ANAT’s first National Summer School in Computer Aided Design and Manufacture for Artists, Craftworkers and Designers, was held in Adelaide, 9 January – 3 February, 1989.Initiated by ANAT, this four-week intensive program was hosted by the Advanced Technology Education Centre, Regency College of TAFE in Adelaide.
Funding was attracted from the South Australian Office of Employment and Training, the Victorian Ministry for the Arts and the Premier’s Department of the Queensland Government. ANAT made a significant financial contribution towards the project.
Assisting the skilling of artists in the field of new technology has been one of ANAT’s primary aims since the inception of the Art & Technology Pilot Project (ANAT, March 1987) identified the severely limited opportunities for artists to acquire knowledge, skills and contacts in the field of high technology, thereby placing a fundamental limitation of the professional development of artists wishing to work within this area.
Underpinning ANAT’s aim to assist the skilling of artists in the use of new forms of technology is the conviction that the larger community will benefit through artists’ usage and development of high technology.
In addition to the development of new art practices and artworks, a range of other benefits will gradually accrue from the linkage between artists and new technology. Traditionally, Australian artists have operated within the margins of society, rather than within the economic and social mainstream. However, artists do have a critical role to play in the development of an innovative knowledge-based economy.
Through a wide range of mechanisms ANAT aims to assist artists to play a more central role in the development of a ‘productive culture’. The National Summer School in CADCAM has been the first major educational initiative undertaken by ANAT to address some of the key issues in this arena and has been perceived by all those directly involved (ie, the ANAT organisers, ATEC managerial and tutorial staff, Open Day guests and, most importantly, the participants themselves) as being a highly successful and worthwhile pilot program.
The following are the stated aims and objectives of the National Summer School in CADCAM:
- To assist the professional development of Australian artists through the acquisition and development of new technology-based skills
- To facilitate ‘technology transfer’, enabling artists to
- Impart knowledge about CADCAM processes to other artists and interested parties
- Transfer information and skills acquired to other CADCAM systems.
- To create new links between artists and industry
- To introduce artists to a range of practical and theoretical issues associated with the use of new technology.
- To promote the fruits of the National Summer School through a wide range of channels including mainstream and specialist media
- To exhibit the results of this and other ANAT-initiated programs in an international symposium /exposition planned for Australia in 1992
- To establish a model for future educational and skilling programs for artists in the area of technology.
Selection of Participants
The decision of the selection of the 12 participants was based on the following criteria: a balance of gender; location – to ensure a national representation of participants; art forms – to ensure a wide representation; age/experience – to ensure a wide representation; and artists’ capacity for networking and dissemination of knowledge gained from their participation in the Summer School.
Participants
- Hilary Archer/Wrigley (Vic), Art Educator/2D Multimedia Artist
- Virginia Barratt (Qld), Performance Artist
- Richard Brecknock (SA), Sculptor & Fabric Artist
- Pamela Harris (SA), Multimedia Artist & Printmaker
- Stephen Hennessey (Vic), Designer & Painter
- Diane Mantzaris (Vic), Printmaker
- Roger Noakes (SA), Sculptor
- Jennifer Oldfield (SA), Leatherworker
- Linda Wallace (Vic), Video Artist
- Ian White (WA), Jeweller & Leatherworker
Tags: intensive masterclass, interactive art, interdisciplinary collaborations
