Welcome to the eStudio
The
eStudio is a co-laboratory,
a peer-to-peer research and learning studio that encourages students to experiment across media to re-imagine the digital and physical worlds. The eStudio positions the arts at the center
of interdisciplinary collaboration. An open and welcoming approach encourages novices
and experts to share the successes, challenges, failures, and surprises that they
encounter in their learning and research activities. The eStudio
is a nexus for students in art to collaborate with and become familiar
with research approaches among students in diverse disciplines including architecture, electrical engineering, design, mechanical engineering, theater, computer science, gender, women, and sexuality studies, creative writing, dance, biology, and music.
The
array of digital technologies in the eStudio were selected to support
students as they learn the languages and processes common to emerging, programmable,
machines. These include digital fabrication machines that sew, fuse, cut, etch,
3d print, draw, engrave, paint, solder, fasten, and collaborate as well as
technologies for 3d scanning, augmented reality, and programmable electronics
that require little or no prior knowledge of programming or electronics. In general the
technologies in the eStudio are examples of those that are within reach of students post
graduation.
Our goal is to encourage artists, individually and collaboratively,
to gain fluency with the ways of thinking common to digital technologies and to
retune these technologies to support their artistic visions.
Our physical home is in W206 Regis Center for Art.
Questions? Email estudio@umn.edu
Check in later for upcoming events!
Don't forget to check out our examples and blog pages for projects that have been done in the past. Want to add yours to the blog? Click here to submit!
Events:
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| panorama of the estudio space |
The eStudio origin story:
Sparked by her commitment to engaging artists with emerging technologies and inspired by her earlier collaborations at the MIT Media Lab, Diane Willow founded the eStudio in 2010. Just as the now global MIT Fab Lab concept was taking form in 2002, she led the studio-based symposium Digital Dialogues: Technology and the Hand. As the lead collaborator from the Media Lab, she was the catalyst for inserting digital technologies into the material-based studios of Haystack Mountain School. Digital Dialogues brought together artists whose practices were based in the material world and researchers and artists who were exploring a hybrid zone that connected the material and digital worlds. This dynamic experience led her to imagine an interdisciplinary, multi-modal, hybrid space that would prioritized the interests of artists and the questions that motivate us. To create this experimental and collaborative environment, she founded the eStudio by moving the technologies that she used in her research and teaching out of a classroom and into an open studio called the eStudio.
Although the eStudio is home to many machines, it is a people-centered space, a socially engaged environment that supports people as they experiment with new ideas. Open to art students working in any medium, it is a space that also encourages interactions among people from any discipline. At heart it is a place that invites community, serendipity, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration. The process of making art with digital technologies and programmable machines requires a playful attitude, a willingness to learn new things, and a generosity of spirit that encourages sharing what you know with others.
With the support of 2016-17 and 2017-18 Academic Innovation Grants, UROP awards, and CLA Dean's Freshman Research and Creative Scholars, a dynamic group of highly motivated undergraduate students are working with Diane to communicate the potential of the eStudio to students and faculty in the Department of Art and across the University. Together we work with students and faculty in classes and individually, present participatory open studios called Exploratoriums, host this blog, and are collaborators in the CLA Embodied Technologies Collaborative Workshop. We are committed to opening the eStudio as much as possible and to creating an inclusive and creative space.
People
Prof. Diane Willow
About: eStudio founder and creative catalyst
professor in the areas of interdisciplinary art + participatory culture
Teaching: I often teach these art courses:
Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Sound Art, Making Art Interactive
I also teach in Architecture, Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Occasionally I co-teach with a Biologist
Expert in: creating physical and conceptual spaces for interdisciplinary collaboration, advocating for the arts at the center of art, science, and technology collaborations, making new technologies accessible to artists, using the languages of the senses and embodied experience in multi-modal art, proposing the practice of culturing technology, making art "by any medium necessary".
Current Projects: By Any Medium Necessary is the title of her forthcoming book. She is in process with two participatory public art works: In the Public Eye and Freedom of Movement.
Diane is also the catalyst for the current IAS Research Collaborative, ArTe [Art + Technology]. ArTe is focused on an intercollegiate initiative that would situate the arts at the center of an art and technology initiative at the University of Minnesota.
eStudio Research Assistants
Vanessa
About: emo extremo. Everyone is an artist! Focused on interdisciplinary approaches and combining art and science (they/them)
Major: Biology, Society, and Environment.
Expert in: Embroidery, Axis-draw, Vinyl-Cutting, and Chillin
About: emo extremo. Everyone is an artist! Focused on interdisciplinary approaches and combining art and science (they/them)
Major: Biology, Society, and Environment.
Expert in: Embroidery, Axis-draw, Vinyl-Cutting, and Chillin
Hours: Thursdays 3pm-5pm, Fridays 9am-1pm
Maia
About: paddling, writing, hiking, teaching, spreading joy! Art is for everyone! (she/her/hers)
About: paddling, writing, hiking, teaching, spreading joy! Art is for everyone! (she/her/hers)
Major: Mathematics
Expert in: Embroidery Machine, Ultra Sonic Welder, Vinyl Cutter, AxiDraw
Hours: 9am-1pm Tuesdays and Thursdays
Jamal
About: snowboarding, skateboarding, sound art, visual art, creation, adventure!! (he/him/his)
Major: Art
Expert In: nothing, average at everything!
Hours: 12pm-3pm Tuesdays and Thursdays
Natalia
About: I make animated short films, comics, and emo poetry no one will ever be allowed to read. As the child of two Russian immigrants, I grew up watching some dope Soviet cartoons (Watch the Russian Winnie the Pooh on Youtube.) I’m currently back in the eStudio to complete a short film called “Creator” as part of a URS, but I started as a DFRACS research assistant in 2019
Major: Art BFA and Studies in Cinema and Media Culture
Expert In: I animated some gifs using the digital embroidery machine, which means I’ve stitched a bajillion images with it. Come make patches with me, or embroider a hat! I am also very comfortable with the vinyl cutter, sewing machine, and the Cintiq, along with the Adobe Creative Suite.
Hours: Wednesdays 1-6
eStudio Alumni
Jiang
About: DIY lover, Crazy cat lady, interested in generating weird but funny stuff. Always changing ideas.
Art is my life~ (She/Her/Hers)
Major: Journalism with a minor in art and computer science
Expert In: Vinyl Cutter, Touch boards, Sewing Machines
Art is my life~ (She/Her/Hers)
Major: Journalism with a minor in art and computer science
Expert In: Vinyl Cutter, Touch boards, Sewing Machines
Asia
About: MFA Student (she/her/hers)
Expert In: Many things! Excellent to bounce ideas off of
Dana
About: playing outside and cartoons!! also regular tunes, backcountry adventures, and critical theory (She/her/hers)
Major: Art with a focus in animation
Expert in: Cintiq stuff, Adobe Suite, Maya, Crash bandicoot
About: MFA Student (she/her/hers)
Expert In: Many things! Excellent to bounce ideas off of
Dana
About: playing outside and cartoons!! also regular tunes, backcountry adventures, and critical theory (She/her/hers)
Major: Art with a focus in animation
Expert in: Cintiq stuff, Adobe Suite, Maya, Crash bandicoot
Max Research Assistant
About: Skateboarding internet video freak, low-tech hacker, and advocate for computer literacy, accessibility, and programming. Interested in movement, digital art, and creative collaboration.
He/him/his.
Major: Individualized Studies with focus in Sign language, computer science, and art
Expert in: Dremel 3D Printer, Vinyl Cutter, Ultra Sonic Welder, OtherMill
Madeline
Research Assistant
About: Interdisciplinary artist (photo, dance/performance, drawing, etc). Believes everyone is/can be an artist. Collects tiny things. Loves collaborative projects, experimenting with ideas and thinking aloud. She/her/hers.
Major: Individualized Studies with a focus in Design, Cultural Studies + Comparative Literature, and Mass Communication
Expert in: Wacom tablets, Embroidery Machine, Sewing Machine, AxiDraw, and currently learning OtherMill and Vinyl Cutter
Macey
Research Assistant
About: 2016 - 2017, Loves trying new things and pushing machines to their limits. Open to brainstorming if visits are stuck with where to go next. Enjoys experimenting with new materials.
Major: BFA Sculpture + Minor in Comparative U.S. Race and Ethnicity
Expert in: AxiDraw, Sonic Welder, Wacom Tablets, Soldering Station
Dan
About: 2016- 2017 Volunteer,loves combining physical art and digital art, negative space, and simple body language.
Major: Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Design (combo of graphic and product design)
Currently learning all the machines and knows the basics for all.
Cat
About: 2011-2016, 5 year veteran of the eStudio, expert in combining design and art together in a hands-on process.
Major: BFA Graphic Design + BFA Fine Arts
Expert in: Embroidery Machine, Vinyl Cutter, Wacom Tablets, Ultra Sonic Welder
