Fine Arts and Design

Project

COVID-19 lockdowns, changes in schedules, and events being cancelled have increased stress and anxiety levels. This low-cost solution will be developed specifically for marginalised communities that may not be able to justify the cost of the existing technologies. The solution will also incorporate traditional well-being practices to improve Whānau Ora (Healthy Families) and Mauri Ora (Healthy Individuals).

This project is to test and further develop a mobile app to help people self-manage anxiety or stress (Inner PEACE).

We have developed a prototype app and need 2-3 students to help with user testing. We need 1 student to help program the app based on user feedback.

Skills needed: Basic knowledge of user testing, and the programmer needs to have competent programming skills.

The project supports transdisciplinarity and is aimed at improving the health and well-being for all.

The result will be a polished app uploaded to the Google App Store (Google Play).

We also plan to publish the results of the user testing in a peer-reviewed conference proceeding.

This project supports my research agenda of exploring how technology can help improve our lives. The app will be free to ensure equitable outcomes for our communities.

To conduct the project, the supervisor will select up to 4 students.

Project

Dr Barbara Ribeiro has been coordinating and teaching undergrad and postgraduate courses that she designed with a focus on sustainability transitions. The sustainability framework she created has been helping students across multiple cohorts to break down wicked challenges into more manageable parts and work on their designs and innovations as contributions to more sustainable futures. Her sustainability framework is the foundation of the book she is writing, which includes Dr Barbara’s signature pedagogy.

The student will work alongside Dr Barbara to scope and review literature on experiential and active learning methods and explore their application through her sustainability framework. Dr Barbara has been refining her sustainability framework through research and teaching since her theoretical contribution was published by the Sustainability journal: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169367. The student’s work will provide the foundation for designing new action learning dynamics Dr Barbara will explore in class in 2024 and will contribute insights to the book she is writing.

The scholarship will run from mid-November 2023 to end of February 2024 and candidates can contact Dr Barbara at b.ribeiro@auckland.ac.nz for support on their proposals. There will be one opportunity for feedback before submission.

Requirements: willingness to read and write about experiential and active learning methods with a focus on sustainability concepts and case studies. The ability to design diagrams and write well is an advantage.

Project

Dr Barbara Ribeiro leads a transdisciplinary research project about coupling social food reconnection with pollinator biodiversity in the public space through regenerative place-making design.

This project puts forward a vision for turning food into a public service for people and pollinators to enjoy, rather than a product to be consumed. For an overview of this project, you are invited to watch this 2-minute video: https://youtu.be/aqqBG0eWy6k

The summer scholarship constitutes an opportunity to contribute to the cultural component of this transdisciplinary research. During the development of the Waharoa implementation explored in the video, this component took the shape of māra kai - gardening for food. The wider research team needs more information on that component, and such insights may also contribute to the Food Design course Dr Barbara directs, which focuses on design innovation for more sustainable food futures.

The student will work alongside Dr Barbara and other research team members to scope and review literature focusing on māra kai and map and explore related Māori case studies. With the team’s support, the student will explore articulations between pathways to more sustainable food futures and māra kai in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The scholarship will run from mid-November 2023 to end of February 2024 and candidates can contact Dr Barbara for support on their proposals. There will be one opportunity for feedback before submission.

Requirements: Willingness to read and write about food transitions to sustainability and Māori knowledge, specifically in the context of māra kai - gardening for food. The ability to design diagrams and write well is an advantage.

Project

The student scholar will assist in the production of a short-run publication printed by Brittle City Press, Campbell’s publication imprint.

Brittle City project is one of Campbell’s core research projects and includes personally authored creative works as well as collaborations, facilitated publications and editorial projects. Brittle City Press produces short-run, hand-printed publications on an Asbern Letterpress housed in Campbell’s home studio, utilising her extensive collection of monotype as well as CNC routing, laser cutting and polymer plate technologies. By facilitating access to the letterpress facility, Campbell seeks to empower creatives to bring to light necessary bodies of knowledge through the tactile act of publication.

This proposal is for assistance to produce the publication described below, while also anticipating that student scholar will produce their own Brittle City Press publication under Campbell’s guidance.

The proposed summer scholarship proposal is consistent with Campbell’s larger vision for Brittle City Press, which is to allow a rich diversity of creative voices direct access to tactile print-publication technologies in order that essential knowledge be surfaced and sustained. In the terms outlined by Taumata Teitei, the proposed research output is oriented toward an ethic of active service. It is collaborative, multilingual, promotes Te Reo and other Pacific languages, works toward sustainable production methods and is produced in partnership with an organisation focused on community wellbeing.

The project:
Auckland is New Zealand’s most culturally diverse city, with over 100 ethnicities and more than 150 languages spoken. This project is a response to this increasing cultural and language diversity in our schools.

Our goal is to produce the first in a series of interactive children’s book sets translated into languages commonly spoken by families in Tamaki Makaurau. The book will be co-authored by Campbell and her partner, primary school teacher Jonathan Behar, with bright, simple graphics designed by Campbell in collaboration with the summer scholar.

It will be focused on manipulative and interactive mathematics in the spirit of Herve Tullet’s “Press Here” and Taro Gomi’s “I know numbers.” The text will be translated into the multiple languages spoken in Behar’s year-2/3 classroom and published as a short-run multi-lingual boxset on Campbell’s Brittle City letterpress.

We anticipate printing the boxsets in an edition of 25, with each box containing one book written in each of the following languages: Te Reo, Samoan, Fijian, Tongan, Mandarin and English. We are embracing letterpress’s capacity for short-run flexibility, while using the project to address a key challenge of this traditional print technology – which is the lack of macrons, glottal stops and special characters that are essential for working with physical type in Māori and Pacific languages. Campbell has been building a collection of macronized wooden type via CNC technology for some time, and this project will put that work to use.

Tasks for the summer scholar will include working with writers and translators to refine book design; preparing letterpress characters including macronized vowels and special characters for CNC routing in Rhino software; preparing polymer plates; type setting and letterpress printing.

Candidates with experience in photography, print making technologies, letterpress and book design/production, Adobe Illustrator and/or Rhino software preferred.

Proficiency in te reo or any of the other specified languages a plus.

Project

The student scholar will assist in the production of a short-run publication printed by Brittle City Press, Campbell’s publication imprint.

Brittle City project is one of Campbell’s core research projects and includes personally authored creative works as well as collaborations, facilitated publications and editorial projects. Brittle City Press produces short-run, hand-printed publications on an Asbern Letterpress housed in Campbell’s home studio, utilising her extensive collection of monotype as well as CNC routing, laser cutting and polymer plate technologies. By facilitating access to the letterpress facility, Campbell seeks to empower creatives to bring to light necessary bodies of knowledge through the tactile act of publication.

This proposal is for assistance to produce the publication described below, while also anticipating that student scholar will produce their own Brittle City Press publication under Campbell’s guidance.

The proposed summer scholarship proposal is consistent with Campbell’s larger vision for Brittle City Press, which is to allow a rich diversity of creative voices direct access to tactile print-publication technologies in order that essential knowledge be surfaced and sustained. In the terms outlined by Taumata Teitei, the proposed research output is oriented toward an ethic of active service. It is collaborative, works toward sustainable production methods and is produced in partnership with an organisation focused on community wellbeing.

The project:
Māpura Studios is a creative space located in Fowlds Park, St Lukes, five-minute’s walk from Campbell’s home and the Brittle City Press studio. Māpura is a unique art studio, specialising in art therapy and connecting people living with the effects of stroke and other disabilities through art making. They offer inclusive, multi-modal art classes and art therapy programmes for people of all ages, diversity and need, as well as the wider community. These include visual art, music, cartooning, dance, performance and therapy programmes.

Campbell is working with musician and Māpura facilitator Stefan Neville to produce a short-run publication by and for Māpura artists on the Brittle City Letterpress.

The Summer scholar will be tasked with developing simple and direct reproduction technologies that are accessible to Māpura artists; translating artist’s visions into letterpress-ready plates, typesetting and printing those plates and binding the books.

The ideal candidate would have an interest in art therapy and arts pedagogy.

Project

The student scholar will assist in the production of a short-run publication printed by Brittle City Press, Campbell’s publication imprint.

Brittle City project is one of Campbell’s core research projects and includes personally authored creative works as well as collaborations, facilitated publications and editorial projects. Brittle City Press produces short-run, hand-printed publications on an Asbern Letterpress housed in Campbell’s home studio, utilising her extensive collection of monotype as well as CNC routing, laser cutting and polymer plate technologies. By facilitating access to the letterpress facility, Campbell seeks to empower creatives to bring to light necessary bodies of knowledge through the tactile act of publication.

This proposal is for assistance to produce the publication described below, while also anticipating that student scholar will produce their own Brittle City Press publication under Campbell’s guidance.

The proposed summer scholarship proposal is consistent with Campbell’s larger vision for Brittle City Press, which is to allow a rich diversity of creative voices direct access to tactile print-publication technologies in order that essential knowledge be surfaced and sustained. In the terms outlined by Taumata Teitei, the proposed research output is oriented toward an ethic of active service. It is collaborative, works toward sustainable production methods and develops techniques and methods that enhance environment and community wellbeing.

The project:
Developing natural pigments and natural fibre and recycled papers for short run publication.

This project supports the growing interest in sustainable and non-toxic material practices in print. There is a growing interest in such practices at Elam, which Campbell has been supporting through material exploration in her “Art and the Anthropocene” FA246 and FA247 and FA222 printed matter courses and by proposing investment in technology for processing fibre into paper.

This publication project would involve physical and technical research, developing ink and paper recipes for use in a short-run publication co-designed by Campbell and the summer scholar.

The research would be applicable to sustainable creative practice pedagogies being developed as part of the CFT.

The ideal summer scholar would have proficiency in hands on material research informed by their review of technical literature.

Project

The project aims to contribute to the development of an immersive real-time 3D art installation at the George Fraser Gallery as part of the summer scholarship. It is a transdisciplinary endeavour involving candidates from various disciplines, each possessing a unique set of skills. Collectively, the team will utilise sound design, a real-time 3D gaming engine using Unity 3D and C#, and 3D modelling in Blender to create captivating contemporary artwork.

The scholarship project has three specific vacancies, each requiring a specific skill set:

1. Sound: This role entails generating content and utilising Unity's sound components and real-time mixer to enhance the auditory experience
2. 3D Modeling in Blender: The task at hand involves creating content in Blender that is suitable for use in Unity 3D, ensuring the visual elements align with the overall collective vision
3. Unity 3D and C#: Collaborators in this space will be responsible for constructing, scripting, and authoring a 3D world. They will incorporate the sound and 3D objects their fellow team members created.

An essential aspect of this project is a willingness to experiment and the ability to work collaboratively.

Sean Kerr will supervise the team during the summer scholarship, with various group meetings and workshops, project planning and creation of the artwork and the implementation of the final install.