Research explores how digital tools are transforming craft

Dr. Lynne Heller is a post-disciplinary artist, designer, educator and academic who is an adjunct professor, Graduate Faculty, and co-director of the Data Materialization Studio at OCAD University. She is also an adjunct professor at SMARTlab, University College Dublin and reviews editor of Virtual Creativity, Intellect Publishing. 

Her interests encompass both material and virtual culture, specifically AR/VR performance, textile practices, graphic novels, digital collage and sculptural installation. 

Dr. Heller completed her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004 and PhD in 2016 at University College Dublin, Ireland. Her research was practice-based, with a specialty in feminism and Digital Media Arts. 

She is also the principal investigator of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded Partnership Development Grant, Thinking Through Craft and the Digital Turn (CDT).

On January 29, 2026, the Craft and Digital Turn (CDT) team, in partnership with the Craft & Design Studio Residency at Harbourfront Centre, OCAD U and DesignTO Independent Projects, is holding an artist talk and discussion emerging from the research study. An Evening of Craft, Digitality and Critical Reflection, Artist Talks, is being held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Studio Theatre, Harbourfront Centre (admission is free, just register on Eventbrite).

OCAD U caught up with Dr. Heller to learn more about her research project, Thinking Through Craft and the Digital Turn (CDT).

What is the focus of your current research project and what inspired you to explore this topic?

The purpose of my current research project, CDT, is to reveal, record and present evidence of new craft and making practices in conversation with the economic, social, aesthetic, and methodological transformations that have occurred in the field during and in the aftermath of the pandemic. 

We are also examining how research-creation practices, such as material/digital making, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and multi-modal expression can unpack, meld and articulate craft and digital theory, thereby leading to innovation, social practices, political perspectives, and alternative ways of learning and knowing. 

Teaching at OCAD U in the Material Art and Design program has underlined the need to better comprehend the digital tools and networks that are becoming more familiar in craft studios. A principal interest for me was thinking about how to prepare students for the digital realities of the work world. 

We are holding an Open Studio at OCAD U (205 Richmond St. W., room 718) on Saturday, January 24 where people can see the work that the CDT team has produced during this three-year research project that is exploring the intersections of craft and digitality. Admission is free and you can register via Eventbrite.

What drew you into this field of study in the first place? Was there a turning point or defining moment?

For many years I’ve been interested in materiality and craft practices with a focus on textiles, along with being equally engaged by digital tools, processes and networks. 

My doctoral research, Avatar Daughters, Envisioning a Spectrum between the Material/Virtual through Feminist Theory, explored the extremes of materiality and digitality. I hypothesised that a mother-daughter relationship is a metonymy for a human-avatar affinity making it an exemplar of a complex material/virtual entanglement. 

This idea was explored through feminist analysis, a lyric essay and the practice of visual arts, specifically a series of comic books featuring an avatar created in Second Life, an online, user-built virtual world. 

What problem or question is your research trying to solve or answer, and why is this important?

Our relationship to digital ubiquity, now evolving into a reliance on artificial intelligence, is the defining question of our era. Understanding that we are embodied entities and that our intelligence is formed through multi-sensory input through our physicality undergirds our research. Learning about the shortfalls and challenges of digital reliance helps me come to terms with how I can engage in both a love of the material world and the promise of the digital/virtual one.

How do you see the research findings contributing to your field or affecting people’s lives in the real world?

My hope is that our research is of direct support to faculty, students, makers, writers and theorists in the field of craft. We are gathering a multitude of responses from craft practitioners and thinkers internationally. These responses will be widely available through an open-source website. Hearing from a wide range of people will engender richer understanding of the changes that are taking place in the discipline. 

Are you working with any collaborators, institutions, or funding bodies on this project?

The CDT project has a history of funding. We first were awarded a SEED grant from OCAD University. We then received an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, followed by a Partnership Development Grant of which I am the principal investigator. My co-investigator(s) are Dr. Pablo Gobira, Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, Brazil; David Grimshaw, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom; Dr. Rohan Nicol, Curtin University, Australia; and Dr. Niklavs Rubenis, University of Tasmania, Australia. 

We also have several collaborators, including Tricia Crivellaro, Toronto Metropolitan University; Dorie Millerson, OCAD University; Kathleen Morris, independent scholar and maker; Dr. Miranda Smitheram, Concordia University; Dr. Cynthia Villagomez, Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico. Our Project Manager is Sal Lovink McKinnell, a recent graduate from OCAD University.

What do you hope people—both inside and outside of your field—take away from your research?

I hope that the humanity associated with craft and material making can play a part in how we develop as a society as we take on more advanced digital interfaces and tools. It is important to me that all the sensorial advantage we have as embodied entities is not flattened and made archaic by being overly reliant on what we can digitize and produce with machines. Let’s not “outsource” our rich abilities and environment.