A collaboration between the Exploratorium, MAKE Magazine, and Pixar Animation Studios, Open MAKE is a monthly program highlighting the tools, techniques, and ingenuity of local Makers. Visitors are invited to participate in tinkering and making activities inside the Tinkering Studio, where Makers from around the Bay Area will share their work. In addition, Dale Dougherty, founder and editor of MAKE Magazine, will interview Featured Makers in the McBean Theater.
This month’s theme will be trash. Five Featured Makers will be interviewed in the McBean Theater between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., talking about their work and process, and taking questions from the audience. The interview will also be webcast live! Please go to bit.ly/openmaketrash to watch.
Our Featured Makers are:
- Sudhu Tewari, who likes to make sounds with all kinds of materials, and was recently artist in residence at the San Francisco Dump.
- Cathy McEver, a local artist creating all kinds of stuff from found objects.
- Jeremy Mayer, who assembles stunning sculptures entirely made from typewriter parts.
- Paul Spooner, automatist extraordinarie, whose humorous and quirky kinetic sculptures are a delight.
- Nemo Gould who also uses found objects to create work that evokes a sense of childlike wonder.
Special Guest: Caine’s Cardboard Arcade!
Caine is a very awesome 9 year old boy who built an entire arcade out of cardboard in his dad’s auto parts shop. If you are not familiar with his story, watch this video! You won’t regret it…
Caine is coming to San Francisco for Open MAKE, and will be bringing his whole arcade! We’ll install the arcade in the Tinkering Studio, and he will be on hand to run the arcade and sell fun passes (it’s an awesome deal!). Caine will also make a special appearance at the Meet the Makers interviews at 1pm in the McBean Theater. He will be back at 3pm along with Nirvan, the filmmaker who made the documentary linked above, for the film screening organized by the Cinema Arts Program.
Scheduled Workshops
Swap-O-Rama-Rama!
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Come participate in a giant clothing swap where you get to re-make, re-use, and re-purpose yours or somebody else’s clothes! Instead of throwing them away or selling them to a thrift store, why don’t you bring your old (but CLEAN, please!) clothes to the Exploratorium and add them to the giant pile of garments we will be building? Then pick something that you want to alter in some way, and with the help of the fantastic Swap-O-Rama-Rama staff, we’ll help you bring your idea to life. We’ll have sewing machines, cutting stations, and a number of quick and awesome projects for you to do.
Trashion Show!
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. in the Skylight area
What happens to old t-shirts, stained jeans, and tacky prom dresses? Local designers become inspired by these materials that would otherwise end up in the trash and craft them up into something new. Check out Loose Thread, Miss Velvet Cream, and Camp Couture at the Trashion Show, produced by Artiffact. Are you an inspiring designer as well? Spend a little time at the Swap-O-Rama-Rama digging through the swap piles, sewing on the machines, and printing at the silkscreen stations and you can show off what you made too!
Slash Revival — with Eva Inez Heule
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Cut, Slash, Wear and go, or choose to re-weave old garments into completely new works of art!
Cotton jersey-knit or stretch fabrics work best for this demo.T-Shirt Transplants — with Andrea Nemerson
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Love the image, hate the garment? Andrea Nemerson shows you how to to perform a graphics transplant and other one-of-a-kind embellishments. Bring your own t-shirt that you want to modify: great for outgrown kid’s shirts!
Jeans [or any pants] Into Tote — with Scatha G Allison
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Remake a pair of unwanted jeans, pants, or shorts into a quick and easy tote bag with Scatha Allison. Use your new bag for shopping, crafts, the beach, moonlight picnics, or for everyday. The project is simple but with options for customizations, detailing and pockets! Bring your old jeans!
Fresh Prints: Live screen-printing — with Homeygrown
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Don’t toss that stained t-shirt! Give it a second chance with a fresh print from Homeygrown. Choose a shirt from the swap piles, or bring in an old favorite, and they’ll silkscreen a design of your choice to turn your old duds into something new-to-you.
Super Hero Capes
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Up, up and away! Transform a button-down shirt into an easy super hero cape with Jessica Martinez. This no-sew cape is perfect for superheroes of all ages! Bring your own button down shirts and embellishments!
Plastic coral reel building — with Angela Pozzi of Washed Ashore
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Come participate in a large scale coral reel building using pieces of plastic that have been salvaged from Oregon beaches. Angela turns plastic scrap and bits of trash that end up on beaches into wonderful large scale collaborative sculptures: come add your piece to a coral reef that will slowly take shape in the Tinkering Studio every day from Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All ages and skill levels are welcome!
Also on display, right outside the Tinkering Studio, will be Lidia the Seal, a large sculpture by Angela, made mostly with discarded plastic lids (hence the name…)
Contact microphone building — with Sudhu Tewari
10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Do you ever wonder if there are sounds you can’t hear? Well, there are! Some sounds are too quiet to be picked up by human ears and so go unnoticed. Sudhu Tewari wants to share these sounds with you. He builds electronic devices and musical instruments that help us hear (and see) these special sounds.
Sudhu will give a demonstration of contact microphone building and show you how to make your own with components salvaged from discarded electronic devices. Come experience the most musical colander you’ve ever heard and see the sound on a vintage Wobble vision! All constructed from other people trash!
Kinetic Sound Devices — with Pe Lang
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Pe Lang is a sound artist based in Zurich and Berlin. His work includes sound installations, live performances and compositions based on elegant and minimal kinetic systems, combined with different devices created by himself, which are used as sound sources. He prefers to experiment and build his artworks with inexpensive motors, small magnets, and the raw materials of bare wire, plastic tubing, metal plate and ball bearings, to allow viewers and listeners to appreciate the delicate and unpredictable movements and sound.
He will show some of the simple materials and construction methods he uses, including industrial surplus magnets, parts, and fasteners.
Special thanks to Swissnex San Francisco for their support in bringing Pe Lang to the Exploratorium
SCRAPPY Trash Puppets!
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Visit the SCRAP table and use fabric, buttons and toys discarded by local businesses to create a Trash Puppet. Come with a character in mind or make one that looks like you! We’ll attach a pencil to the puppet’s arm so you can make your puppet come to life.
LOVVVEEE that you are supporting young minds and creativity like Caine’s! What a great role model for the Exploratorium to highlight. Our future is bright. (an elementary school principal)