SOFA Preview: Lectures and Events

Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center is please to be a partner organization at SOFA this year, taking place on Navy Pier November 3 through November 6. In addition to the enormous floorshow of booths, SOFA (Sculptural Objects Functional Art and Design) will be featuring extensive programming in the form of lectures and events during the course of the fair. Check out a few of our favorites below, and browse the full listings to make sure you catch all the action.

Friday

Albert Paley: Metal and Glass

12:30 – 1:30 pm Room C – Paley will discuss involvement with glass throughout his career, beginning as an artist in residence at Pilchuck in 1998. Research that Paley conducted at Corning Incorporated in 2014 led to the development of sculptures that incorporate metal and glass as well as some architectural projects. In September 2017, a solo exhibition at The Museum of Glass in Tacoma will present this body of work.

 

Kimberly Winkle: Wood. Color. Line

1 - 1:30 pm Collectors of Wood Art, booth SE 102 – Winkle discusses her inspiration and motivation for creating works from wood while being simultaneously challenged by its temperament, seduced by its possibility and thrilled by its promise and ability to speak for her. 

Art Shay Booth Talk

6 - 7 pm Ann Nathan Gallery, booth 820 – For over 70 years, Shay has documented his life, combining his gifts of storytelling, humor and empathy. His legendary street photography has been featured in Life, Time, Ebony, Sports Illustrated and his work is included in permanent collections of museums including the National Portrait Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Saturday

ChiArts: The Group Critique. Live.

11:30 am – 12:30 pm Room A – The group critique is a critical component to any art practice and to all studio art classes. Artists engage in critique for several reasons, one is to gain a better understanding of how others interpret their work. By hearing the myriad ways in which others analyze our artworks we can push our process in a direction that better speaks to our intentions. Additionally, when we participate in a group critique it allows us to formulate ideas about the work of others as we visually analyze their work. This act of analysis not only helps the person being critiqued, but it helps participants make decisions about their own work. Finally the group critique provides us with an opportunity to actively engage in dialogue utilizing appropriate vocabulary specific to the discussion of art. At ChiArts, the group critique is incorporated into every unit plan beginning as early as 9thgrade. By the time students graduate high school they are able to lead an honest, thoughtful and challenging critique while being able to successfully self-assess their own work. You are invited to observe several of ChiArts’ alumni, as they engage in a group critique of works by a few of the artists featured in the Special Exhibit ChiArts: Shaping the Unique and Diverse Voices of Chicago’s Young Artists.

Predictable Unpredictability

1 – 2 pm Room C – Wood artists Pascal Oudet and Christian Burchard share their intuitive approach to working harmoniously with the inherent structure of the material – and how their fascination with the unpredictable nature of unusual and unstable woods results in works that tell the story of the trees from which they came.

 

Eyes on SOFA

1:30 – 2:30 pm Room B – Art critic William Warmus moderates a panel of three emerging professionals in the field of art and criticism. Panelists Robin Dluzen, Joanne Kim, and Anjulie Rao charged with identifying fresh new works across all media at SOFA CHICAGO 2016. The panel will discuss the artworks and identify trends in the following areas: Narrative Art, Abstraction, Innovation, and Technical Virtuosity. 

 

Enjoy the fair – and come say hello to us at the Partner Pavilion when you're there!

Public Face: New Signs!

This week Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center is grateful to put up new signage on the street-facing sides of the building, thanks to a Make It Yours donation from our summer gala, and volunteer design assistance from CIADC student Tricia Fox.

Make It Yours is a crowd-sourcing fundraising effort to acquire and utilize specific individual pieces of equipment and materials to continue expanding the CIADC mission of education, access, and community for 3D makers. For more info, please visit ciadc.org/make-it-yours-equipment-crowd-funding.

Fall Open House 2016

Saturday, October 15 from 4 to 6 PM Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center will host our seasonal Open House, featuring live demonstrations in Casting & Molding, Metalworking, Technology, and Woodworking, guided tours of our historic building at 6433 North Ravenswood Avenue, and the exhibition reception for Demo.

This weekend is Open House Chicago, with hundreds of historical buildings open with free access for the public. Stop in at CIADC to celebrate fall with food, drinks, and friends – and then go explore the rest of the neighborhood!

Upcoming Exhibitions | Call for Entries

This week we're happy to look ahead and announce the shape of future exhibits. Each of the projects highlighted below will form an exhibition in the next twelve months with makers and creators from the Chicago Industrial Art & Design Center community. If you're interested in a particular project or concept, be in touch!

SURVEY

As the seasons change, we look back at the body of work created throughout this year at Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center. Our next exhibit will present a selection of new works developed at CIADC in the past year.

We are seeking personal projects that have been realized with the resources at CIADC incorporating metal, wood, casting, molding, and technological processes.

CIADC Members interested in taking part in this exhibit should send a description of your 2016 project(s) with images to socialmedia@ciadc.org or speak to Nathan Smith, Sandra Stone, or Danielle Euer at the front desk!         

To participate, please be in touch by Saturday, December 10, 2016

  • Works will be selected by Thursday, December 15
  • Drop-off will take place during the first week of Winter Term: Monday, January 2 through Sunday, January 8
  • The exhibit will open on Saturday, January 21, 2017

Cc will be a showcase of duplicates – and near duplicates. Entry deadline February 13, 2017.

99/1 will feature speculative designs for new public artworks. Entry deadline May 8, 2017.

Fault Lines will feature works that incorporate or accentuate unplanned issues with a project to its ultimate benefit. Entry deadline July 31, 2017.

To stay up-to-date on all our upcoming projects, please visit ciadc.org/community-upcoming-exhibits.

Shop Conversations: Brian Blankstein

Nathan Abhalter Smith: How have you come to be working in metal? Have you been doing it for a long time, and has it been a long route to here?

Brian Blankstein: Well, the route to here is long and twisting.

NAS: Yeah, perfect.

Coffee Table (detail) by Brian Blankstein

BB: As a kid, I was the kid that was always playing with Legos and building stuff. Didn’t really figure out that I could build stuff as an adult until I was 25 or 26. I went to school – I did math and computers and stuff like that – I hated it and didn’t really realize why. I started building stuff with my hands, at that point mostly woodworking, and started taking woodworking classes, and I was really really into it, and I realized this is what I had been missing all this time. So I was at Chicago School of Woodworking sort of right after they opened. They didn’t have any classes then, so I quickly exhausted their catalogue. I was in the middle of a career change, and had three or four months off, so I did a kind of unofficial apprenticeship thing with them, so I like hung around and did chores and stuff for them and used free shop time. One of the things that I built when I was there was I built this table that had like an etched, inlaid glass top. So I was figuring out that I really liked working with a lot of different materials, mixing things together. A pretty obvious next step for me was, I want to learn how to do stuff with metal.

NAS: So that you could change the composition that much more. . . .

BB: Yeah. And metal and wood are beautiful together.

NAS: Yeah.

BB: And I was totally into steampunk at that point – so I was like, if I do stuff with brass and wood, that going to be amazing.

NAS: Yeah, yeah. (Laughing) Have you disavowed steampunk?

BB: No, I just . . . that was my entry point to a bigger world. And I still love that aesthetic, but I don’t know if the steampunk lifestyle is for me.

NAS: (Laughing) Sure.

Trivets by Brian Blankstein

BB: So at that point I’m like, how do I learn how to do stuff with metal? Because wood was fairly straightforward to me, but no one in my family makes stuff, I didn’t have a lot of friends who made stuff or anything like that, so I didn’t have a good sense of what was involved in the metal world. I know there are people who weld stuff together and make crazy sculptures and stuff, but I don’t know what the hobbyist entry point is. . . . So I started looking at welding programs and stuff like that at community colleges, but it was all very geared toward you’re going to be a certified welder welding girders together, and like fixing submarines and stuff like that. And I was like, that sounds like I could get some technical knowledge, but it wouldn’t be very fun.

NAS: Yeah. Yeah, I assume there’s rigor, and weld this weld over and over and over to X, Y, Z. . . .

BB: Yeah – don’t smile. Well, I don’t remember how, but I eventually found the Evanston Arts Center. And I looked up the departments and I went to a class and Matt [Runfola] taught me how to weld, and it was awesome, there was so much stuff here. And I’ve kind of been, on and off due to availability of time, I’ve been pretty enamored of metalwork for the past . . . five-ish years or so? So I still do a little bit of woodworking, but most of what I’m doing is in metal. And the transition from only working in wood to metal was really weird because like, in woodworking, you’re always checking things to make sure they are perfect and they’re right. In woodworking, you’re working with organic materials, but it itself is not a very organic process. You have to plan everything in advance, and if you cut something too short, you’re done. There’s not really a good way to recover from that most of the time. And so, I’m in the metal shop for a few weeks, and I’ll buy some rod stock, and I’m like checking it for straightness – and everyone is looking at me like I’m crazy, and I realize – oh, if this isn’t straight, I can just bend it, no problem. And you’re working stuff and something falls off – okay, just stick it back on. I don’t like this this way, how about over here? And you can just improvise and you don’t have to plan ahead. You can do pieces where you’re planning everything ahead, but there are pieces where you could improvise. I made a table that was all this ropey viney leafing, and there was no real plan. I didn’t know anything except, it’s triangular, it’s going to be about this tall . . . go. It was a really freeing experience because I could just play, and not have to have everything planned, or check the plan.

NAS: Doing the table with inlaid glass – thorough plan, you have to follow everything, or it’s a total disaster. . . .

BB: There was a little bit of improvising, because I realized I wanted it to be something else, and I couldn’t do it, so I was like okay, I’m going to do this thing . . . but, yeah, you had to plan that in advance. So I really liked the freedom of metal, and I love the feel of it, and the weight of it is nice, and I did a lot of things with some metal and some wood combined, and that was a lot of fun. I was mostly doing welding early on, and at some point I discovered forging. And I was like, I love all this other stuff, but this really speaks to me. And I don’t know what about it. . . . It’s very physical. And you can really feel the metal as it moves. I don’t know, I really enjoyed it, and the process of how you get things from point A to point B, I think made a lot more sense to me. It’s not like it’s a complete replacement for any of this other stuff – I still weld things together, but forging is just fun.

NAS: The physical aspects seem particularly pronounced. Is it changing your thought process about the thing you’re doing because you have to be so physical with it?

BB: I don’t know that it changes my thought process so much as, my thought process didn’t work quite as well in other media.

NAS: Yeah, yeah. Okay.

BB: Not that any of them were completely alien or anything, I’m pretty good at figuring that kind of thing out, but this just felt very natural. And after years of doing things where I’m sitting at a desk all day, to be up and swinging a hammer for hours and hours, it’s exhausting and it’s great.

NAS: Nice. Do you have a desk job now?

BB: I have no job now. For the last five years of so, I was a mechanical engineer in product development. We were doing a lot of prototyping and making little test pieces, and stuff like that, and that part I loved, I loved: okay, we need to cobble a thing together. It can look like anything you want, but it really has to feel like this . . . we want to test this thing out. That was really cool. But then there was a lot of sitting at a desk doing CAD, or filling out forms, and things like that, and I was like, this part’s not for me. As that went up and the prototyping went down, I was like, eh. Okay, I’m done.

NAS: Was there a particular project or thing you were making when you started working with the forge where that’s when it clicked, or was it even just the fundamentals, the entry point which sort of immediately made it obvious that this was the thing for you?

BB: I know I talked to Matt [when CIADC opened], and I know that at that point I was already specifically interested in forging. I did a little of it back at Evanston Art Center, but there was maybe a year or two where I wasn’t able to get up there, I was just too busy. I already had my mind on forging, and I don’t remember how I got to that point. Other than maybe it was just that I had done enough of it that it was like, I miss this. I want to weld, but I really want to forge. It might have been that I had the idea I wanted to learn how to forge a knife, to make really nice kitchen knives, or something like that.

NAS: Have you done that?

BB: I’m working toward it, I’ve made several knives just out of scrap metal, but to make a really good knife you need to use high carbon steel, because that allows you to harden it, a knife won’t hold an edge unless you harden it, so just like the tip will fold over. That involves some more complex processes; you have to do heat treating and tempering and stuff like that. So I’m learning a bit about that, how to make them sharp enough, but I’ve gone through the process of getting the rough shape out. It’s something I’d still like to do at some point, it’s sort of always in the background, when I have a spare moment and I’m not sure what else to do, I’ll go ahead and make another rough knife now.

Firepokers (detail) by Brian Blankstein

NAS: You were saying the other day that you have hundreds of firepokers?

BB: I was imagining having hundreds of firepokers. I have more like a dozen.

NAS: Okay, well, speculative hundreds of firepokers – were they going to be straight up ornamental, or. . . ?

BB: So, I knew that I didn’t know a lot about forging. And it seemed like the best way to learn would be through repetition, and a firepoker seemed like a kind of thing that is fairly simple, straightforward, but allows for enough variety to experiment with different techniques. It’s a quick project, so it’s not like I’m spending weeks and weeks on it, I can get through one in a day or two. Probably a lot faster once I’ve done a few, a quick turnaround to generate a lot, which is helpful for learning.

NAS: So at a dozen, you were like, alright, I’ve gotten what I can get out of this?

BB: I’m going to go back to them at some point, but I have firepokers piling up in my apartment, I don’t have a big apartment, and I don’t have a fireplace.

NAS: (Laughter)

Firepokers on table by Brian Blankstein

BB: So, I’ve given a couple of them away. A lot of the things I’ve made historically have been out of need. Like, I need a table. I’m going to go make one. Something to hang things on a wall, I’m going to make that. So, something else came up and I was like, oh, I should actually go do the things that are important, rather than more firepokers. But it was good, but making the firepokers I got to learn techniques, such as making handles that look and feel good, things with a good hold.

NAS: Are they like the handle that’s on that wrench [in the exhibit Country, Life & Economics, which was recently in the CIADC exhibit space]?

BB: That was something that I had made to put on a firepoker, but I never made the poker to go with it, and we needed a handle, so I was like okay, I’ll just stick a nice handle on this thing. You know, if I need to make another one, I’ll make another one.

NAS: Nice.

Twist Wrench by Brian Blankstein and Emily McCormick

BB: And I have an idea for the Demo exhibit, but I don’t have time to do it. Here’s my idea – and if someone wants to use it, they can. I would make like a dozen different handles, and get a ball, and weld them all to the ball sticking out at different angles. If I had time, that’s what I would do for that. And if someone else has time to steal my idea, that would be fine.

NAS: It’s sort of like a mace head full of handles, or. . . .

BB: Or like a big jack.

NAS: Right.

BB: That’s what I would do for Demo. I might still do that sometime because I feel like it would be fun.

Exhibitions: Demo | September 24, 2016 – December 17, 2016

Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center is pleased to present our next exhibit Demo – featuring works by Aushra Abouzeid, Sarah Holden, Phillip Howell, Sarah Latimer, Laura Miracle, and Martin Pranga. 

Sarah Holden, Teaching Samples: Rivets, Mortise and Tenon, Alternate Connection, Foldforming, and Angle Raising, Aluminum and mild steel

This exhibit includes creations designed to be touched, moved, manipulated, examined, and activated by visitors.

A reception for the exhibit will be held during the upcoming CIADC Fall Open House on Saturday, October 15. Visitors can get a hands-on experience, as well as join guided tours of the our historic building and watch live demonstrations in Casting & Molding, Metalworking, Technology, and Woodworking.

Gallery hours for Demo are Monday through Thursday 9 AM - 3:30 PM and 7-10 PM, Saturday 9 AM - 3:30 PM, and Sunday 12:30 PM - 3:30 PM through Saturday, December 17, 2016.

Laura Miracle, Glass Book, Brass and etched glass

Access: New Studio Opportunities for Students

Chicago Industrial Arts and Design Center is pleased to announce that students can now work in department open studios.

All students now have more access to the space and tools they need to complete creative projects throughout the week, not just during individual class time. After safety training in the first class, students are encouraged to take advantage of the three hour time slots in the department of their class(es). Get more out of your education at CIADC by working in the department shops all Fall. Open studio access hours this term as as follows:

Casting & Molding Department
Tuesdays – 7-10PM
Thursdays - 7-10PM
Saturdays – 12:30-3:30PM

Metalworking Department
Mondays – 9AM-12PM and 12:30-3:30PM
Tuesdays – 12:30-3:30PM
Wednesdays – 12:30-3:30PM
Thursdays – 9AM-12PM, 12:30-3:30PM, and 7-10PM
Saturdays – 12:30-3:30PM
Sundays – 12:30-3:30PM

Technology & Design Department
Mondays – 9AM-12PM and 12:30-3:30PM
Tuesdays – 12:30-3:30PM and 7-10PM
Wednesdays – 12:30-3:30PM
Thursdays – 9AM-12PM, 12:30-3:30PM, and 7-10PM
Saturdays – 12:30-3:30PM
Sundays – 12:30-3:30PM

Woodworking Department
Tuesdays – 12:30-3:30PM and 7-10PM
Thursdays – 12:30-3:30PM and 7-10PM
Saturdays – 12:30-3:30PM
Sundays – 12:30-3:30PM

Rates for non-member students are $25 for a three hour studio, or $36 for an advanced studio (joining another class in progress for a single session). 

Exhibitions: Final Week for Country, Life & Economics

The current Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center exhibition Country, Life & Economics will be on display through Saturday, September 3. If you haven't had a chance to visit yet, plan to come in this week, Monday through Thursday 9 AM to 3:30 PM and 7 to 10 PM, or on Saturday between 9 AM and 3:30 PM, and enjoy the installation views below!

Erik Newman Toronada Machine – Chicago Schwinn saddle, bicycle parts, oak, plywood, miscellaneous (2005)

Carla Bruni Cold Month Project – Salvaged Craftsman drill, lamp parts from stage lighting, form mold (2016)

Julia Paloma This is Part A or The Reappearance of Sentiment – Bronze (2016)

Brian Blankstein and Emily McCormick Twist Wrench – Fire poker handle, wrench (2016)

Jeffrey Visotsky Kangaroo Tongs – Kangaroo bone, wooden spoon, clay, bronze (2016)

Laura Miracle Alley Trellis – Found chairs, macaroni tin, mason jar, soil, pothos (2016)

Members who are interested in being a part of our next exhibit, check out the call for entries for Demo.

Education: New Instructors for Fall 2016

In addition to offering teen courses and expanding our open studio hours on Sundays, Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center is very please to add two new instructors for the fall term – Micki LeMieux and Pat Rankin will both join the Casting & Molding Department.

Micki LeMieux creates public outdoor sculpture and fine art. She received a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1991. She began working professional making specialty props and prototypes for TV, theater and commercial companies, including: The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC, Levi Strauss, and Steppenwolf Theater. She has nationally exhibited her artwork in galleries and outdoor settings.

"I see myself as an observer.  I view the earth and the individual as one living organism.  I am in love with form, and we are all an extension of form.  I am a sculptor and object maker because it is in my DNA.  Creating connects me with nature and life."

Micki will be teaching Intro to Casting (CST110-06) on Wednesday mornings, as well as Casting for Teens: Ages 12-14 (CST610-06) on Monday afternoons and Casting for Teens: Ages 15-17 (CST710-06) on Wednesday afternoons. For more info about Micki's artwork, please visit mickilemieux.com.

Pat Rankin made his first series of bronze castings at 17; by the time he was turned 19 he was a part-time student and full-time apprentice at Richard Rush Studios, a museum exhibits creator with a world renowned reputation for innovation and quality workmanship. Pat attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1978-1982 taking three semesters in Foundry, and continued his work at Richard Rush for three more years.

"I became a maker of objects because of my ability to create whatever I wanted by applying past knowledge with new desires. I used wood, clay, glue whatever I had on hand to make things. All kinds of things, I love the materials, the smells of a studio and the feeling of bringing to life an idea."

Pat will be teaching Intro to Casting (CST110-06) on Saturday mornings. For more info about Pat's artwork, please visit patrankinartist.com.

For info on the rest of our returning instructors please click here – and for our full Fall Term course listing, visit ciadc.org/classes-fa16.

Education: Fall Enrollment is Open

This week, Fall enrollment opens for the term beginning September 12, 2016. Core classes will be offered in 6- and 12-week sections, there will be a smattering of single-session instruction modules, and we're pleased to announce two additions: CIADC will now be offering teen-focused courses on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and we've added an open studio access time slot for 12:30-3:30 PM on Sunday afternoons.

Check out the courses department by department below, and get ready for an active, creative Fall!

CASTING AND MOLDING

FABRICATED METALWORKING AND FORGING

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN

WOODWORKING

And for all members who are not planning to enroll in core classes this term, please be sure to attend the free STUC sessions to maintain access to open studio time!

Free Safety and Tool Use Certification on Saturday, September 10

Technology Department STUC (ITDSTUC-01) – 10:00 AM with Matt Runfola

Woodworking Department STUC (WDWSTUC-01) – 10:30 AM with Laura Miracle

Metalworking Department STUC (FMFSTUC-01) – 11:30 AM with Matt Runfola

Casting Department STUC (CSTSTUC-01) – 12:30 PM with Dominic Sansone

  

Call for Entries: Demo

Hands-on, first-person knowledge is fundamental to the spirit of our community at Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center. The next exhibit project highlights the hands-on culture of CIADC, and we are encouraging all members to be a part of this project!

Demo will present creations designed to be touched, moved, manipulated, examined, and activated by CIADC visitors. We are seeking kinetic works and interactive pieces, with attention to tactile surfaces and construction methods that encourage participation from visitors. As with all exhibits at CIADC, we are seeking works that incorporate metal, wood, casting, and technological processes.

CIADC Members interested in taking part in this exhibit should send a description of your demo project with images or sketches to socialmedia@ciadc.org or speak to Nathan Smith, Sandra Stone, or Danielle Euer at the front desk!

To participate, please be in touch by Saturday, September 3

 

  • Works will be selected by Thursday, September 8
  • Drop-off will take place September 12 to September 17
  • Join us for the opening reception Saturday, October 15 from 4-6 PM
  • Demo will be on display from September 24 through December 17

Installed: Waterbird by Janet Austin

If you have not done so already, make time this summer to go check out the 15th Annual Chicago Sculpture Exhibit based in Lincoln Park and surrounding neighborhoods. This year, Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center community member Janet Austin is one of the forty-two artist displaying large-scale sculptural works in the exhibit. 

Inspired by the great blue heron, Waterbird is nine feet tall and six and a half feet wide, composed of powder coated steel. The work is located at 1858 North Mohawk Street, Chicago and will be on display, publicly accessible 24/7 through May 2017. 

In addition to Janet's sculpture, there are many other public creations throughout the neighborhood. Click on the map below for a guide to the 2016 Chicago Sculpture Exhibit, and then get out there to enjoy the sunshine and statuary!

Opening Reception: Country, Life & Economics

Join us this Saturday from 4-6 PM for the next Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center exhibition: Country, Life & Economics. Featuring creations by Brian Blankstein and Emily McCormick, Carla Bruni, Laura Miracle, Erik Newman, Julia Paloma, and Jeffrey Visotsky, the exhibit focuses on design efforts undertaken to breathe new life into old materials – giving the available means a fresh purpose for practical applications. 

The exhibition will highlight items crafted for domestic use, where previously there had simply been parts and the individual drive to make something work. Join us to celebrate the new creations coming from the CIADC workshops!

Detail of a sculpture by Laura Miracle

Education: 5-Week Summer Classes and Instruction Modules

Summer term at Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center is in full swing, but there's still time to join a series of great 5-week core classes or single-session instruction modules. The second half of the term begins the week of July 25 through July 30 – sign up today and keep up with the latest in the CIADC workshops – CIADC is offering a 10% discount to all new students: use code SUMMER10 at checkout!

5-Week Core Classes

Casting

Intro to Sand Cast Metal (CST120-05)
Wednesday 9 AM - 12 PM with Quentin Shaw beginning July 27;
Saturday 9 AM - 12 PM with Dominic Sansone beginning July 30

Intro to Composite Fabrication (CST150-05) 

Monday 7-10 PM with Mark Carroll beginning August 1

Fabricated Metalworking & Forging

Intro to Metal Fabrication (FMF110-05)
Saturday 9 AM to 12 PM with Quentin Shaw beginning July 30

Integrated Technology & Design

Intro to Rhino: 3D CAD Modeling For Design (ITD110-05)
Saturday 9 AM - 12 PM with Nathan Aldredge beginning August 6

Intro to Electronics and Microcontrollers For The Built Object (ITD120-05)
Wednesday 7-10 PM with Alan Baker beginning July 27

Woodworking

Intro to Woodworking (WDW110-05)
Wednesday 7-10 PM with Erik Newman beginning July 27;
Saturday 9 AM - 12 PM with Laura Miracle beginning July 30

Instruction Modules

Casting

Flexible Mold Making (CST520-01)
Tuesday, July 26 with Dominic Sansone 7 PM

Cold Casting (CST530-01)
Tuesday, August 9 with Dominic Sansone 7 PM

Fabricated Metalworking & Forging

TIG Welding: Steel, Stainless Steel, and Bronze (FMF530-01)
Tuesday, July 26 with Matt Runfola 7 PM

TIG Welding: Aluminum (FMF540-01)
Tuesday, August 2 with Matt Runfola 7 PM

One of a Kind: Chandelier by Laura Miracle

Woodworking instructor and department manager Laura Miracle has donated this tremendous chandelier for sale through Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center. 100% of the proceeds from the sale will be put in the Operating Budget for new tools and Department upgrades.

Crafted from reclaimed vintage wood doors and wired with Edison-style LED filament bulbs in porcelain sockets, this is a fantastic example of the kinds of innovated work our interdisciplinary shops can produce. The door was locally sourced from ReBuilding Exchange, and the 6-watt bulbs produce the equivalent of a 40-watt incandescent bulbs.

The chandelier – valued at $1,000 – will be on sale at CIADC for $500. If you are interested in acquiring this unique creation, contact us via info@ciadc.org – by phone at (773) 961-8498 – or visit CIADC in person anytime the center is open!

Exhibitions: Blueprints Exhibit Compilation

Blueprints at Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center will be on view through next Saturday, July 2, 2016. This project includes contributions from over 150 individuals – with plans and printouts from around the world. All submissions to the project are displayed in black and white printed from our office's LaserJet – we're happy to now share a full color PDF of all the 2D works from the exhibit: 

In addition to the voluminous 2D submissions, there are a variety of fully-realized 3D projects on display in the exhibit from CIADC members. 

Natalie Kling | Antler and steel

Natalie Kling | Antler and steel

Aushra Abouzeid | Bark, acorn, wax, silicone, resin

Aushra Abouzeid | Bark, acorn, wax, silicone, resin

Sarah Lu | Pine scrap, cardboard, hot glue (model)

Sarah Lu | Pine scrap, cardboard, hot glue (model)

Alan Baker, Bruce Church, Jessica Feith, Laura Miracle | Arduino uno, neopixel light ring, infrared range finders, wood, metal, wires

Alan Baker, Bruce Church, Jessica Feith, Laura Miracle | Arduino uno, neopixel light ring, infrared range finders, wood, metal, wires

Charles Vitous | Mechanical drawings

Charles Vitous | Mechanical drawings

Visit CIADC during gallery hours through July 2, or check out the Blueprints Exhibit Guide for a closer look at this project!

Shop Conversations: Laura Miracle

Laura Miracle: I might just say as an introduction, I’m a sculptor . . . I have an MFA in making things, and that context is useful.

Nathan Smith: Yes, indeed! What is your title here?

LM: I’m the woodworking department manager, and an instructor in the woodworking department [at Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center].

NS: I would like to talk about that in a bit, but first, I’d like to talk about all the other things you are up to right now. . . .

LM: [Laughter]

NS: . . . if you’re up for talking about that.

LM: Yeah! I have a lot of irons in the fire. I just got a message from someone who’s interested in having me create some sewn bags – so that’s a whole other thing that I probably haven’t previously shared with you. . . . I have a few different dream business plans for functional art. I’m really interested in tool belts and tool organization, which of course connects to being the shop manager – that’s part of why I’m here, because I just love tools, and I love being organized.

NS: When I first started working here, I would just like . . . wander around the woodshop, just staring at stuff, I think because the order is aesthetically appealing and kind of – maybe a little bit strangely – of the things I was seeing here, I was like: this is the most visually pleasing, just how the tools were set up looks right.

LM: Well, that makes me really happy.

NS: The way I came up with the idea for the Blueprints exhibit was from basically wandering around the woodshop, your walls look like this exhibit. . . .

LM: Oh yeah! So, part of that has to do with that I really believe in giving things space, and that’s part of making it easy to get access to tools, right? So when you’re talking about the tools being arranged in such a way that first – I like to have hangers or supports for the tools that only fit that one particular tool so it makes it intuitive for returning them, and that has to do with the years of experience that I’ve had in community-built shop environments, where you have people who don’t necessarily know what things are called. It’s not enough to just put a piece of tape that says “slip-joint pliers,” because –

NS: I don’t know what that is. . . .

LM: – if you don’t know what slip-joint pliers are, then it doesn’t help. But if you can look at the shape of the tool and match it to the shape of the holder, then you have at least another clue as to where that thing should be stored.

NS: It’s kinda like those kids puzzles where the apple goes in the shape of an apple.

LM: Yeah! You’ve figured me out . . . in my artwork, I’ve done a lot of exploration of things that fit other things very exactly. I made a series of sculptures, and created boxes with lined fabric receptacles for those pieces – and those things fit just exactly in there, and I get a great amount of satisfaction from that – putting the apple piece into the apple spot. It’s really . . . it feels really good. It also fits into the [Door Chandelier] I made too. That was part of what that was about – trying to match the profile of that found door with the cutting on the bandsaw.  

NS: So, tools, tool belts, bags. . . .

LM: Two years ago, I took a leatherworking class at the Chicago School of Shoemaking and got myself set up with an industrial sewing machine. I have that set up, which I’m really excited to start maximizing – but, as you know, the struggle of keeping the bills paid and the incoming coming in is a very real struggle.

NS: Do you have a working studio?

LM: I have a dining room that – well, air quotes dining room – I have a studio in my kitchen. So that’s something that I’m still very interested in. And my idea, my plan is to have the tool belt and tool carrying systems be kind of a winter pursuit because, in the spring and summer I’m really working on being a garden designer.

Raised beds

Raised beds

LM: I build raised beds for people, and I build garden enclosures, trellises, and garden stuff made out of wood. . . . I love working with cedar. That’s generally the material that I’m using. Time will tell what the lifespan of these constructions will be, but I’ve been at this for about two-three years, and so far of the things that I’ve made, they’ve all weathered to a really beautiful silvery-gray color, and there’s no real sign of any kind of decay or damage. That’s in terms of the objects, but I am working towards becoming a full-on gardener in the sense that there is a potential for what I call subscription, where someone has a set of raised beds, and they basically contract you for the growing season to kind of come out and manage the ongoing care of the garden, including succession planning – where it’s like, once this plant is done you pull that out and what are you going to put in next? Where you’re trying to plan double seasons overall, as well as knowing soil requirements, and light requirements, and all that.

Garden enclosure

Garden enclosure

NS: The first year we had a garden, we basically tried to get someone else to do it. . . .

LM: [Laughs]

NS: . . . because, you know, we’re especially bad at the succession part. We put stuff in, but that would be the only thing that would go there for the entire year, and it is just a fraction of it’s potential . . . Do you do a combination of edible and decorative, or?

LM: I’m actually entirely interested in growing food. It has to do with this thing for me that . . . you know, understanding where our food comes from is just really important and fascinating pursuit. I feel strongly that we should all be working to be more connected to the food we consume. So, that’s not quite a political thing for me, but almost there.

New raised beds

New raised beds

NS: It’s an environmental thing in the sense that it’s your immediate environment, and you would like to be more conscious of it?

LM: Right.

NS: We have a garden. And still, some of the people who have access to it – there’s a wild disconnect, wherein they won’t take stuff to eat out of it, unless it’s brought indoors to them. It’s like a combination of not knowing if things are ready, or something. . . .

LM: Yeah, that’s what I’m saying –

NS: It’s really strange.

LM: Yeah, definitely. Well, I’ll share this with you . . . I just started a garden just outside my new apartment, which was kind of a big decision for me, to put all that time and effort into that, because I’m a renter, and so this is what stopped me in the past from having a garden . . . I didn’t want to do it, but I’m at this place where it seemed really important for me to have my own growing space. So I planted spinach and mesclun greens and buttercrunch lettuce and carrots and beets – and then the squirrels ate all the seedlings. And it was so heartbreaking, but is was also really grossing me out, because that means – ahh, eww, ahh –

The enemy

The enemy

NS: That’s the disconnect . . .

LM: That’s what I’m saying.

NS: . . . that stuff’s in the world.

LM: I know, and like there aren’t squirrels on farms other places?

NS: Well . . . there might not be tons of squirrels in like, the middle of Iowa or whatever . . .

LM: That’s true.

NS: . . . maybe there are, I don’t know.

LM: There are animals though, for sure. And this idea that the food that you get from the supermarket has never been a part of nature – is obviously just silly.

NS: We rent too, and we didn’t set out to have a garden, but at Roman Susan we put together this exhibit where it was decided that rather than building pedestals – we priced it out – we found we could have Home Depot deliver two hundred cinder blocks to us and we could make them out of stacked cinder blocks. And then, of course, the exhibit was over and we had two hundred cinder blocks . . . and we were just like, what the hell are we going to do with these things?

LM: [Laughter]

NS: So, I convinced my landlord to let us have these cinder block beds. So, it’s the same thing – it’s kind of a wild amount of effort someone who is renting, but it’s really cool that they’re there, and there are all these guys that hang out in front of our house, because there are a lot of group homes everywhere around there, and they hang out at the bus bench in front of our house to smoke. Anyway, they are always telling me, Oh yeah! The mice – not mice. The rats come and visit your garden every night. And I’m just like, yeah, shrugs.

LM: Yeah, what are you going to do?

NS: The annoying thing is – they don’t like tomatoes, but they will bite one every night to make sure they still don’t like them.

LM: Yeah, it’s so maddening. Yeah, so that’s actually the project that I was working on today, the triangle I was making is going to be part of a series of supports for frames for my garden that will have either mesh, or – the idea I’m working under is that it’s going to be both to keep rodents out in the summer, but then also those panels can be switched out for plexiglass panels to make it into a cold frame in the spring. So the triangle is just to set over the bed and then the screens or the plexiglass fit in over.

NS: There’s a lot of other green stuff around our garden, yard, trees, et cetera. And so lots of rodents just get distracted, there’s plenty to go around. There are tons of rabbits, so we put marigolds around everything because they don’t like their scent, plus rabbits don’t like nightshades? So that’s good. But, well, rats and stuff – not to be deterred by the scent of anything.

Pest protection

Pest protection

LM: I did the cayenne pepper thing too. So after the initial destruction, I did an entire shaker of cayenne pepper over all the seedlings, and now they are coming back, and the squirrels have stayed away, but it just rained like crazy last night, I we’re going to have to go buy more cayenne. But that feels pretty good, because you just wash it off, and it’s fine. And I actually have marigolds around, too, although not in a solid border – maybe that’s the thing, it needs to be like. . . .

NS: Squirrels can fly.

LM: Yeah, squirrels can fly. So I’m covering with mesh, that’s really how I solve that.

NS: We have scarecrows, which endears us to our neighbors, I'm sure.

Cinder block garden beds plus scarecrow

Cinder block garden beds plus scarecrow

NS: So, you have other projects too, yes?

LM: Yeah. Yeah, but wait – there’s more! I am also an art director for an artistic collaborative performance group based out of Humboldt Park called Opera-Matic, which does free performances in the parks. I work with a team of artists to do these collaborative installations and participatory art events. It’s kind of hard to describe – but yeah, I do art direction for them.

Opera-Matic

Opera-Matic

NS: Because it is in public parks, do you feel you have a lot of interaction with people who would not be engaging with art otherwise?

LM: That is absolutely true, and in fact that’s the goal for Opera-Matic – to engage audiences that are not traditionally served by theatre. We get a fair amount of our funding from the park district, and we talk about how our goal is to see a balance of community residents with the artists. . . .

NS: People who are already interested.

LM: Yeah, it’s a little bit of a slippery . . . yeah, exactly. That’s the right way to say it – people who already have access to art culture.

NS: Is it set up to bring people back, to be recurring?

LM: We did just do that. We started out with a weekend in May – the weekend of Mother’s Day – and we just did our third annual performance there. And that’s a pretty good model, to do something on a fairly predictable schedule, year by year. So we’re going to look at repeating these two shows we’ve added to the calendar. One of them is going to be Simons Park around the start of the school year, and then there’s another one at Mozart Park around the middle of November, a little bit after Halloween. And again, trying to have that be at the same time every year, so people can look forward to it, and know that it’s going to happen.

NS: I’m not sure if I’m conflating this with something else, but do these involve, like, flag making and parades and such?

LM: Yeah! Yeah, that’s Opera-Matic. Last year, when the 606 Bloomingdale Trail opened, we were commissioned to do the whole day-long series of workshops where we set up these sewing stations along the trail, and had people who were coming to see the trail for the first time sew a flag. So they made a flag, we gave them a bamboo pole, and we asked them to come back for the opening ceremony at dusk, and we had hundreds of people waving their handmade flags. We had choreographers teaching people how to do dances with the flags, how to do these different choreographed moves. It was really amazing, and really fun. That gets to the very interdisciplinary nature of things, where it’s like, okay – it’s about class, and sewing and dancing and movement and visual art – it’s all those things put together.

NS: It’s complicated, and that’s probably what makes it interesting. Flags in particular, thinking about making your own flag is very interesting to me.

LM: Likewise.

. . .

LM: For Opera-Matic, the drive to do the project for the 606 thing came out of two very particular sets of concerns. Whenever you do public art, you need to have something that’s visual that can be seen over the tops of the heads of crowds of people.

NS: So it’s pretty practical.

LM: Yeah. So it was very much like, okay, here’s your design challenge . . . you have to do something that people can see, of course. And then, we talked a lot about movement, and how compelling things flying in the wind can be. And a big part of Opera-Matic goal is that the crowds of people are the spectacle. So now you have the potential for a hundred people, a thousand people to all be waving flags. That becomes really visually compelling. There is this ongoing question in spectacle theatre about how to maximize the amount of money you put into something. If you’re going to spend like $5,000 to make one massive object – is that going to get you the same visual impact as creating 5,000 flags? So it’s just a different way of exploring visual impact basically.

NS: And so you have more going on too, obviously?

LM: Yes, I manage the woodworking department . . . and there are probably other things I’m forgetting. But that’s most of what I’ve been up to this spring.

NS: Did you teach in the Evanston Art Center?

LM: I did not. I didn’t get to know [Matt Runfola, CIADC founder] until after he had already identified this location [for the Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center].

NS: So, coming into the new space is very similar to any open design solution – you’re looking at this blank space and deciding how to best serve as a woodworking shop?

LM: Yeah, when I entered the picture we knew there would be a woodworking department on the second floor, and the goal was that it be a flexible and meet a variety of needs, but to have enough depth to it for people to be able to go into a process and latch onto that. So, with those parameters, in a lot of ways the design was more or less spelled out, because of course there’s going to be a table saw, a bandsaw, a jointer planer, a drill press . . . I don’t really think there was any question whether those were the pieces of equipment that would be the foundation for the shop. There’s all kinds of subtleties in those things.

NS: What is up there right now that you are the most enthused about – that people might not be aware of?

LM: Well, we just set up our steam bender, which is very exciting. And so we’re bending wood, heating it up to 220 degrees and the steam softens the wood and makes it easier to form. That’s a whole exciting world.

NS: Was the equipment a donation?

LM: No, we just honestly did internet research and built it. There’s a few different ways of building a steam box and they are all basically variations on a theme.

Steam bender

Steam bender

NS: I had no idea . . . yeah, I assume way too many things are prefabricated, but you guys built this.

LM: Yeah, we put it together is really the way to say it. It’s a tube and a steamer, a source for steam. One of the things that’s really exciting about that is we’ll be doing some collaborative thinking between the technology department and the woodshop. It’s possible to envision and design forms with CAD, but then to go into the woodshop and actually try to create those forms with a process that has it’s own limitations, it’s going to be a really interesting and productive pursuit.

. . .

NS: Do you have sculpture ideas, that are unrealized, or on the backburner?

LM: I do, of course.

NS: Are some on the backburner because they aren’t possible at this moment, or just because you haven’t gotten to them, or?

LM: Yeah, both.

NS: What would be an ideal – unlimited resources – what would you make as a sculptor?

LM: The truth is I’d be here – at a place where I could work between different materials with different approaches, because I think it is clear that I’m not someone who’s going to ever be focused on just one material or one line of thinking. The thing that I’m really interested in exploring in my own artwork is this idea of interaction. I’m not a sculptor that would create a thing that people need to stand back and look at. I’m very much about being able to interact and handle a thing, and to feel the weight of it, to feel the surface of it. . . .

Interactive sculpture

Interactive sculpture

LM: Along the same lines with what I talked about with the tools and having a particular support for a tool gives you an indication about what it’s there for – there’s something that’s very interesting about how form can drive your understanding of purpose. I’m really interested in book forms – pages and unfolding and folding. I’m really interested in things fitting inside of other things because I feel like those forms give you clues about what you’re supposed to do, and in this weird way kind of drives the action of the viewer or the person interacting with it, and that gets really interesting to me.

NS: You wouldn’t be making monuments, you would be making intimate things that people can directly engage.

LM: Exactly . . . That’s the thread that goes through all these things. I even have a hard time making it out sometimes, but design and interaction – form driving purpose is thread that connects the different worlds.

For more info about Laura's various projects, please visit lauramiracle.com.

Support CIADC: 2016 Makers Ball on Saturday, June 18

Dear CIADC Community:
 
The Chicago Industrial Arts and Design Center’s annual fundraising event, the2016 Makers Ball, is just over 2 weeks away!  Join us on June 18th, from 7pm-11pm at our 6433 N. Ravenswood Ave. home and help celebrate what has been an incredible first year of programming!
 
The 2016 Makers Ball will be a celebration, most definitely. However, the event plays a much bigger role as a fundraiser to help fill the operations revenue shortcomings that are typical with a start-up organization. The Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that relies on charitable contributions to help fulfill our mission of providing education, working access, and community to 3D object makers working with materials and processes requiring specialized skill-sets, industrial workspace, and shop equipment. With classes and open studio access, we have helped nearly 550 people realize their creative projects in Casting and Molding, Metalworking, Technology, and Woodworking since we opened our doors May 11, 2015!

How can you help? 

  1. Purchase tickets to the 2016 Makers Ball to attend, as a gift, or even as a donation  
  2. Become a 2016 Makers Ball Sponsor / Donor at a level right for you or your business  
  3. Participate in “night-of” fundraising activities:
    • Donate a CIADC Department-specific tool or material on our Helping Hands board
    • Bid on Silent Auction items (Vacation home stay in Western Michigan, Cubs tickets, Runfola Studios Furniture, restaurant and wine basket gift certificates, CIADC Member-made candleholders, etc.)
    • Pull a number for the Wine Cork Pull
    • Purchase 50/50 raffle tickets  
  4. Spread the word:
  5. Volunteer by emailing danielle@ciadc.org with subject line “Volunteer”, and note when you can help. We will email you with details!
    • Friday 6/17 (heavy moving, plus sweeping) transform shops to party hall!
    • Saturday 6/18 setup/decorate CIADC for Makers Ball
    • Saturday 6/18 Makers Ball event activities
    • Saturday 6/18 post-event “light” cleanup
    • Sunday 6/19 (heavy moving) re-setup CIADC for industrial arts activities!

The 2016 Makers Ball is the can’t miss event for June, featuring live music from the Amazing Heeby Jeebies, food from Sauce and Bread Kitchen, wine fromH2Vino, beer from Revolution Brewing and Half Acre Beer. I look forward to seeing you there!
 
Sincerely,
Matthew Runfola

Upcoming Exhibitions: Call for Entries

We're happy to extend a call for entries to all Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center members for the next group exhibit at CIADC – Country, Life & Economics. 

Creativity is process channeled and invigorated within circumstantial limitations. This exhibit will focus on personal design efforts undertaken to breath new life into old materials and castaway projects – giving the available means a fresh purpose for practical applications.

Together we’ll highlight items crafted for practical use, where previously there had simply been parts and the individual drive to make something work.

Members of Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center who are interested in taking part in this exhibit are encouraged to send descriptions and or images of your projects to socialmedia@ciadc.org, or speak to Nathan Smith and Danielle Euer at the front desk.

The exhibit will be on display at CIADC from July 23 through September 3, 2016. To participate, please be in touch by Saturday, June 18!