Recently, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Provost's Office, in conjunction with the Digital Future Planning Committee, awarded the Art & Design Department $10,000 for the creation of a Digital Craft Research Lab.
The Digital Craft Research Lab will provide undergraduate, graduate students and researchers with access to new computer assisted design (CAD) and computer assisted manufacturing (CAM) technology called rapid prototyping. The Digital Craft Research Lab will place these tools directly in students hands and place UWM along side of leading Jewelry and Metalsmithing programs in the country already incorporating this technology into their curriculum. Access to Rapid Prototyping technology will provide a critical advantage to UWM students for career advancement. Rapid prototyping is becoming standard practice in art, design, consumer products, automotive, aerospace, and medical products industry, to name a few. The goals of the Digital Craft Research Lab are to provide students and faculty with the tools and space to collaborate and foster innovative, creative research as well as to educate students for the future. The lab will help to facilitate interdisciplinary craft research.
Digital Fabrication and Craft
Short description: This course provides a survey of the different fabrication methods, materials and techniques used to solve problems encountered in the design of physical objects, with an emphasis on computer numeric controlled fabrication and exploration into digital fabrication and craft.
Course Concept: Emphasis will be placed on the ability of rapid advances in fabrication technologies to explore the hybridization/combination of materials and processes. This is supplemented with discussion about digital fabrication including 3D scanning, CNC programming and machining, 3D printing, and laser cutting. Emphasis will be placed on joining hand fabrication and digital fabrication to define a personal strategy for innovation in ‘making.’
