OCAD U alumna appointed OAC Indigenous Arts Officer

Monday, January 7, 2019

The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has appointed Erika Iserhoff as new Indigenous Arts Officer. Iserhoff holds a Bachelor of Design in Material Art & Design from OCAD University, where she also taught in the Indigenous Visual Culture program.

Iserhoff is a founding member of the Chocolate Woman Collective, a group of artists with a shared interest in research, exploration and practical application of Indigenous aesthetic principles in all areas of the dramatic arts. She is also the co-founder of the Setsuné Indigenous Fashion Incubator, which promotes the creation and exhibition of new works by Indigenous artists working in fashion, textiles and crafts. Iserhoff was associate producer of Tributaries, the opening night of Toronto’s 2017 Luminato festival, at which she was also announced as the Emerging Laureate of OAC’s Indigenous Arts Award. In 2009, she received a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her work in costume design in Indigenous theatre.

Iserhoff is of Omushkego and Eeyou Cree heritage, and is a member of Constance Lake First Nation. She is based in Toronto with her family.

Erika succeeds long-time OAC Indigenous Arts Officer Sara Roque, who stepped down in 2018.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Student Designer – Design4 Program

Design4 logo
Thursday, August 23, 2018 - 8:30am

Note: Are you a current student who is looking to get paid work experience in design? See below for the link to the application form via the OCAD U Talent Network.
   
Design4 is a new externally funded initiative that introduces principles of experiential learning into the realm of paid professional opportunities for upper year students in the Faculty of Design at OCAD University, at both the Undergraduate (BDES) and Masters (MDES) levels. Design4 is geared towards current students in the Faculty of Design.

45 students will be selected to participate in Design4 and placed in smaller multidisciplinary groups of 3-4. Each group will be paired with an employment partner in one of the following sectors:

· Start-up/ new ventures (a small business that has just been started)
· SME private enterprise (small and medium enterprises that employ fewer than 500 employees)
· Arts and cultural (social and economic activity that focuses on artistic production)
· Social innovation/ not-for-profit entities (dedicated to furthering a particular social cause or advocating for a shared point of view)
 

Summary of Responsibilities:

The work will include creating solutions to various design challenges set by the employer. Students will be working on a part-time basis for 10 hours each week per student. Students will have mentorship and support from the employment supervisor, a dedicated Faculty member and a staff member from the Centre for Emerging Artists and Designers.

Where will the work happen?

On campus in the new Rosalie Sharp building (115 McCaul), as well as at the employer’s place of work.

Is this a paid opportunity?

Yes. You will be compensated for your time.

Required documents

  • A 250-word statement explaining why this program would be beneficial to you and outline your design skills and interests
  • Resume (max. 3 pages)
  • Student e-mail, student ID number, program, year of study
  • Provide a link to your portfolio (included on CV or resume)
  • Where you are based (eg address, Etobicoke or downtown Toronto etc)
  • Due to low enrollment at OCAD University, priority will be given to students who identify as Indigenous and/or Black. Do you self-identify as a Black* person or as an Indigenous* person of North America? (Please see definitions below)

 

 

If you don't have a web-based portfolio, you can create one for free as a student on Format (https://www.ocadu.ca/services/career-development/format.htm)

* Indigenous: those who self-identify as Indigenous Peoples of North America or Peoples of Turtle Island. This can include status and non-status First Nations, Métis, and Inuit as well as those with mixed/multi-racial/multi-national identities

* Black: a person who is of and/or a descendant of African peoples AND who experiences systematic racism based on that heritage.

Note: To apply for this job you need to have some documents uploaded to the Talent Network. 

APPLY HERE

Deadline to apply: September 13, 2018

MAAD-4001 Design 3 course and Baycrest Centre

MAAD-4001 Design 3 project with Baycrest Centre
Friday, January 12, 2018 - 12:00pm to Sunday, April 15, 2018 - 4:00pm

Inspired by the centennial anniversary of the Baycrest Centre, the students explored the history of the building, services and community involvement to develop their work. At the reception several students discussed the meaning behind the work and how the Centre inspired them. 

 

The exhibition of student work runs from January 12th to mid April. The project is led by Associate Professor Chung-Im Kim and features the work of ten MAAD students: Jillian Jerat, Natalie Karhu, Emily Moffet, Yovska Martinez Moreno, Charlize-Nhung Nguyen, Jaclyn Palanen, Nan Sun, Maria Tapal, Xingyu Yan, and Hannah Zbitnew.

 

Location: Winter Garden at Baycrest Centre, 3560 Bathurst St., North York

Venue & Address: 
Winter Garden at Baycrest Centre, 3560 Bathurst St. North York
Digital Screen: 

Thinking Through Craft and the Digital Turn

Thinking Through Craft and the Digital Turn is an ongoing research project.

Notions of craft and working by hand are inextricably linked in the popular imagination. Yet today's craft studios feature technological innovations such as 3D printing, laser cutting and computerized textile machinery. Students, faculty and technicians, in university studio departments, develop and explore the relationship of handwork to digital technologies daily. This study focuses on questions of how digital technologies intersect and combine with traditional, mechanical and hand fabrication processes, particularly the possible affordances of digital technology through embodied learning, a pedagogy of the whole body not just the intellect. The discourse is complex, however, autonomy and agency---the control of creative methods and output through materiality, tools and process---are central concerns in craft methodology. We interrogate the concepts of re- and deskilling as they pertain to craft and the digital turn.

In 2016, a study titled Craft, Pedagogy and the Digital Challenge sought to consider the place of teaching and learning digital craft at OCAD University from the perspectives of faculty, staff, and technicians. It identified the challenges of merging traditional techniques with the digital tools within an institution and finding ways of improving the gap between students, faculty, staff, technicians, and their work. OCAD Faculty, staff, and technicians who teach and facilitate traditional and digital craft methods provided insight and their perspectives through interviews.

Project Team:

     Dr. Lynne Heller (Material Art & Design) - Principal Investigator
     Dorie Millerson (Chair, Material Art & Design) - Principal Investigator
     Claire Bartleman - Graduate Research Assistant
     Ellie Manning - Undergraduate Research Assistant and Videographer
     Enna Kim - Undergraduate Research Assistant
     Keiko Hart - Research Assistant

Summary of study:

This research was inspired by the teaching environment of the Material Art and Design program, which includes the study of ceramics, jewellery and textiles practices. Research questions included, "What is the relationship between craft making traditions and the advent of advanced digital tools, and what are the pedagogical implications of that confluence"?

A number of faculty, staff and technicians who teach or facilitate digital craft methods were asked to participate in an interview for the Thinking Through Craft and The Digital Turn project. After consenting to participate in an interview and video, participants were given a list of questions in advance. Questions asked participants to discuss experiences in learning and teaching digital craft methods with reference to how they set goals or evaluate digital processes and what they see as the future of digital craft teaching. During the interviews PIs Heller and Millerson encouraged participants to answer or expand the questions in their own ways, which led to a variety of findings.

During the interviews RA Ellie Manning documented audio and visual material to create a video that was used in part to frame the presentation at the Canadian Craft Biennal (CCB) Conference on September 15th, 2017. In addition to the video, RA Claire Bartleman and PI Lynne Heller created a Research Wall in the host lab, the Data Materialization Studio. The Research Wall facilitated a visual and research-creation approach to the data collected and the theoretical stances being explored.

After the interviews, the research team chose a quote from each interview that best represented its participant. Quotes were then incorporated into posters designed by PI Lynne Heller. The posters were hung in the entrance to OCAD U during CCB conference proceedings. The intention in documenting and attributing quotes was to give a voice to the participants and draw attention to the findings of the project. The posters utilized a suffrage banner format as a framing device (based on the poster Standing Together ... by the National Women's Party, 1913-1920, as photographed in the exhibition Agitprop! at the Brooklyn Museum in 2016 by Alex Kittle).

The CCB Conference was well-attended and Hands on the Tech: Craft, Pedagogy and the Digital Challenge was scheduled for the session "Making Education: The Changing Nature of Teaching Craft", which was facilitated by PI Dorie Millerson and included papers from across the world. Heller and Millerson summarized their findings through the video, which was followed by a PowerPoint presentation. Afterwards, in a lively Q&A session, members of the audience asked questions about approaches to intersectional feminism within this context. The CPDC team described teaching practices that encourage students to investigate their own identities through their work and commented that there is an unequal gender representation in Material Art & Design that should be better understood and discussed. 

Moving forward, the Thinking Through Craft and The Digital Turn team is engaging student voices and collecting the findings, along with theoretical analysis, into an edited anthology focused on the relationship between teaching and learning digital craft. In order to expand the research across Canada the team has also applied for an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

The research team realizes the world of digital craft is a complicated topic that requires more time to theorize than simply referring to the binaries of digital and analogue. The team believes in providing a voice to OCAD U faculty, staff and technicians and is looking forward to extending this opportunity to students. The Principal Investigators are developing more research with the Faculty and Curriculum Development Centre along with pursuing more funding to augment this initial pilot project.

Click here to view the Craft, Pedagogy and the Digital Challenge video recorded and edited by Ellie Manning, Undergraduate Research Assistant.

A note on the Posters: The quotes that appear on the posters below were developed from each of the inverviews undertaken and include two quotes from the Principal Investigators. The posters were an amalgam of both digital and analogue techniques. The banner image is based on the sufragette banner Standing Together ..., by the National Women's Party, 1913-1920 (as photographed by Alex Kittle in the exhibition Agitprop! at the Brooklyn Museum, 2016). The quotes were 'typeset' in Photoshop and then the posters were printed in black and white. Researchers then hand-coloured the posters using pastels.

The posters are currently being exhibited in OCAD U's Office of Research and Innovation and Faculty and Curriculum Development Centre.

Photograph of CPDC posters exhibited on a wall at OCAD U.
Photograph of PIs Dr. Lynne Heller and Dorie Millerson and Head of Instructional Services Daniel Payne in front of a poster.
Poster reading "Beautiful expensive machines are pretty useless if people do not know how to use them" - Nick Hooper
Poster reading "I like working with the malfunctioning of a computer as the focus of investigation" - Stan Krzyzanovski
Poster reading "It is rare that you just push a button and the hand is not further involved in the making" - Marie O'Mahony
Poster reading "Materiality is the message" - Lynne Heller
Poster reading "Machines do not run themselves" - Laurie Wassink
Poster reading "Whether it is digital or analogue the subjectivity of the maker is paramount" - Kathleen Morris
Poster reading "The digital privileges the design process over making" - Dorie Millerson
Poster reading "The digital calls into question the whole meaning of craft" - Greg Sims
Poster reading "The term rapid prototyping is somewhat of a misnomer" - Darrell Currington
Poster reading "How can we use this technology but make it human" - Chung-Im Kim
Photograph of Lynne Heller and Dorie Millerson speaking about their research to faculty and students at OCAD U
Photograph of viewers examining the hung posters
Saturday, January 26, 2019 - 10:30am

MAAD Grads at Harbourfront Centre's Craft & Design artist-in-residency program

Friday, May 12, 2017 - 3:00pm

Congratulations to Material Art and Design Graduates Yu Han (Avis) Ho, Emma Schnurr, Kaley Flowers and Current Student Charlie Nhung Nguyen, who have been accepted into Harbourfront Centre's Craft & Design artist-in-residency program! 

Thank you also to Robert Mitchell, Ken Vickerson and Van McKenzie for holding "Mock Interviews" again this year to help our students prepare for their interviews.

TEXTILES
Yu Han (Avis) Ho - MAAD 2017
Emma Schnurr - MAAD 2017

CERAMICS 
Kaley Flowers - MAAD 2015

JEWELLERY
Charlie Nhung Nguyen - Current student  
 

About Harbourfront Centre's Craft & Design artist-in-residency program:

The Craft & Design Studio is a unique Canadian career-oriented program and facility. It is an artist-in-residency, incubator and training centre that uses a self-directed and transformative learning ethos, which is open to post-graduates demonstrating a thorough and comprehensive understanding, conceptually as well as technically, in one of five areas: Textiles, Glass, Ceramics, Design or Jewellery. We make long-term commitments to artists by offering a broad range of resources and opportunities. We play a significant role in the growth and promotion of craft and design as a creative discipline in Canada.