I just took a professional dev day to attend my 2nd "Learning to Teach Creative Technologies" conference, organized by De Angela L. Duff and hosted by NYU Tandon. If you teach creative technology, I can't recommend this conference enough. I was able to listen to over 25 different teachers talk about how they're using AI in their classrooms, curriculum, and ideation processes. I'm totally inspired, with loads of tools to sort through. While I'm already using some AI tools in my spring Device Invention class, I plan to expand my thinking on this subject across the board while developing my teaching. Here's a summary of the "unsymposium." #LTT2024
Student Work from the Fall 2023 Analog and Digital Class
A sampling of final projects from my fall Analog and Digital class at Lick-Wilmerding. The project is to design and build portable amplified Bluetooth speakers. Students design and build every part, from the printed circuit board to the custom enclosure. This set includes work by Emma, Kyra, Manu, Natalie, KaiL, KaiS, Nico, Olivia, KaiD, and Taran.
BIG BUNDLE!
These times are uncertain and full of reasons to band together and provide people with a little extra support. With the press of a switch, Big Bundle is a reminder to reach out to your crew when you have the capacity and hopefully find yourself at the center of the support bundle when you most need it. Huddle tight, keep growing, and keep glowing.
Big Bundle's light sequence, composed of 16 programmable LEDs, fades at random intervals, in a random order, through meditative warm and cool tones. This piece can operate plugged into a USB outlet or charged for four or more hours of untethered operation.
Black-stained cherry, UV-coated SLS 3D printing, microcontroller, RGB LEDs, li-poly battery.
You can have one: http://www.extrasleepy.com/#/big-bundle
Bid on Soft Thoughts!
This piece is available at this year's @rootdivision auction. It's called Soft Thoughts, but don't let your thoughts go soft when it comes to supporting one of the best art non-profits in the city. This friend lights up when you touch the conductive aluminum button on the front. After that, you just don't know what's going to happen. Bid, maybe win, and find out.
https://rootdivision.cbo.io
100% of the final price goes to supporting RD. Bidding ends October 26th 2023.
Black-stained cherry, milled aluminum, UV-coated SLS 3D printing, microcontroller, addressable LEDs.
Opening and installation images from the INTUITIVE NATURE:GEOMETRIC ROOTS & ORGANIC FOUNDATIONS
Opening and installation images from the INTUITIVE NATURE: GEOMETRIC ROOTS & ORGANIC FOUNDATIONS @schneidermoa in Ashland, Oregon. Curated by SMA Executive Director @scottmalbaurn.
On View: October 5 – December 9, 2023
Exhibiting artists:
Jason Stopa, Anna Fidler, Iván Carmona, Mark Sengbusch, Jan van der Ploeg, Heather Day, Courtney Puckett, and Andrew Kleindolph
Group Exhibition at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland Oregon.
On View: October 5 – December 9, 2023
INTUITIVE NATURE: GEOMETRIC ROOTS & ORGANIC FOUNDATIONS
more information here
Soft Thoughts!
2023
Black-stained cherry, milled aluminum, UV-coated SLS 3D printing, microcontroller, addressable LEDs.
Need some Soft Thoughts? Touch this fellow's mouth, and the glowing object displays its delicate thought process in light. This tower of glop whispers through a random sequence of blues, purples, and whites projected in light onto its pillow-like mind. Slightly bigger than handheld, this bright friend nudges any space towards peace and, in the late hours of the day, might soften the thoughts of those around.
This piece slow-fades in or out by touching a rounded rectangle on the front. Its power comes from a USB outlet. The wood base and aluminum touch switch are milled with the Bantam Tools desktop mill. The controller runs on CircuitPython. The body is modeled using Rhino 3D.
A short video of the piece
Dimensions: 4”w x 7.5”h x 4”d (102 x 190 x 102mm)
AQI Funnies shows up on Hackster.io
Thank the gods for Modern Digestion
Modern Digestion is a nod to the intestinal tract and all the microbiota working in miraculous ways to perpetually break down, absorb, or pass the extraordinary collection of natural, synthetic, planned, and unintended items we put down our esophagus. From prehistoric to recently engineered foods, the gut keeps it all moving.
http://www.extrasleepy.com/#/modern-digestion/
The light sequence, composed of 26 programmable LEDs, fades at random intervals, in a random order, through meditative warm and cool tones. This piece can operate plugged into a USB outlet or charged for five or more hours of untethered operation. Programmed with CircuitPython.
Something New: AQI Funnies
AQI Funnies builds off the Internet of Things trend by combining live air quality data (in this case, from zip code 94114) with single-frame comics. Using an e-paper display and the Air Now air quality API, a ghost-like friend presents the viewer with a statement about the rating for the day. The character's mood, background, and messaging change to one of seven different scenes based on the particulate count at the current moment. From great to hazardous, the guiding figure encourages or warns you, with a random adjective, about what you might be exposing your lungs and body to that day.
Elevated plant stand to keep the a plant from becoming cat food.
New Piece: Sidewinder
Sidewinder is an abstracted ode to the discovery of over 80 rattlesnakes living under a single Santa Rosa home. The snakes are now displaced, but the calmly changing light from this sculpture shines in their memory.
The wood CNC is milled using a Bantam Tools mill. The microcontroller is coded with CircuitPython, and the main shape is modeled using Rhino 3D and Fusion 360. This piece is rechargeable and lasts about seven hours per charge. more details
Time to skill up!
Starting this January I'll be teaching metal shop, for the first time, to 9th-grade students. Gotta skill-up. Here's my CNC-plasma / MIG welding warm-up project.
New Piece: King of Fruits
King of Fruits, inspired by the Southeast Asian durian, is a handheld sculpture that illuminates bulging protrusions with a calm and changing array of LED colors. Loved and loathed for its smell and taste, this polarizing fruit is often referred to as the "King of Fruits." This abstraction of the durian maintains the crown-like cap and replaces the odor with a glow. King of Fruits is rechargeable and portable, lasting six or more hours on a recharge.
The wood base is milled with the Bantam Tools desktop mill, and the controller is coded with CircuitPython. The main shape is modeled using Grasshopper and Rhino 3D.
Work at Open Editions Shop!
Creator extraordinaire duo and friends @bradenwe and @laurendicioccio now have an @openeditions store at 788 Valencia Street! They asked me to put some light pieces in the store! Here are some shots alongside some other great works like the twisty-shaped necklaces of @laurendicioccio, a game/bandana by @katgeng, and some bracelets by #barbarakasten. There really are so many delectable items in the store. Please visit!
Jeff Linnell visits Device Invention Class
Jeff Linnell, CEO/founder of https://formant.io/ visited the Device Invention class to discuss his ecosystem for internet-controlled robots, cameras, and more. Students were able to drive the Boston Dynamics robot "Spot" around his studio remotely. Jeff's work ties together design, engineering, and business, with creativity and experimentation. There's so much vision, even on projects that don't have an obvious pathway. It was honestly a little overwhelming to think about the diversity of ambitious projects in which Jeff has participated. Nevertheless, this was a genuine end-of-semester treat! Now, back to controlling our relatively simple Raspberry Pi IoT projects. Gotta start somewhere.
New Piece: Double Up
Double Up is a desktop light sculpture with capacitive touch sense interactivity. The two 3D-printed conduits illuminate with differing coordinated LED strips that can transition or be turned off by touching a CNC-milled aluminum base plate.
The wood base is milled with the Bantam Tools desktop mill, the aluminum with a Tormach, and the controller is an Adafruit QT-Py programmed with CircuitPython.
The light operates via 5v USB-C and saves the chosen color scheme indefinitely, on or off, while plugged in.
Dimensions: 5.25”w x 6.25”h x 3”d
New Piece: Vac Track
Can we get to herd immunity? Which states are making it happen, and who's hesitant? Vac track follows it all with real-time graphs of first and complete vaccinations distributed in all US states, DC, and Puerto Rico.
At the end of the state rundown (state abbreviation followed by graph), a calculated "winner" and "loser" for first and complete vaccinations is displayed. I started this as a short weekend project (it took longer). Let's hope this device becomes obsolete quickly. The insides are a Raspberry Pi Zero, a Pimoroni "Unicorn Hat Mini," and the Covid Act Now API–sitting in a 3D printed stand.
Read a short interview article from Bantam Tools!
New Piece! Hot Coil
Hot Coil, a palm-size light-emitting sculpture, is rechargeable and portable. Every 15 to 20 minutes a circuitPython controller randomly fades RGB LEDs through a range of warm colors.
The piece can operate plugged to a USB outlet or untethered for about three hours per 15 min recharge.
Materials: CNC-cut & hand finished walnut and acrylic, microcontroller, addressable LEDs, rechargeable battery
Dimensions: 4”w x 4”h x 4”d