π fruitful.school was an independently-run workshop series founded in 2020 by laurel schwulst and john provencher. It explored how contemporary artistic practices engaged with the world wide web or technology at large.
π fruitful.school ended in 2024. In 2025, Laurel continues to teach through her new umbrella educational project called Ultralight School, which took root in her 2024 fruitful workshop of the same name.
π fruitful.school is also this website, which remains online as an archive. Thanks to all our past fruitful participants, guests, and everyone else we met. We enjoyed learning together!
Offerings
π During Winter 2024, we offered 2 workshops under a new format ... each was three weeks long ... in-person in NYC ...
π βUltralight,β led by Laurel Schwulst, was a workshop on creating lightweight websites as an extension of artistic practice β understanding the web as connected to physical place and accessible in multiple formats.
π βNPC Artist,β led by John Provencher, was a workshop on generative programming for the web β exploring the ways contemporary artists and programmers use generative software in their practice.
π Before, we ran other workshops in our traditional six week format: 1) Winter 2020, 2) Fall 2020, 3) Winter 2021 ... See our blog for more info and documentation.
People
πJohn Provencher is an independent artist, designer, and educator based in New York City. His practice explores the generative nature of software as a tool to produce works both online and offline.
(teacher & co-founder @ fruitful school)
πLaurel Schwulst is a designer, artist, writer, and educator. She is interested in ambient forms of design and literature, public works, and the poetic potential of the web. She has taught interactive design at Princeton & Yale, and currently works at Are.na.
(teacher & co-founder @ fruitful school)
πMaya Man is an artist focused on contemporary identity culture on the internet.
(guest for NPC Artist @ fruitful school)
πTravess Smalley is an artist working with computation to make generative image systems.
(guest for NPC Artist @ fruitful school)
πMarie Otsuka is a designer and programmer working on fonts, websites, tools, and books.
(guest for Ultralight @ fruitful school)
πBenjamin Earl is a designer, artist, writer, and programmer who considers surrounding environments, the internet, communities, and time.
For our winter 2024 session, workshops will be held in person at Index Space in NYC, at 120 Walker Street in Soho/Chinatown.
They will happen on Sunday afternoons from 1-5pm. For Ultralight, it's January 14, 21, and 28. For NPC Artist, it's February 4, 11, and 18.
π Do I need any coding knowledge prior? (+)(β)
Although we encourage all levels of experience, each workshop will have recommended at least some prior coding knowledge. Refer to the class pages for more info.
π Are there scholarships available? (+)(β)
Each class has different options for scholarships. See the class page FAQ or application page for more info.
π Can I take workshops remotely? (+)(β)
For our Winter 2024 sessions, we will be hosting our workshops at Index Space in NYC in person. However, if you are interested in future remote possibilities, feel free to fill out this form.
π Can I take both workshops? (+)(β)
If you want to take both, you should apply for both separately. If you are admitted into both, we can offer you a modest price reduction. ($900 is the price for each class separately, or if you get into both, it's $1500.)
π Will there be future workshops? (+)(β)
Yes. Subscribe/follow for more updates.
Conduct
π Since we all come from different backgrounds and want to create a safe and open environment for collaboration, we've created a code of conduct to better interact with each other as students and teachers.
Fruitful Schoolβs Code of Conduct
πAs we talk to each other at Fruitful School, we are:
open and free
suspending judgement
not afraid to share an honest opinion or risky idea
building on each otherβs ideas
sharing often while respecting othersβ time to share
always trying to help each other create their best work
πwe do not tolerate:
sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, religious discrimination or otherwise discriminatory actions
violence in any form
unwelcome physical contact or hostile attention
deliberate intimidation or stalking
advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior
πAs we present our work, we:
communicate in a clear and concise manner
describe where weβre at in the process
don't self deprecate our own work
leave lots of room for others to speak
πWhen we offer feedback to others during critique, we:
firstβ¦
state the facts
describe what you see
describe what you hear
afterβ¦
describe how *YOU* feel
share any associationsβ¦
π our code of conduct is a work in progress. it was inspired by others and continues to evolve through use. see original blog post for more info.
Happy spring! We hope your idea seeds are flourishing.
We are writing to share some updates about Fruitful β
π First,
we have decided to retire Fruitful School. We are so thankful to all our past fruitful participants, guests, and everyone else we met. We truly enjoyed learning together! Our website, www.fruitful.school β where youβre reading this β will remain online as an archive.
π Second, this summer Laurel will be continuing teaching through her new educational umbrella project called Ultralight School, which took root in her 2024 fruitful workshop of the same name. It has some exciting classes whose applications are now open β
The classes are: 1) TWA: Total Work of Art (about shapeshifting one concept into digital, physical, and temporal forms), 2) Sense to Sense (about multisensorial translation), and 3) Walking the Internet (walking tours of NYC's internet infrastructure).
Applications are due May 30th β ten days from now! β for the first two classes. You are very welcome to apply!
All the classes are about different, lightweight ways of experiencing something...
βThe finer I slice the strawberries, the more surfaces there are; the more surfaces there are, the more it tastes.β
Note: This is Fruitful Schoolβs last update. Thank you for joining us on our journey...
Going forward, if you'd like to receive updates from a next evolution of Fruitful School, Ultralight School, you can. Feel free to sign up for its newsletter so you can hear about classes and βWalking the Internetβ when it launches, for instance. (And stay tuned for website-making workshops in the future.)
