Creativity and Self in the Art and Design Studio Classroom: The Struggle Between AI, the Digital, and the Handmade

Abstract

During the past 20 years, art and design programs in higher education have adapted to prepare graduates to be digital professionals. One outcome of this change is that creating within studio classrooms has evolved to center on acquiring proficiency with digital tools and output. Based on our research, we advocate reframing digital and analog practices to foster a more haptic visual literacy and creative process across disciplines, creating a potential for innovation in art and design practices and a more student-centered environment. AI tools have become dominant in the everyday work of designers and many disciplines in the arts; we have broadened our investigation into how AI impacts ways of knowing and creative processes. We will share our inquiry into the studio classroom and our discoveries of creative practices where the digital and analog intersect. Our research into innovative methods and the role of the digital/AI and analog in that process has practical implications for artists and designers, providing a rich and robust terrain for reflection and consideration. The audience will gain an understanding of methods for reframing pedagogical instruction in higher education to advance a student-centered curriculum where the digital/AI and analog interconnect. We present a visual account of how educators across disciplines can nurture new strategies where AI processes specifically tangle and inspire analog-based practices. Of significance are how educators respond to future changes in tools, media, and output through artistic research, openly addressing identity, authorship, equity, and ways of knowing through creative processes.

Presenters

Carole Woodlock
Professor, Fine Art Photography, Rochester Institute of Technology, United States

Peter Byrne
Director School of Design, Rochester Institute of Technology

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

2025 Special Focus—Minds and Machines: Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms, Ethics, and Order in Global Society

KEYWORDS

Innovation, Creativity, Design, Art, Visual Literacy, AI, Analog, Action Research