The Fab Workshop is intended as a tool to encourage new and practicing artists to utilize found metal materials in the creation of artistic pieces, primarily those centered on fire and flame effects. This will be achieved by working individually and in group formats with the goal of collectively creating a single cohesive found metal sculptural piece. The workshop will introduce basic tools, tool handling, materials selection, deconstruction, and fabrication practices. Over the duration of this 2 weekend course the participants will have the opportunity to develop necessary skills to locate and identify desirable materials, refine found materials into a reasonable predesign/prefabrication state, conceptualize a found metal sculpture based on materials collected, evaluate and refine sculptural components in an iterative process, and address challenges while bringing a found metal sculpture into existence. Each participant will be encouraged to identify specific materials of their own interest and work with those materials throughout the entire course to develop a personal relationship with the components. In doing so participants will learn ways in which those materials may be treated, modified, assembled, and utilized within the structure of a greater, collaborative project.
The workshop will be led by John Rose, taking place on the weekends of February 27-28 and March 6-7. We’re just promoting another excellent event in the community, this isn’t an “official” Site 3 coLaboratory event– if there is even such a thing yet!– so give John and his group the credit and praise.
Workshop Outline
Feb 27 2010
- Introduction
- Tool overview (What we can accomplish with what we have)
- Discussion of scrap yard objectives
- Field work / materials collection at local scrap yard
Feb 28 2010
- Instruction on the selection, use, care, and safe handling of relevant tools for deconstruction
- Review and discussion of collected materials
- Materials deconstruction
Mar 6 2010
- Assessment of refined materials
- Group conceptualization of piece to be created
- Identification of critical components
- Development of a cohesive fabrication plan
- Instruction on the selection, use, care, and safe handling of additional tools for fabrication
- Begin sub assembly fabrication
Mar 7 2010
- Assembly
- Iterative design / fabrication
- Project completion
- Post project discussion
Mar 13 2010 (post workshop)
- Constructed piece to be displayed at local art community event
Workshop Philosophy
Specialization and refinement are not what this workshop is about. While we will cover the operation, safe handling, and techniques for effective use of many different tools, this workshop should not be approached as a course on any of these topics. This is not to say that if one has never used, for examples sake, a welder one won’t have the opportunity to learn how to make metal stick together. It is, however, important to understand is that if developing a specific skill is ones goal then a course specializing in that skill should be sought out. Furthermore if one is welding and makes big goopy welds it’s not necessarily bad. In fact the welding characteristics are part of the artists current style which should be worked with in the piece and can potentially lend great character or even become a defining quality. Some artists are even known specifically for their atypical, self developed, welding style. ‘Pretty’, more refined welds, if so desired, will come with time and/or specialized instruction outside the workshop setting. Ultimately, artistic style cannot be taught and it is not necessarily the perfection of a weld which will lead to great accomplishment but more likely simply the act of tackling the task despite perfection in the process.
In many educational environments a student is lead by a teacher through a number of steps to accomplish certain tasks which will ‘teach’ the student to do something a certain way. This is a commonly accepted approach which is suitable for many tasks. In this workshop there will likely be elements which are treated in this fashion but this should not be the expectation in general. While there will be some semiformal instruction there is no one teacher. Every participant should be considered a teacher and no one the absolute expert. Some may come with exceptional welding skills to share while others may offer design expertise, creative vision, a fine eye for detail, or any number of other assets. Everyone has something to contribute to the learning environment and likewise we all have things to learn. We are coming together to build a piece, learn, teach, and utilize many skills. Some of the greatest things to learn here are not how to weld this or cut that but instead how to open ourselves to inspiration while finding components, develop relationships with the material, envision a conceptual piece guided by the components, develop a fabrication plan, relate to the piece being created in a continually evolving design, and drive the project through to completion all while developing individualistic styles in a collaborative, participatory, experiential workshop environment. Given that the larger, conceptual, and ethereal components can not necessarily be addressed directly in such a narrow format as a workshop, participants are encouraged to learn through doing, experiencing, and reflecting.
Sign up!
Workshop costs are:
- $100 – single weekend participation
- $150 – both weekends participation with advance registration for both
- $175 – both weekends participation without advance registration for both
…with a maximum attendance of 25 participants on a first come basis, with priority given to those committing in advance to both weekends.
To sign up, please contact John Rose directly.
In addition to project management, fundraising and logistics/transportation, the heart machine project has three distinct build stream teams. One of the build streams is the Electronics & Software team. Go figure they would get their cool toys shipped and received first. Here is the package of prototype electronic components we are using to test the interactive pieces of the project: 20 interaction stations with 8 controllers for the flame effects.
