Outlook Magazine - Fall 2018

‘Future of technology and design’ School of Art and Design hoping for new lab to streamline printing, boost collaboration

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planned new design studio in the Applied Arts Building would act as a central hub for creative innovation in the fine art and design fields. The digital process lab would be a maker space — a design fabrication laboratory that would allow students to quickly bring digital projects to life using 3D printers, large format ink-jet printing, vinyl cutting and laser etching. “We want something that is looking toward the future of technology and design,” said Dave Beck, director of the School of Art and Design. “We need to provide hands-on technology. It’s important we create a lab and environment centered around that.” The lab would require about $250,000 in laboratory construction costs and furniture and about $110,000 in equipment. “It will give students that real-world experience and prepare them for the workforce with the technology you would find in this day and age and in the future,” Beck said. “We want to design for the future and envision the future.” In the roughly 5,000-square-foot lab, printers from throughout Applied Arts would be brought together in a safe, ventilated area. The lab also would house a materials library and audio/ visual resource center. Beck believes a centralized print area will help disciplines within the art and design mix create collaboratively.

The Child and Family Study Center is a university laboratory school committed to creating a link between educational theory and hands-on practice. Students from 12 undergraduate and graduate courses across campus have the opportunity to observe, participate, develop and execute lessons under the guidance of an experienced and highly qualified teaching staff. While its programming and curriculum continues to be state-of-the-art, the facilities have significant operational limitations and are not conducive to supporting the research and development needed to keep UW-Stout students at the forefront of innovative and evidence-based early childhood education. The Child and Family Study Center will serve as a catalyst for excellence and innovation in early learning and the preparation of future educators. Plans are being formulated for a new cutting-edge facility that will maximize the learning environments, for both UW-Stout students and the CFSC children, in addition to providing greater service to university and community families. THE CASE FOR The Child and Family Study Center

Rendering of digital process lab

Kimberly Loken, assistant professor of design, said as a polytechnic university UW-Stout needs to be hands-on and cutting-edge at every step in the curriculum and in project processes. “A central hub for maker activities would bring together approximately 1,000 students from all of the art and design majors and concentrations. It promotes interdisciplinary discovery and collaboration, all just a few steps from our traditional studio spaces,” she said. Rapid prototyping not only supports the design process but allows user-driven modification and manufacture, Loken added. Jennifer Astwood, associate professor of design, said the new studio would create professional opportunities for students. “Collaboration is essential to the polytechnic mission,” she said. “Students will be using the ‘making’ tools that they will utilize after they leave UW-Stout.”

UW-Stout’s art and design programs began in 1965 with 85 students and have grown to 1,017 students, the largest public higher education art and design program in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North and South Dakota. School of Art and Design students make up about 14 percent of on-campus undergraduate students. MORE THAN 1,000 Art & Design Students

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