Paper has long served as a bridge to hands-on learning for makers of all ages--from young learners to experienced hobbyists--by drawing on the accessibility and rich heritage of papercrafting. Studies show how familiar, accessible materials like paper can broaden participation in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education, making it an ideal medium for creative and inclusive learning experiences. 

Artists and engineers have long created amazing automata that imitate living things, perform complicated movements, and tell stories. In this workshop participants will make their own animal automation and learn how mechanical elements like crankshafts and cams transform a crank’s spinning motion, to an up-and down movement. Participants will also explore Build It: Carboard Creations exhibition to gain inspiration for their design. A cat automation template will be provided, but participants may make their own creature design.

Exploring ancient sites and rugged villages throughout the Indian sub-continent, the Himalayas and Central Asia for decades, paper historian, Alexandra Soteriou, charts the migration of papermakers and shares a seldom-seen view of their stories, secrets, materials, methods and artistic and decorative expressions.

Dr. Kimberly Diana Jacobs, places the African American artists featured in the Clark Atlanta University collection and the Collection of Wes and Missy Cochran into the context of 20th Century Art History. This lecture is in relation to our new changing exhibition A Community of Artists: African American Works on Paper from the Cochran Collection, which showcases fifty noted 20th century American artists. Collected and curated by Wes and Missy Cochran, the Robert C.

Join Jasmine Wilson, Temporary Exhibitions Curator for the Spelman Museum, as she discusses some of the female artists featured both in Spelman's Fine Art Collection and the African American Works on Paper Collection of Wes and Missy Cochran. This lecture is in relation to our new changing exhibition A Community of Artists: African American Works on Paper from the Cochran Collection, which showcases fifty noted 20th century American artists.

Alison Valk, Instructional Coordinator and Multimedia Librarian for Georgia Tech Library, provides instruction on the basics of using iMovie to transform photos or video into stop motion movies with interesting effects.

The team behind “This is Not a War Story,” which is currently airing on HBOMax, is working with the paper museum on this joint program. This film is a collaboration with combat veterans affiliated with Frontline Arts who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Somalia and elsewhere. These veterans create handmade paper from their military uniforms, utilizing a broad range of visual art media and creative writing to communicate about their military experiences.

What is material science engineering? What is a bioproduct and what makes it renewable?  Hear from Georgia Tech material scientists about how paper, fiber, and pulp are on the cutting-edge of today’s manufacturing economy. Join Renewable Bioproducts Institute faculty Meisha Shofner, Chris Muhlstein, and Mark Losego as they share about their work with fibers and what the future of bioproducts might look like.

Fast Film Fest 2022 presents I’ll Make Me a World: creating spaces for an underrepresented workforce. This panel gathers animation studios and organizations that have made commitments to encourage and build diversity behind the scenes into the creative teams producing animation. Hear from Steff Farrar representing Exceptional Minds, an academy and studio preparing individuals on the autism spectrum for careers in animation, visual effects, 3D gaming and other related fields in the entertainment industry.

“The Book: Past, Present, and Future” is a virtual lecture series exploring the forms and purposes of books as methods of communication. E-readers, digitization, and the internet are changing the way people access books and content. In this lecture, The Book: The Future, Dr. Sarah Werner, an independent historian, will share how technological advances are allowing historic books to be utilized in new ways. After the talk, participants are invited to discuss the ways in which we use books may be different in the future. This is the first in a series of three events.