Thanks and Wrapping Up 2017

This years’ Electric Sky was a resounding success and we cannot thank everyone enough for your active participation!  (For more imagery, check out our summarizing slide show or  see our video).
Our primary goal with this event is to foster the community of creatives at the intersection of art and technology in the Pacific Northwest – building collaborative relationships, developing best practices, engaging in life-long learning, and inspiring new innovation.  Our secondary goal is to share the art generated by the event with the public, and in particular with the small rural communities of the Skykomish River valley.
Reactive Path

Reactive Path

Ripples

Ripples

creativity lab

creativity lab

CNC Workshop

CNC Workshop

This year we organized our collaborative efforts around the “Wondering Woods” theme, exploring what if the woods could talk?  What if they can sense you and respond?  As a part of this effort we hosted a pre-event workshop instructing artists and tech creatives how to use sensors, and at the event we had a CNC router workshop and a project-based workshop for kids to engage with the environment and integrate sound into a group installation.  We also hosted an open creativity lab to encourage emergent on-site collaboration in the style of hackathons.  A total of 71 art and tech creatives attended, including 12 kids, and 40-50 visitors from the region came to our opening night party.
Bluuume

Bluuume

Time Vortex

Time Vortex

The Lordly Ones

The Lordly Ones

The Lordly Ones Closeup

The Lordly Ones Closeup

This was our third year, and thanks in large part to our grant from 4Culture, which we used to fund new projects, we observed the depths of the interdisciplinary collaborations and the quality of the art achieve a new level.  Electric Sky is evolving into not only an art and tech retreat, but a new works incubator.   We are very happy to report that we have been invited as a collective to return to both Lusio and Arts-a-Glow to share our Wondering Woods installation with thousands more in Seattle and Burien.
Opening Night party

Opening Night party

Electric Sky

Electric Sky

Do you want to see more? Check out our summarizing slide show.
Part I shows overview of the Electric Sky event, and Part II shows the “Wondering Woods” art.
Some of the art was animated, interactive, or included sound, so we made a 2-minute video with some highlights.  See our video.
In the Lab

In the Lab

Life-long Learning and Mentorship

Life-long Learning and Mentorship

Path Lighting

Path Lighting

Borealis Break

Borealis Break

Here are some more photos shared by community members:
Shelly Farnham.
Jole Sack.
If you are excited by what you see, why wait until next year to get involved? Check out our community page.

Electric Sky Mad Fun, Thanks and Wrap Up

It was an amazing event, thanks so much to the 70+ people who joined the fun at Electric Sky!  Our creativity lab was a madhouse of electronics, laptops, arduinos, LEDs, lasers, 3D printers, etc., mixed in with the more traditional array of arts & crafts supplies.   The weather was beautiful and extremely hot, so folks were excited to intersperse their art & tech “projecting” with relaxing moments splashing around in the river, and people were working into the wee hours of the morning in the creativity lab.

As a community event it would not have been possible without everyone’s help, including set up, take down, the workshop organizers, the logo and web design, the group meal, clean up, etc..– so thanks so much to everyone, including the Town of Skykomish for letting us use their beautiful ball park, and the Totally Legit art group for letting us use their electronics/crafts supplies!

  • Josh and Chris’ 3D printer workshop generated a lot of interest — for those interested Josh posted his notes in our public Facebook page, find them here.
  • Shelly’s full set of photos are posted in an Electric Sky private Facebook group (since there were many kids at the event) ask to join and check them out here.
  • Jose Sack posted some great photos here.
  • Be sure to check out Katerina’s “Exostesis” video.
  • On the whole, people really enjoyed the experience so we will definitely do it again next year!