Year: 2026

2026 Electric Sky Wrap-up Summary with Photos

What a great Electric Sky!  We cannot thank everyone enough for helping to make it happen, it’s very much a community-driven event, and we are always so inspired by the projects and the on-site collaboration!

Collaboration and Community

Our main goal at Electric Sky is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the PNW at the intersections of art, technology, science and design, in the context of a mountain retreat where attendees also meaningfully engage with the beautiful environment of the upper Skykomish river valley. Collaborating, socializing, eating together, having fun together — are all key ingredients of community development.

Group fire: thanks Ron for cool fire bubble lasers and JLO for music!
Group meal: thanks James for cooking!
Midnight SUP: thanks Erik!
collaborating in the creativity lab
making the magic carpet ride
resident frequency crew

Workshops

We hosted several workshops, with the goal of supporting life-long learning and community building opportunities. Thanks so much to our workshop hosts, for sharing their knowledge and skills!

Make a Pepper’s Ghost
Lighten Up with LEDs
Soldering
DJ and Pirate Radio
DJ and Pirate Radio
DJ and Pirate Radio
Analog Feedback Loops for Glitchy Video Art
Analog Feedback Loops for Glitchy Video Art
Analog Feedback Loops for Glitchy Video Art

Super Natural Art Show

Finally, we ended the event with a pop-up art show on Saturday night around the theme “Super Natural”, structured as an art walk around the Skykomish Ballpark, and asking artists, designers, and tech creatives to examine the space between nature and technology where imagination meets the unknown. Below is a map of the art show and our favorite pictures and videos of the projects.

Art Walk in the Skykomish Ballpark
In the Woods
On the River
In the Field

5. BEACON / WARNING
Andrew Cole & Jeffrey Larson

Every lighthouse exists because something dangerous is nearby, but this one was built before the danger appeared. Historical records describe a tower erected on an empty riverside generations before the first kayak wrecked there. The builders never explained why. They only insisted the light must never stop rotating.

8. Bustiers
J.J. Jezebel

11. Church of the Black Hole
Carey/Eric/Daniel/Durin/Stacia

Come explore the Church of the Black Hole’s latest public benefit endeavor: a toy lab! Our experienced product marketing department will watch while you interact with our cutting-edge toy technology; and if you’re lucky, you may be a match to be in one of tonight’s consumer testing group for our latest and greatest invention, the Wee Gee!

9. For Rest Mirror
Lexa Reclaims

Who knows what you will see in the forest mirror, take a look and admire what you see within, without, and around. Is it different than what you expect, what you want? Come back again and see what evolves as the balance between the ambient and mirror lights changes. 

1. Glow Cart
Joseph Gray

A portable projection cart with custom visuals controllers.

7. Honeycomb Lights
Ron Smith

Honeycomb patterned light tubes.

10. Kwalq
A Totally Legit Project

The Super Natural god frog known as Kwalq speaks frog in all languages of the earth.

[mobile] Magic Carpet Ride
Suzanne Dazo & Joel Walters

Let us show you the world of Electric Sky on this magic carpet adorned with ethereal flora created by the community.

6. Mycelium Symphony
Jenny & Ty

Beneath every forest floor runs a web of fungal threads_the mycorrhizal network—through which trees share nutrients, chemical warnings, and signals across vast distances. This network is entirely real, entirely active, and completely invisible to us.

3. 90’s Cable Simulator
Rage (AKA Rachel)

I’ve used an open source software called “Fieldstation 42” to program a raspberry pi into a cable simulator. The software itself is saved to the Pi’s SD card, and the library of media is referenced from an external drive. FS42 allows you to program channels with schedules, allowing tv shows, movies, and commercial breaks, to play automatically, regardless of the channel you’re watching. Pick up the remote to change the channel!

*GOOD NEWS!* Anyone can download this program themselves and create their own version of a cable simulator! You can find the source code on GitHub, and instructions by the creator at fieldstation42.com. Enjoy!

[mobile] PopUp Puppet Karaoke
Popagenda

Sing your favorite song with a puppet on your hand, even better with a friend. You can’t lose!

4. Prediction Platform
Lysa Christie, Kirk Holland & Britta Baer-Simon

The Prediction platform draws on ancient mysticism from both the East and west, Dodecahedric wisdom, as well as modern pop culture answers to all of your questions about life, the universe, and everything.

2. Remembrance Portal
Nicholas

A collaborative art experience that allows annoy to contribute trinkets to enter the remembrance portal. All trinkets will be assimilated into the portal. Memories not required. Portal can be tuned to the correct color frequencies willed by the user through the ancient television. 

12. Resident Frequency
Adrian / Evan

Signals from the environment create musical and visual source material for an immersive vibe out tent. A multi-node sensor network placed around the site — including a solar powered ESP32 weather and audio station on the Skykomish riverbank, and a second ESP32 reading human energy from the center of the Electric Sky hangout spaces — send 100Hz data streams that converts into MIDI channels and becomes evolving, generative compositions. 

THANKS AGAIN

We thank our organizers, volunteers, and creative community for making Electric Sky happen, including the crews of Third Place Technologies and Totally Legit! We also thank 4Culture and the Town of Skykomish for supporting this event. It takes a village to raise a creative retreat and art show!

*photo credits: All photos were provided by attendees, including Shelly Farnham, Daniel Robbins, Andrew Cole, Daisy Yen, Ron Smith, and Joel Walters. Email shelly at third place technologies dot com if you wish to follow up on a particular image.

Announcing our Workshop Schedule

We are excited to announce our DRAFT workshop schedule! We say draft because we are still confirming details and are considering one or two more options.

At Electric Sky, we host workshops to help you improve your practice as a creative artist, designer, or technologist. These hands-on workshops for the most part will be tied to the theme (2026: Supernatural), and some will encourage you to add a project to our pop-up art show. Learn, connect with other creative folks, and share!

  • Green Workshop Tent:
    • Friday 8:30pm-9:30pm Make your Own Pepper’s Ghost
    • Saturday 9:30am-11:00am Hacking ESP32s to Make a Music Box
    • Saturday 11:30am-1:00pm Soldering 101, Make an LED Pin
    • Saturday 1:30pm – 3:00pm How to Set Up Analog Feedback Loops for Glitchy Video Art
    • Saturday 3:30pm – 5:00pm DJ Your Own Private Radio Station
  • Yellow Workshop Tent:
    • Saturday 10:00am-11:00am Lighten Up with LED Charm Jewelry (kid friendly)

Workshop Descriptions:

Make your Own Pepper’s Ghost

Friday, July 31st, 8:30pm-9:30pm

Learn this historic art of theatrical illusions! At this workshop you will create your very own “Pepper’s Ghost” animation inside a glass orb. You will learn how to both create the object and the animation using a simple craft snow globe and a phone app. Ages 15+*

Hosted by Shelly Farnham. Shelly is a classically trained painter who also works with interactive, experimental technologies in sculptural installations. See https://shellydianefarnham.com Image and workshop lesson plan drawn from instructions shared by Ellingson.tv, later published in Make Magazine: https://www.instagram.com/reels/C87wINvS-93/

Hacking ESP32s to Make a Music Box

Saturday, Aug 1, 9:30am-11:00am

At this hands-on workshop we create a small embedded music player together, using ESP32’s, a small, inexpensive, yet powerful microcontroller! Ages 15+*

Hosted by Cam Smith, a Seattle-based new media artist exploring surveillance, AI, and technology’s societal impact. https://smith.cam

Soldering 101: Make an LED Pin

Saturday, Aug 1, 11:30am-1:00pm

Come to this workshop to learn the basics of soldering while you assemble a light-up LED pin to take with you. The workshop will begin with a description of what soldering is and the theory behind it. Your host Andrew will then discuss safety and demonstrate good and bad solder joints. Participants will then be invited to try soldering by assembling a provided kit which will result in a small (1″-ish) blinky LED pendant pin. Ages 13+*

Hosted by Andrew Cole, a multidisciplinary engineer and tech artist with extensive experience making interactive, kinetic, sound and lighting projects. Andrew is a veteran of Electric Sky and a member of the art group Totally Legit. See https://aocole.net/

Lighten Up with LED Charm Jewelry (kid friendly)

Saturday, Aug 1, 10:00am-11:00am (Yellow Tent)

Light yourself up with a fun and simple project for all ages, creating a charm bracelet lit up by LEDs! For this workshop you will familiarize yourself with basic jewelry-making elements and tools. If you are feeling adventurous you may also make matching earrings.

Ages 6+

Our hosts include Shelly Farnham and others from the Totally Legit crew, who have decided this is the summer of jewelry and LEDs. See https://TotallyLegitLLC.com

How to Set Up Analog Feedback Loops for Glitchy Video Art

Saturday, Aug 1, 1:30pm-3:00pm

Nicholas will teach you how to set up an analog feedback loop using a common crt television, a laptop, and a camera, demonstrating a simple and accessible way to create glitchy video art. Ages 15+

Hosted by Nicholas Bowen a creative technologist, abstract generative artist, and software engineer. See https://instagram.com/offlineartisan

DJ Your Own Private Radio Station

Saturday, Aug 1, 3:30pm-5:00pm

Learn the basics of playing your favorite playlist as a DJ “on the decks”, and how you can then broadcast your music even in the remote mountains using a private FM radio. After this workshop the DJ station will be set up for workshop attendees to play all night long. Ages 15+

Josh creates art and tech experiments including: interactive installations, electronics, light/audio, graphic design, music, woodwork, food trucks, and more—often built for group shows and collaborative spaces. In the tech world, he builds web front-ends. Born in WA in 1982, he now lives on Camano Island chasing ideas and pugs.
art.doublejosh.com

Space is limited in our workshops, so be sure to register in advance. We will be sending registered attendees the workshop sign up information mid July. In other words registered participants will receive sign up priority.

*Several of the workshops are designed for mixed-age attendees. Parents should attend workshops with kids 14 and under, and should be within earshot for ages 15 – 18. Workshops marked “Ages 15+” indicate the complexity of content, manual dexterity, or patience required is not appropriate for kids but a teenager could probably handle it.

Grant Recipients for 2026

Remember, *anyone* can show up with a project at Electric Sky and we encourage you to do so!

That said, small grants (up to $500) are provided for some larger-scale projects to help cover project costs.

We are excited to announce our granted recipients and projects for 2026 include: Josh Lind, bring back Popagenda and Puppet Karaoke; Joel Walters, for A Magic Carpet Ride; Jennifer Davis for Mycelium Symphony; Joseph Gray for Glow Cart; Ron Smith for Honeycomb Lights; Nicholas Bowen for Rememberance Gate; Cam Smith for Music Box; Church of the Black Hole for Advanced Toy Research; Andrew Cole and Jeffrey Larson for Beacon/Warning; Adrian MacDonald and his sound collaborators for Resident Frequency; and Lysa Christie for her Predictive Platform.

Electric Sky is structured much like a hackathon so these projects may evolve a fair amount before we see them, but here are a few provocative images from the application submissions.

2026 Theme Super Natural

We are pleased to announce our 2026 theme for Electric Sky: SUPER NATURAL. Each year we orient our collaborative installations, workshops, and Saturday night art show around a theme. For 2026, with theme SUPER NATURAL we call on you to venture beyond the familiar, and explore what lies just beyond your human perception.

We ask artists, designers, and tech creatives to examine the space between nature and technology where imagination meets the unknown.

  • How do we, as creatives, enhance or move beyond nature’s current capacities?
  • How might we see, hear, or feel what lies beyond human perception?
  • How might we find those mysterious entities at the edges of awareness, and make contact?

We encourage participation from interdisciplinary practitioners and groups at the intersections of art, design, technology and science, leveraging both technology and traditional arts in new and exciting ways in their creative process. Successful projects at Electric Sky have included light art, sound installations, kinetic sculptures, interactive tech, projection mapping, games, generative art, and creative coding, in addition to any more traditional arts that lend themselves towards outdoor installations in an evening art walk in a field, in the woods, or on the river.

As an ongoing theme spanning several years, we also seek to continue our path toward installations that are more ecologically resilient, and ask participants to integrate renewable energy into their projects where feasible.

How it Works

For our group show, we provide a basic framework around the theme, and then recruit artists, technologists, scientists, and designers to take on aspects of that theme, playing with technologically-infused, sensing, interactive and self-illuminated elements.

In the style of hackathons, you may bring your own piece to work on, you may join other emergent collaborations, or you may just show up to enjoy the show. Projects are shared during our Saturday night art show and party, which is open to the public.

Participating artists and technology creatives may include light, sound, video, performance, landscaping, architectural elements, in addition to visual art, however we encourage all projects incorporate an electronic, sensing, interactive, or self-illuminated component, to be experienced outdoors at night.

Art grants are available up to $500 for material project support and/or subsidized tickets, learn more here. The [revised] deadline was Sunday May 24th, 2026 at midnight (now past).