Frankie Flood
Frankie Flood
Frankie Flood is an Associate Professor and area head of the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design area at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Flood previously served as Director of the Digital Craft Research Lab at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and for eleven years served various roles in the Department of Art such as Director of Foundations, area head of the Jewelry and Metalsmithing program, and Coordinator for the BA in Digital Fabrication and Design. Flood is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he received his Master of Fine Art degree in Metalsmithing. Frankie Flood’s interest in machines and tools and the influence of his working class upbringing is a source of inspiration for the functional objects that he creates. Flood exhibits his work nationally and internationally and his work has received many awards and has been published widely. The potential that Craft has to serve local and global communities through design and fabrication has been the focus of Flood’s recent research as he continues to combine traditional craft practice with digital technology. His recent research regarding 3D printed prosthetics and one of a kind adaptive devices has spread worldwide and his creation of the Digital Craft Research Lab has created new areas of study for students interested in digital fabrication. Within the last six years Frankie has been granted $140,000 in personal and educational grant funding by the National Endowment for the Arts, the UWM Digital Future Grant, The Mary Tingley Grant (Greater Milwaukee Foundation), The UWM Graduate School Research Committee, and The Peter S. Reed Foundation for his research in digital technology for the production of art. In addition, Frankie was recently awarded an Appalachian State University Research Council Grant for the design of 3D printed prosthetic devices.
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What inspired you to make this project?
As a child, I was fascinated by how things “worked”, and I recall taking things apart for the sole reason of figuring out the
inner “workings” of the device. Growing up in a rural farming community provided me with an understanding of
machines and a deep interest in the objects associated with labor; tools. This interest has led me to build numerous tools
and machines that I use to create my work. These machines that make have led me to explore the role traditional Craft
plays in our society and in a world that is dominated by rapidly changing technologies.
We live in a time where we are able to navigate to different parts of the world with the click of a mouse, complex
information is accessible within seconds, and we are able to connect with communities that bring a diverse skill-set to a
particular problem. We have never lived in such a time, where all of these things are possible. Technology is allowing
people from around the world to collaborate in ways never imagined before and is breaking down barriers created
between disciplines. Information can be shared freely and rapidly improved upon. The craftsman's abilities to problem
solve and address the needs of others, through making, are of the greatest value at this time in our lives.
I am devoted to a simple goal… to move the art and technology of Craft forward by looking to the past. I am an artist,
with the hands of a craftsman, the mind of an engineer and the imagination of a dreamer. I blend traditional hand
crafted artistry with cutting edge technology using methods from: industry, the tech lab, metalsmiths, machinists,
computer programmers, and “blue sky” inventors. With this work I hope to fuse the history of object making with the
future of Craft; leading Art, Craft, and Design into new areas that allow the artist to use his/her potential to make an
impact upon society.
With this work I get to do one of the most wonderful things imaginable, and that is, create new and innovative one of a
kind objects. Taking everyday materials, metal, silicon, binary code; I mold, shape, and transform them into living
Objects, with vitality, emotion and soul. I believe in the power of these living Objects to help tell a story. Bold, distinctive
and enduring stories that make a difference in the lives of the people who use them.
-Frankie Flood