Category: Workshops

FINAL Final Workshop Schedule

We have a couple new additions to our workshop schedule which is looking fantastic! See listed below. Be sure to register in advance to save your spot in our workshops (see “add-ons” when registering).

At Electric Sky, we host workshops to help you improve your practice as a creative artist, designer, or technologist. These hands-on workshops are for the most part tied to the theme (2024: Sun Wind Water), and some will encourage you to make something to add to our art show. Learn, connect with other creative folks, and share!

Friday, June 21, 8:30pm-9:30pm
Workshop #1: Soldering 101
hosted by Andrew Cole
Get back to the basics of soldering with a small LED project.
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 9:00am-10:00am
Workshop #1.5: Pysanky Egg Decor Craft
hosted by Sue Copenhaver and Emily Martin
Learn Ukrainian egg painting.
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 10:00am-11:30am
Workshop #2: Playing with Wind: Make an LED Pinwheel or Mini Wind Turbine
hosted by Shelly Farnham
This is a very kid friendly workshop, draw and assemble a pinwheel, or take it to the next level and make a small wind turbine that powers an LED
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 11:30am-1:00pm
Workshop #3: Vision Cubing
hosted by Falona Joy and Genevieve Tremblay
Learn a new contemplation and crafting technique!
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 1:00pm-2:30pm
Workshop #4: Augmented Environments
hosted by Jeff Brice
Learn the processes of making image-triggered augmented reality objects and environments.
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Workshop #5: Intro to Solar Energy in Art
Hosted by Bruce Cooper
A basic introduction to how to “unplug” your projects, withs hands-on experience by building a working solar power project.
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 5:00pm-6:30pm
Workshop #6: De Light and the Everyday
Hosted by Rebecca Cummins
Magical characteristics of sundials, rainbows, lenses, and the camera obscura are explored with water, wine glasses, chalk, and a suitcase.
See full description.

Be sure to register in advance to save your spot in our workshops (see “add-ons” when registering), otherwise it is first come, first serve on site. Parents should attend with kids 14 and under, and should be within earshot of any offspring under 18.

Workshop: Pysanky Egg Decor Craft

Saturday, June 21, 9:00am-10:00am
Hosted by Sue Copenhaver and Emily Martin

Learn Ukrainian egg painting with electric kistky (wax-resist tools). Our Pysanky masters will help you incorporate Sun, Wind, and Water visual motifs into your design.

Join us for our scheduled introductory workshop, and/or find us for extra maker sessions at the TYPONEXUS camp.

Sue Copenhaver is a master Psykansky artist.

Workshop: De Light and the Everyday

Saturday, June 22nd, 5:00pm-6:30pm
Hosted by Rebecca Cummins

Want to discover more about light and basic optics? This workshop explores the magical properties of sundials, rainbows, and the camera obscura with water, wine glasses, chalk, lenses, and a suitcase.

Trace the movement of the sun, construct a simple camera obscura with domestic materials, view the microscopic world through a cardboard foldscope – and consider basic optical principles using a wine glass. All ages welcome!

Rebecca Cummins is inspired by science, its history, and instrumentation; she explores possibilities of light and natural phenomena in installations that include a machine for making rainbows, sun and moon pointers, periscope dinner table devices – and a variety of sculptural and photographic approaches to conceptualizing time. She has exhibited widely internationally and is active in public art and cross-disciplinary collaboration. She is a Professor in the School of Art at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Rebeccacummins.com

Final Workshop Schedule

At Electric Sky, we host workshops to help you improve your practice as a creative artist, designer, or technologist. These hands-on workshops are for the most part tied to the theme (2024: Sun Wind Water), and some will encourage you to make something to add to our art show. Learn, connect with other creative folks, and share!

Drumroll please…below are our scheduled workshops for 2024!

Friday, June 21, 8:30pm-9:30pm
Workshop #1: Soldering 101
hosted by Andrew Cole
Get back to the basics of soldering with a small LED project.
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 10:00am-11:30am
Workshop #2: Playing with Wind: Make an LED Pinwheel or Mini Wind Turbine
hosted by Shelly Farnham
This is a very kid friendly workshop, draw and assemble a pinwheel, or take it to the next level and make a small wind turbine that powers an LED
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 11:30am-1:00pm
Workshop #3: Vision Cubing
hosted by Falona Joy and Genevieve Tremblay
Learn a new contemplation and crafting technique!
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 1:00pm-2:30pm
Workshop #4: Augmented Environments
hosted by Jeff Brice
Learn the processes of making image-triggered augmented reality objects and environments.
See full description.

Saturday, June 22, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Workshop #5: Intro to Solar Energy in Art
Hosted by Bruce Cooper
A basic introduction to how to “unplug” your projects, withs hands-on experience by building a working solar power project.
See full description.

Be sure to register in advance to save your spot in our workshops (see “add-ons” when registering), otherwise it is first come, first serve on site. Parents should attend with kids 14 and under, and should be within earshot of any offspring under 18.

2024 Theme: Sun Wind Water

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Each year we orient our collaborative installations, workshops, and Saturday night art show around a theme. We are pleased to announce for 2024 our theme is Sun Wind Water — inviting participants to explore the use of renewable energies in their projects.

As we consider a future that is more ecologically resilient with clean energy, we ask artists, designers, and creative technologists to explore projects that are both technological — with sound, movement, and lighting — yet unplugged from a power grid. In other words, how can we integrate renewable energies into our art, using technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, and water batteries? Or perhaps more directly, how might we leverage the sun, wind, and water as creative mediums that animate our installations?

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 were available to $500 for material project support or subsidized tickets, learn more here. The deadline was Friday April 26 (now past).

Workshops for 2021

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For those of you familiar with hackathons, we have a few workshops and projects at Electric Sky this year that are going to be right up your alley!

Make Your Own Fortune Teller Friday, July 30th 8:30pm – 10:30pm

Fortune Teller

You and/or your team will build a fortune-telling arcade machine with your unique charm! We will provide a free kit with basic electronic ingredients so you can display messages (LCD screen + arduino), accept coins, and press buttons! You bring a box, suitcase, or whatever to contain your magic device. Show off your project in our group show on Saturday. Learn more here! Hosted by Josh Lind. There are only 8 kits available, so email Josh at joshuaklind@gmail.com to save your spot.

Futbol Player Bot

Robot Futbol League — Python Code Competition! All day project, Fri Jul 29 – Sat July 30

We provide the autonomous robots, the ball, and the arena for 1 vs 1 football — you provide the code! Take our basic code for guiding the robots to play the game, and add your own algorithms for improved game performance. The best code wins! Learn more and see starter code here: https://github.com/littlebee/robot-futbol-league. Hosted by Bee Wilkerson

Robot Futbol Play Arena
Virtual Painting using Tiltbrush

Painting in Virtual Reality, Saturday, July 31st, 10am – noon

In this workshop we will first provide a demo of 3D/virtual painting in Tiltbrush (using Oculus).  You will then complete a general tutorial for using Oculus 2, and then have the opportunity to experiment with the VR painting tools in a collaborative virtual space.  After the workshop, you can sign up for more extended time in the TiltBrush studio space. Hosted by Genevieve Tremblay.

Make your Own ZZZ Operation Man Game (Kid friendly) — Saturday July 31st, noon – 1:30pm

DIY “Operation Man” Dog

In this workshop you’ll draw your own image such as a dog, robot, or fairy, and then wire up tweezers, an LED and a buzzer just like the Operation Man game. This project is a good start for learning about electronic circuits, ideal for 10-16 year olds, or adults who want to play. Hosted by Shelly Farnham. Email shelly@totallylegitllc.com to reserve your spot, otherwise it is first come first serve.

Thanks and Wrapping Up 2017

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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.
Leo Spizzirri.
Elizabeth Ostasiewski
If you are excited by what you see, why wait until next year to get involved? Check out our community page.

Call for Participation: Wondering Woods

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Sensor Mote Swarm

Sensor Mote Swarm

Call for Artists & Tech Creatives “Wondering Woods” Grant Proposals

We our focusing this years’ group collaboration around the theme “The Wondering Woods”.  Help us explore the question: what if the trees could talk?  What if the forest was a living, conscious, interactive being?  We have small grants (200$-1000$) and free tickets to support participating creatives.  If interested, please learn more about the theme and check out our application.  Due date is May 1st.

Seeking Workshop Proposals

What would you like to learn?  What would you like to share?  If you want to propose a workshop please email shelly at totallylegitllc dot com.

Seeking Volunteers

Get involved!  We are looking for help with our group meal, signs, promotion, reception, opening party bar, path layout, and so forth.  You’ll meet great people, and active volunteers get a free ticket!  please email shelly at totallylegitllc dot com to ask about how you might want to volunteer.