The Ontario Crafts Council gratefully acknowledges the Canada Council for the Arts for their support of the OCC/OCAD presented CraftTalks series through a Jean Chalmers Special Projects Grant.

Presented by the Ontario Crafts Council in partnership with OCADU’s Material Art & Design Program

Taking place at OCAD University
100 McCaul Street, Toronto

craftandtheneweconomy.org

Craft and the New Economy is a one-day symposium that brings together international, national and local speakers to address the relationship between craft and issues of sustainable business practice, technology, DIY and social responsibility. The term ‘new economy’ does not simply address issues of recession and global connectivity, but the development of new tools, processes of engagement, and the role of craft in the 21st century. Craft and the New Economy is an opportunity to explore the complex terrain of craft as object, profession, and cultural intermediary.

Craft and the New Economy will be held at OCAD University, located in the Auditorium at 100 McCaul Street, Toronto. Please see Directions and Accomodations for maps and more details.

Generous support for the Craft and the New Economy symposium is provided by the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council. Special thanks go to the OCADU Material Art and Design Program for their ongoing partnership in the CraftTalks lecture series.

Craft and the New Economy is also generously supported by:

Primary Sponsor Organizations:

The Textile Museum of Canada, sponsor of Sheila Kennedy

Support Organizations:

The Gardiner Museum
Harbourfront Centre Craft Department
Sheridan College Crafts and Design Program
The Design Exchange
Toronto Craft Alert
City of Craft
The Glass Art Association of Canada

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

OCAD University, 100 McCaul St., Toronto.
Room 327 (third floor).
6:30 - 7:30 pm

Free to attend!

Pattern as a field of scholarship is vast, and truly interdisciplinary. It is an important factor in many branches of mathematics – group theory and transformational geometry are two examples – and of science, including biology and neuroscience. In the arts, pattern is a key principle of design, essential to performing and to visual arts. Finally, patterns of behaviour are deeply implicated in the ways human beings form and maintain communities and customs. The field of pattern thus must reside in a space between disciplines, not belonging entirely to mathematics, or art, or anthropology, and yet drawing from all of these. Patricia Bentley will share her ongoing research into patterns of cognition related to making, raising questions that problematize the essential nature of patterned representation from the perspectives of visual and material culture.

Patricia Bentley, BA, Hon. AOCAD, is a textile expert and award winning museum education specialist and exhibition designer. She has curated and designed several exhibitions, including Drawing with Thread, The Lion King of Mali, Dance of Pattern, The Blues, The Cutting Edge, and Magic Squares: The Patterned Imagination of Muslim Africa in Contemporary Culture.  

Craft & Culture: Making Things with Rachel MacHenry

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

OCAD University, 100 McCaul St., Toronto.
Room 327 (third floor)
6:30 - 7:30 pm

Free to attend!

Rachel will speak about her approach to textile design and how she seeks to support local cultural skills and knowledge. Based on understanding artisans’ specific areas of expertise, research into the culture and environment of the region, and knowledge of the marketplace, Rachel develops textiles in partnership with craft producers. There is a continuous interchange between the processes of research and design. This outlook is based on establishing and maintaining long-term relationships with artisan producers and their communities. Through this partnership design model, she creates contemporary textiles that are informed by tradition while supporting local communities and the maintenance of their cultural knowledge. Rachel will talk about new initiatives being taken by communities in Nepal to revive and develop local organic materials, natural dyes, and specialized skills, while supporting social and economic development. Rachel MacHenry's practice and research as a textile designer and maker focuses on sustainable, innovative design for functional textiles, developed in collaboration with craft producers. Working in partnership with communities, she designs for small-scale artisanal production. She has worked extensively with community-based co-operatives in South Asia to develop textile products using local materials for overseas markets. Her textiles have been produced with craft producers in Nepal and India and marketed in the United States, Europe and Japan. Retail clients have included catalogue companies, numerous museum shops as well as prestigious retailers such as Anthropologie, Barney’s Japan and Takashamaya.

Rachel has been involved in curating exhibitions related to textiles and design including, ”Spin Cycle; recycling and reclaiming textile traditions” and, “On Growth and Form: textiles and the engineering of nature”, both for The Textile Museum of Canada.  In 2007, she assisted in the establishment of the Contemporary Textile Studio Co-operative www.textilestudio.ca in Toronto. This co-op provides studio space for textile artists and designers to research, educate and produce, and Rachel continues to be an active member.

Rachel received her MA from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London (University of the Arts, London). She has also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and was a resident at the Craft Studios, Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. She was Head of Textiles at the Craft & Design Program, Sheridan College, Canada for 8 years and continues to maintain an active role as an educator.

Pragmatism and Decadence through Applied Research

Artworks by Andy Brayman and the Matter Factory

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

OCAD University, 100 McCaul St., Toronto.
Room 230 (second floor)
6:30 - 7:30 pm

Free to attend!

Brayman will describe his working process and discuss the resulting objects, which are born through a unique mixture of science and art. Specifically, his research into robotic fabrication and porcelain production will be presented.

"My current work comes from research into new technologies coupled with my long-standing interest in utility. While the forms are largely defined by conventions of function, the specifics of these forms and their surfaces are born from digital tools: software and hardware."

Andy Brayman holds a BA in sociology and a BFA in ceramics from the University of Kansas (1996) and an MFA in ceramics from Alfred University (1998). His work is a combination of traditional craft, industrial processes, and contemporary art strategies. At their best, his pots demonstrate an object’s potential to be both beautiful and cerebral. In 2005, Andy founded The Matter Factory in Kansas City. It is part artist studio, part laboratory, and part factory. In addition to producing objects of his design, the company contains a collaborative element. Guest designers and artists are invited to develop objects for production, which might otherwise have trouble finding an eager manufacturer.

matterfactory.com