14 2018 TSRB(auditorium) 85 Fifth Str Atlanta

Visiting Speaker: Ehren Tool
Panelists: John A. Burrison (GSU), Darien Arikoski-Johnson (GSU), Moderator: Michael Nitsche (Georgia Tech)

"I just make cups. I would like to steal my artist statement. Written in stone on the Indiana War Memorial Building is 'To vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the world'. I would like my work to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the world. That is a lot to ask of a cup."
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