PATTeRN: Performance, Art, Text, Technology Research Network
PATTeRN (Performance, Art,Text,Technology Research Network) offers undergraduate
students the opportunity to collaborate with established practitioners in the creative and
industrial arts, on projects that confront social, historical and political contexts by
traversing the line between elevated and informal culture. The research conducted in
conjunction with PATTeRN addresses two primary questions: What are the forms of
communication that define everyday life? How can art make use of these forms to offer
new perspectives on our collective condition? While there are countless ways in which
artists engage with the expressive power of common patterns, this interdisciplinary
network of artists, designers, performers and writers coheres around a shared interest in
the experimental possibilities of repetition and permutation. PATTeRN exists to promote
undergraduate research thinking, empower students as researchers, and advance
faculty-led scholarship.
Projects and Initiatives
Print Bay:
Housed in Purdue University’s John Martinson Honors College, the Print Bay is an interdisciplinary
center for the experiential study of movable-type printing. Under the direction of Dr. J.
Peter Moore, the space serves the Purdue and West Lafayette/Lafayette communities
through course offerings, workshop events and public programing. With three vintage
letterpresses and more than seven cabinets of wood and metal type, the Print Bay is
itself an artifact—as each individual letterform, each inked return of the cylinder, and
every handfed sheet of paper testifies to the vibrant materiality of this historic industrial
process. Taking advantage of our close proximity to the Bechtel Innovative Design
Center, the Print Bay offers students novel opportunities for using digital technologies to
better utilize historic printing methods. The center is a community space positioned at
the intersection of STEM-based fields like mechanical engineering and the applied and
fine arts of graphic design and print making.
The Art of Publication Event Series
This series of public events situates print as a site of interdisciplinary engagement, bringing together graphic designers, industrial printers, mechanical engineers, fine arts printmakers, artist publishers, and rare book scholars. Through workshops, lectures and exhibitions, the series aims to address such topics as:
• post-digital print methods (photopolymers, 3-D print, CNC technologies);
• large-scale restoration projects;
• the place of print in political, social and artistic movements;
• advancements in green printing and sustainability;
• regional histories in industrial printing;
• contemporary developments in publishing and print art;
• recent scholarship in material culture studies.
PATTeRN affiliates, both faculty and students, will collectively curate the series. In addition to supporting a culture of art making in general, the series will provide students with tangible opportunities that will directly lead to scholarly project completion. While this is not a stand-alone course, it represents a pathway for creating in-house expertise, which will yield a future 499 course offering, likely to be titled Letterpress & Collaborative Arts Publishing.
How to affiliate (Students):
A portion of PATTeRN programming is open to the general public, but the majority of opportunities exist for students who formally affiliate. These include, but are not limited to, access to closed events like workshops and excursions, priority registration status for creative courses offered in conjunction with PATTeRN, and eligibility for completing a John Martinson Honors Creative Scholarly project, either through the 499 or self-directed pathways.
Students can affiliate at one of two levels, as Corroborators or Collaborators.
Corroborators (or Core Members) are students who want to be in the know about creative activities in the John Martinson Honors College. They receive email notifications about upcoming programs, both public and private. They are also invited to participate in all private workshops, master classes, excursions and gatherings. Corroborators are able to take advantage of exciting opportunities, without taking a course or committing to a sustained project.
Requirements for Corroborators:
Attend at least 1 PATTeRN public or private event per semester
Submit an online declaration of affiliation
Benefits for Corroboration:
Participate in private one-off creative workshops and presentations.
Keep current with news of PATTeRN developments
Support the arts within an interdisciplinary context
Find a community of artists, writers, creative engineers, and performers.
Collaborators (or Lab Members) are students who want to be in the room when creative things are happening in the John Martinson Honors College. Not only are they invited to all Core-level activities, they are eligible to fulfill the Honors College scholarly project requirement with a creative focus. All students interested in enrolling in a PATTeRN-related 499 course or proposing a Creative Scholarly Project should affiliate as Collaborators. An additional incentive, Lab-level members working either in a 499 course or on a self-directed scholarly project can apply for funding to support their work. Funds can be used for a variety of purposes, from purchasing necessary materials and equipment to traveling for training, research or presentation.
Requirements for Collaborators:
Attend at least 1 PATTeRN public or private event per semester
Submit an online declaration of affiliation
Complete a Creative Scholarly Project, either through a PATTeRN-related 499 course or
through a self-directed Creative Scholarly Project.
Benefits for Collaboration (in addition to Core benefits):
Complete an Honors Scholarly Project in the arts.
Register for PATTeRN-related 499 courses
Apply for funds to support creative research
Work closely on sustained projects with faculty and visiting researchers
How to affiliate (Faculty and Visiting Scholars):
Faculty and visiting scholars contribute to PATTeRN as Conveners. Conveners are invited to participate by the director of PATTeRN for a renewable two-year term. During this time, Conveners have access to financial and intellectual support for their personal research, in exchange for incorporating undergraduate affiliates into their projects.
Structures for incorporating undergraduates include project-based courses in which students develop the skills to assist faculty research, as well as independent study opportunities. Conveners will also aid the Director in developing a calendar of both public and private programming for PATTeRN.
Requirements for Conveners:
Accept invitation to participate in PATTeRN
Participate in monthly Convener Collective meetings
Propose at least 1 course to teach in the Honors College
Develop personal research in a manner that enables undergraduate PATTeRN affiliates
to participation
Benefits for Conveners
Apply for research funds (up to $5,000) to support personal research that enables
undergraduate participation
Bring collaborators to campus to support the mission of PATTeRN
Contribute to an interdisciplinary community of collaborative practitioners
