A Tool is an Extension of the Hand: Exploring Technology Through Drawing Exhibit and Workshop Series

Visit in person

Dates of exhibit
Tue, Sep 01st 2026 - Thu, May 27th 2027
Location of exhibit
Digital Design Studio Service Desk, 3rd floor, Tisch Library
Curated by

DDS Staff

Clockwise from top left: A pencil sketch of an eye made with the aid of a camera lucida, a vector drawing made in Adobe Illustrator, a spirograph-style vector illustration using only ellipses made with Adobe Illustrator, and a digital painting made in Photoshop
Clockwise from top left: A pencil sketch of an eye made with the aid of a camera lucida, a vector drawing made in Adobe Illustrator, a spirograph-style vector illustration using only ellipses made with Adobe Illustrator, and a digital painting made in Photoshop. Miles Donovan, 2026.

The Digital Design Studio (DDS) has been collaborating with the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) to find ways to engage students at the intersection of engineering and creative multimedia methods. In this exploration, drawing emerged as a convergence point providing low-stakes entry to learning more about how technologies work and the way the design of a tool changes its output.

Drawing is used in a wide variety of disciplines, from artists and architects to scientists and engineers. Sometimes the drawing is the end result; other times, it is a part of the process, itself a tool for achieving other ends – a thinking aid, for example. Beyond the tools for mark-making (like chisels, paintbrushes, or pens), people created additional technologies to achieve different results or to solve problems that arose while making marks. Usefully for our exploration, drawing also leaves behind a visible output that we can look at to better understand the technologies and processes that created it.

Through this exhibit and a series of workshops, CEEO and DDS will use drawing as a starting point to reflect on digital, computational, mechanical, and electrical technologies. 

 

Workshops series