August 2010 Archives

The Fabratory was invited to participate in this year's Maker Faire by our friends at the Big Picture Company. Held in Detroit, Michigan, the faire proved to be a great place where creative minds could work together and make an idea come to life. At the faire we met fellow thinkers and makers and saw incredibly strange and unique inventions from people all around the country, including a machinist who fabricated his own 3d "cupcake" printers, a farmer who built a combined lumber mill/laser cutter/shop bot/3d printer (that was portable!), and a community group that made multiple seated bikes for more than one person enjoy. What really interested us about all of the different inventions was the mix of things both useful and totally useless. The faire proved to be a place for these off-beat people to explore their ideas with style, such as a guy who converted a Volvo into a robotic choir using animatronic fish, crabs, lobsters, and sharks, or a team that built a life-size mouse trap game, or even a metal singing skeleton.  These inventions have no place in a household, but the fact that the ideas are so different and the makers thought outside the box is what makes these things even more special.

The Fabratory wasn't in Detroit to just enjoy this gathering of inventors. We were also lucky enough to participate in an education symposium put on by the Big Picture Company. People from around the world came to think about a high school for people who learn with their hands and discuss what a school of makers would look like. We showed the group our own personal projects that we are working on in the Fabratory and spoke to them about how we learn using the tools in a Fab Lab. We were really excited to be able to help them out. Take a look at some of the photos that we took both at the Maker Faire and at the symposium.

-Brian Melo

This week in Kennedy Plaza, the public got a glimpse of the talent here at the AS220 Youth Studio! We set up a station selling screen printed tees, laser cut wooden postcards, etched tumblers, pins, jewelry and more - all designed and crafted by our youth.

Come check out our booth next month!

Yesterday we went on a field trip with the performance crew to our local radio station 95.5 WBRU. It was a good experince, we learned some interesting things about how you can start producing your music on the air. We also learned some interesting facts about how WBRU got started and where. At WBRU we meet a lot of nice people, they were so friendly to us and we got free Brisk Ice Tea which was delicous and we got some free cd's. We also saw a lot of different rooms where they record the local news, music etc. Another cool thing that we saw in the studio was how many different artists came and signed their wall.

AS220 supports the YOUTH! Zukrewe, the youth studio performance group, represented at the 11th annual 3rd eye open hip hop festival in New Bedford. The festival's rich hip hop culture involved such things as dunking contests, graffiti art, break dancing battles, and much more. The 45 minute drive to Buttonwood Park was worth the wait for Zukrewe. Our street band's Dynamic 7 brought the HYPE with their unique and beat busting remakes of songs such as Nuh Linga, Calabria, and Danny Song. The weather was nice but some of the emcees could have been nicer. I left feeling as if some emcees didn't put their all into their performances. But when 3rd Eye's group took the stage the mood was put back on, with their mission reflected in their youth's live performers. Followed by Providence's own, Travis, from Who Dem. The main acts were all female MCs and they stood up for the year of the woman!! Everyone appeared very passionate and enthusiastic, which gave the audience watching them a cheerful vibe.

The breakers were one of the highlights of my 3rd Eye experience. Can you say SKILLS?! Basketball is also a major element of the 3rd Eye Open. Many teams come from all over New England to participate, so competition is steep! The talent was amazing, the players all seemed like they had something to prove, and they all went hard. Overall it was a really nice experience and I can't wait to go back next year.

-Angella Daluz