A great two-day workshop now complete.. The kids seemed engaged the entire time, and they came up with some pretty cool inventions using all found materials (including bolts, cabinet handles, washers, extra christmas lights, aluminum foil, etc.. that I rid my mom of) plus lots of future applications for robots.. Such a great group to work with.
This is the collaborative class robot that my 1st and 2nd graders made in my workshop yesterday. I’ve got full enrollment in this school’s out day workshop — 28 kids ranging from 1st to 5th grade. Another busy day of robot making ahead..
The beginning of my day: sparkling frosted fields, barely sunlit sky, rural roads, hot coffee, good company coming through my speakers…
“Awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew
Atchison County, KS, 2009.
I was honored to be invited to have my work on the cover as well as inside of the 2012 Winter edition of the MacGuffin, a national literary magazine published by Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan.
Here’s the description from the New Pages Webstore where the magazine can be purchased: “The Winter 2012 issue of The MacGuffin features the winners of our 16th National Poet Hunt Contest judged by Terry Blackhawk (our next contest, judged by Dorianne Laux, will begin this coming April). This issue also includes a handful of stories about complex child-parent relationships, a poem in tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, a recipe for brown sugar cookies, and the spectacular cut-paper art of Angie Pickman.”
Western Kansas, 2009.
“I always think that we live, spiritually, by what others have given us in the significant hours of our life. These significant hours do not announce themselves as coming, but arrive unexpected. Nor do they make a great show of themselves; they pass almost unperceived. Often, indeed, their significance comes home to us first as we look back, just as the beauty of a piece of music or of a landscape often strikes us first in our recollection of it. Much that has become our own in gentleness, modesty, kindness, willingness to forgive, in veracity, loyalty, resignation under suffering, we owe to people in whom we have seen or experienced these virtues at work, sometimes in great matter, sometimes in a small. A thought which had become act sprang into us like a spark, and lighted a new flame within us.
I do not believe that we can put into anyone ideas which are not in him already. As a rule there are in everyone all sorts of good ideas, ready like tinder. But much of this tinder catches fire, or catches it successfully, only when it meets some flame or spark from outside, i.e. from some other person. Often, too, our own light goes out, and is rekindled by some experience we go through with a fellow man. Thus we have each of us cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flames within us.”
-Albert Schweitzer, from “The Light Within Us”
This Thursday and Friday I’m teaching an all day, 2-day workshop at the Lawrence Arts Center called Robots and Rare Visions for 1st-5th graders. There’s probably still space if you want to sign your kids up. We’ll be talking about robots, artificial intelligence, functional and aesthetic design, and I’ll also be talking a little about the inner workings of things. We’ll also be doing some innovating and creating.
So, as I spiral my way to greater nerd status, behold: photocells, piezo, LEDs, etc. I just spent a few minutes picking through the goodies at Radio Shack. It’s been awhile since I’ve messed around with any of this stuff. Back in my NYU days, I spent lots of time hooking up wires to breadboards and making things do things. The level of function that I was able to achieve is about as deep as my description.. which is why I went the art route and not the technical route. But it’s fun if you’re curious about the inner workings of things.. I’ve always thought piezoelectricity was really interesting (read more about it here) so I’m going to disassemble a piezo buzzer that I picked up and see if I can spark an LED with the disk inside.. If you’re interested in signing up for the workshop, go to the Lawrence Arts Center website and enroll under “School’s Out Days”.
A very short, very lo-fi animation I made last night for Valentine’s Day, 2012. Music made in Garageband on my 2-octave Ion midi keyboard (it’s easier to figure out than the full sized one..) and stop motion captured with iStopMotion. Plus, one dead firewire cable which forced me to reroute through USB accounting for some image quality loss, and a strange software upgrade which caused iStopMotion to stop working.. Luckily I still had my old installer.. And here it is. Happy Valentine’s Day.
I spent a little too long today re-discovering the synthesized sounding goodness of my electronic keyboard. One of my favorite projects in my grad program was creating soundscapes (musical / sound compositions that create a sensation of being in a different environment).. I’d like to get to know the keyboard functions better to use it to make my own sound for my animations, even though I didn’t really get anywhere today. I got stuck on the Star Dust effect.
In other non-news, besides slugging around and thinking about animations, I’m trying to respond to lots of emails, clean up the aftermath of last week’s art fair prep, and getting a few orders together to ship out. I’m also re-stocking Dundee Gallery in Omaha with cards and prints and Holly Candle Shop in Holly, Michigan with cards… and when it gets darker out (so that light isn’t seeping in my windows), I may hook up my light table and camera for a little motion work for an idea I’ve got in my head.. til next time.