How
many dreamers, designers, and builders does it take to screw in a light bulb?
None. They've invented an ingenious new solution in their basement already; the
light bulb is obsolete.
So
was the case on Mar. 15, at the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire's Show & Tell
held at the Museum of Vancouver. The place glowed with the energy of excited,
creative minds. This was a fundraiser for the second annual Vancouver Mini Maker
Faire that will be held Jun. 23 and 24 at the Vancouver PNE Fairgrounds. The
event will bring together some of Western Canada's most enthusiastic makers for
two days of interactive displays.
Maker
Faire began in the US in 2006 as an event put on by Make magazine, with purpose to “celebrate
arts, crafts, engineering, science projects, and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
mindset.” Today, Make assists community-driven Mini Maker Faires in many locations
across the US and Canada.
Emily
Smith, the Director and Founder of the VMMF, says the event anticipates
significant growth this year, hoping to house about 250 booths, including an
outdoor arena where Maker Coordinator Richard Sim anticipates quad-copters and
flame throwers to be among the displays.
The
beauty of the Maker Faire lies in its spirit of collaboration. Smith relates it
to a giant craft circle: “You and your friends get together, work off of each
other, [and] inspire one another.”
A
wide variety of projects are displayed at these Maker Faires, from fibre
artists, to revolutionaries in robotics. This melding of mediums is an
especially exciting aspect of the Maker Faire, as makers who meet often become
collaborators.
A
healthy cross-section of these interests were represented at this event,
including “Mister Fire-Man” David Gowman, who has been hand-carving wooden
horns, trumpets, and other associated wind instruments for the last ten years.
He plays them with his band, the Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra. His
craft grew, he says, from a desire to take his two-dimensional artistic expressions
as illustrator and painter to the third dimension by working with sculpture. “It
ended up being kind of four dimensional,” he says, referring to the musical
facet of his work.
The
Internet has played a big role in bringing the DIY community closer together.
Informal collaboration takes shape as weblogs bring inspiration from around the
world in the form of other people's projects. Websites dedicated to the DIY lifestyle
and video-sharing websites such as YouTube are invaluable, with tutorials
available on an infinite number of skills. Another boost to the DIY culture is
that with online merchandising, even the most obscure parts and supplies made available
to the most remote locations.
Consider
the guys at West Coast Kits, who bring kits for you to rig your entire bicycle
with neon El Wire, casting an ethereal glow about it in a colour of your
choice. They also offer the DrawBot, an “Automated vertical drawing device” that
draws out any image you ask it to on a variety of surfaces.
The
Vancouver Experimental Theremin Orchestra (VETO), who boast being “Vancouver's
first experimental theremin orchestra,” gave a performance with their unique
instruments. The theremin utilizes two metal antennas that sense the position
of the player's hands; one antenna controls frequency oscillators that produce
sound and the other controls volume. VETO will be in attendance at the VMMF
hoping to collaborate with other artists in film, performance art, or virtually
any other medium.
The
Plush boutique located on Main St. brought out their DIY or DIE!!! needle
felting workshop as an example of what are sure to be many fibre art booths at
the VMMF in June. The public was invited to try their hand at a form of appliqué,
which uses a tiny barbed needle to apply un-spun wool by felting it to almost
any textile surface.
Kim
Werker, a VMMF board member, brought out her project Mighty Ugly in which she
challenges participants to make something “truly ugly”. She feels it is
important for us as a society focused on concepts like beauty and success to peer
into the face of ugly and embrace it. Without it, she says, “we're missing out
on exploring creativity in its fullest sense. We're only looking at what we
consider a success as a valid form of creation and that discounts the mistakes
that we make, and by discounting them we're stunting our own growth.”
Everyone
at the event, whether as a maker or as a spectator, seems to share an
excitement about the apparent growth of the DIY movement. “It's an engaging
culture,” Gowman says, “and I think many of us are very tired of being a
spectacle-observing culture. We want to interact; we want to feel our lives
have meaning and substance.”
Where
is the DIY movement headed? Werker was certain in her answer: “Only good places.
There are fewer and fewer boundaries on creativity.”
Maker
Faire will take place June 23rd and 24th at the PNE. If you have a
project you'd like to share, the call for Makers for this year's event is still
open. Details on application can be found at http://vancouver.makerfaire.ca/makers/.
//Erin Knodel, writer
//Graphics by Indervir Jhuti
//Erin Knodel, writer
//Graphics by Indervir Jhuti
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