Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

As active artists, researchers, and educators, who have taught predominately technology-based courses in the university studio classroom for over 25 years, we have been dedicated to researching the studio learning experience of artists and designers. Over this time, art and design programs in higher education have adapted to better prepare graduates to be engaged digital natives. One noticeable outcome of this change, is that the act of creating in an analogue method within many studio classrooms has evolved and been modified to center around the learning of digital tools and production with digital output. As artists, we have consciously embraced the global use of digital tools, while also nurturing handmade and analogue practices. In our research, we were seeking to better understand how advocating and actualizing a reframing of digital and analogue practices with a global focus fosters a stronger visual literacy and creative process in our future classrooms. With a desire to reframe expectations of faculty and students in regards to digital practices, we saw a need for an investigation into, and dialogue on, what it means to be an artist/designer in a global contemporary studio context and how we, as educators, might respond to changes in tools, media, and output in the future. With our research into creative processes and the role of the digital and analogue in that process, we have catalogued a rich and robust terrain for artists and educators to reflect on and consider.