Different Starting Points

The starting points for this project were Franz West's Adaptives, which introduced the idea of making a sculptural form which could be worn or adapted to the body (or would require the body to adapt to the form), and the artist Katharine Willis's own work which included the use of CAD/CAM to manufacture components for reactive site-specific installations. In Franz West's work interactivity happens through direct play and response to the sculptures. In Katharine's work sensing mechanisms are often used to respond to sound, movement or temperature. Given more time, simple sensing devices attached to LED lights could have been incorporated into the range of possibilities or variations available to the students in their project.

This project could be equally well located in the school subjects of Art and Design, Design and Technology (D&T), or Information Communications Technology (ICT). Each of these subjects would have a different emphasis but would share many of the aspects of creative thinking, the design process and the use of new technology. The relevance to each of the three school subjects and examination syllabuses is explored in more detail in the curriculum section.

The creative focus could be located within fine art (as it was in this project), for instance, creating body sculpture or interactive site specific installations; in design and technology where starting points could be found within the fields of jewellery or graphic, product, textile or fashion design; or in an ICT/business context where awareness of contemporary business practice involving CAD/CAM could involve a visit to a design studio and production facility.

In a fine art context research and development could well be undertaken using CAD but then realised in more traditional media including the plaster, wire and recycled materials used by West, or ceramics. However, in the design and technology context, a glance at the equipment available to schools or technology centres, gives an idea of the CAM possibilities. For instance the Techsoft website

http://www.techsoftuk.co.uk/CADCAM.htm

shows a range of knife cutters which can cut out vinyl signs and logos; laser cutters which can handle more resistant materials; millers and routers which cut into sheet materials; lathes; and even a 3D Printer which creates three dimensional plastic objects from molten material responding to the dimensions of a virtual CAD model. Of course CAM could include the output off a humble ink jet printer to create iron-on transfers or computer controlled sewing machines in textiles.