Learning Environments and Motivations: Photopolymer Course

Abstract

The digital embodiment of a craft process requires comprehensive knowledge and experience to master a hybrid form of art production; in which some of the operations have predetermined results whilst others depend on the care, judgement, and dexterity of the workman (Pye 1968). In a post-digital learning situation this demands a diverse range of skills, attention, and self-motivation to integrate new technology into traditional craftsmanship. I wanted to develop an active learning situation to motivate a diversity of learners through the intersection of tacit knowledge, machine tools and digital technology; where the master guides the apprentice through a series of demonstrations in a printmaking workshop, a photomechanical darkroom, and a digital media suite.