All Over Albany

"Art, Craft, and Technology"

Could be interesting: Leah Buechley -- creator of "sewable electronic pieces designed to help you build soft interactive textiles" -- will be at Skidmore Thursday for a talk titled "Art, Craft, and Technology." (She's a Skidmore alum.) Event blurbage:

Now a designer, engineer, artist, and educator, Buechley has explored intersections and juxtapositions of "high" and "low" technologies, new and ancient materials, and masculine and feminine-making traditions. She is a past director of the High-Low Teach research group at the MIT Media Lab, where the work focused on engaging diverse groups of people in developing their own technologies. Although still affiliated with the lab she now works independently at the intersection of art and technology.

The "interactive textiles" product that Buechley created is the LilyPad. From its description:

LilyPad is a set of sewable electronic pieces designed to help you build soft interactive textiles. A set of sewable electronic modules-including a small programmable computer called a LilyPad Arduino-can be stitched together with conductive thread to create interactive garments and accessories. LilyPad can sense information about the environment using inputs like light and temperature sensors and can act on the environment with outputs like LED lights, vibrator motors, and speakers.

Here's a TED talk she did in 2011.

Buechley's talk is at 5:30 pm Thursday (November 21) in the Gannett Auditorium at Palamountain Hall. It's free and open to the public.

Earlier on AOA: Tech Valley Center of Gravity

photo via Leah Buechley's website