Events

Hot Couture 2013 Designer Spotlight: SENSOREE Design Lab

2018-03-08T12:49:34-08:00


Photos courtesy of SENSOREE.

To SENSOREE Design Lab, 2013 is the year of communication. At Hot Couture, SENSOREE will premier five new interactive designs that speak to the self, each other and the spacial environment. Under the theme “Home-aid” they craft future design couture from the DIY to bring awareness, interaction and health of the self.

Kristin NeidlingerTeam lead and SENSOREE founder Kristin Neidlinger crafts phenomenal technology to enhance and expand physical embodiment. She is interested in how technology increases body awareness and to what extents. A classically trained ballerina, she holds an MFA in Interactive Design from CCA and has worked as a Dance Medicine Specialist and kinetic costume designer. She has performed and exhibited works from Berlin to Belgium to Brazil and for the next two years her work is touring with Futurotextiles 3.

Greg Ames is SENSOREE’s Electrical Sound Wizard. From his early pre-teen years, Greg has been involved with electronics and music. After college, he was involved in professional audio, building recording studios, traveling as an audio engineer and working for Disney. He later transitioned to a career in the computer industry, being fortunate enough to get involved with Apple Computer very early on, working there on and off for more than 17 years. He has expertise in internet and small embedded solutions including Atmel/Arduino and looks forward to providing technology solutions for art and education.

Sensoree Silicon TrapAnthony “Asterisk” Ambuehl handles wiring, programming and metal fabrication. As an active member with Sensoree, Flux Foundation and Flaming Lotus Girls, he does whatever necessary to make art happen.

David Dawson
is a fashion sculptor and once upon a time, co-owner and creative collaborative leader of Asphalt Designs and partner in Phobos and Deimos. Currently he is awakening and stimulating the sensibilities of teenagers as a high-school art instructor.

Autumn Adamme established Dark Garden in 1989. Her vision and leadership have brought her company to the forefront of the world’s corset market. Using the finest fabrics, Autumn and her team of  talented craftspeople skillfully build each corset and couture garment from start to finish. Her gowns and corsets have been worn on Hollywood’s red carpets by Christina Aguilera, Pamela Anderson, Kelly Osbourne and Dita Von Teese. Autumn has participated in two great Crucible events – Firebird Fire Ballet and Machine, last year’s fire opera.

Stefanie Ku (a.k.a. Cosmic Cupcake, Kukie Matter, and silverslik), is a San Francisco based intermedia artist and divides her time between helping people achieve wellness through sound and vibrational healing, playing keyboard and synth in electronic rock band Beautiful Machines, and transmuting her visions from the dimensionless realm of pure thought into the more accessible language of light and sound.

Chris Jeffries (Tinaja Labs) is part of an ongoing DIY movement which builds upon the open software and now open hardware standards. This movement makes the use of

Hot Couture 2013 Designer Spotlight: SENSOREE Design Lab2018-03-08T12:49:34-08:00

Hot Couture 2013 Designer Spotlight: Coyote Counter Collective

2018-03-08T12:44:34-08:00


Photo courtesy of Coyote Counter Collective.

Coyote Counter Collective is a cooperative art and design space in North Oakland formed by group of artists banded together to re-imagine structures on their own terms. The corner storefront is equal parts gallery, boutique, studio workspace, garment re-construction factory, style hub, and general one- stop waypoint for cultural re-fitting.

For Hot Couture 2013, Coyote developed a conceptual collection of smart garments with an eye towards integrating some of the newest technologies out there with some of the oldest.

Electroluminescence, LEDs, laser-cut shapes, 3D printed forms and conductive fabrics and threads are layered with stained glass, applique, dye, felt, quilting and silkscreen to lend illuminated and richly textured surfaces to these glowing, flickering creatures. The garments transfer information via simple touch or wireless radio signals, affecting each other in various ways.

Throughout the collection is evidence of an ongoing commitment to sustainability.  The garments are primarely either reconstruced or made from reclaimed materials, and the 3D printed parts use renewable corn plastic.  The underlying belief of Coyote Counter Collective is that we must also develop egalitarian models of working if we wish to be truly sustainable. The process is indeed part of the product, and Coyote believes that we must look to artists to show the way forward for society.

Visit Coyote Counter Collective on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @CoyoteCounter.

Coyote Counter Collective is:

  • Medium Reality – design
  • Lara Grant – design, electronics
  • Rachel McConnell – design, electronics
  • Rachel Lyra Hospodar – electronics, facilitation
  • Sylvia Wood – stained glass
  • Type A Machines – 3D printing

Coyote Counter Collective wishes to thank to Chris K Palmer (Shadowfolds), Miloh Alexander, Chartreuse Circle, Pants Interface, Noisebridge and Merchants of Reality.

Hot Couture 2013 Designer Spotlight: Coyote Counter Collective2018-03-08T12:44:34-08:00

Hot Couture 2013 Designer Spotlight: Alex Glowaski

2018-03-08T12:43:14-08:00

In our final Designer Spotlight, staff writer Sarah Dabby chats with maker-artist Alex Glowaski to discuss brainwave-reactive headsets, internet-enabled pieces, and her huge dreams for Hot Couture and beyond. She will be showing two pieces at The Crucible’s Hot Couture: A Fusion of Fashion and Fire on January 11-12, 2013.

Alex Glowaski is a tech support tank and brainwave enthusiast. Before moving to San Francisco, she lived in Ann Arbor, where she received a Spanish degree and directed the city’s “All Hands Active” hacker space.  Now immersed in San Francisco, she works at Sauce Labs and has co-founded a hardware development group called ProtoTank.

Follow Alex on Twitter @glowascii.

 

Hot Couture 2013 Designer Spotlight: Alex Glowaski2018-03-08T12:43:14-08:00

50 Years of American Studio Glass

2018-03-08T15:03:09-08:00

Saturday, Nov 10 and Sunday November 11 – 10am to 6pm
Saturday, Nov 10 – 6-9pm

This year marks the 50-year anniversary of the Studio Glass movement in the United States. Come join us in celebrating California artists’ contributions to the studio glass movement on November 10th and 11th at the Crucible in Oakland, CA.

Click here to visit the official event website.

This Crucible event is part of a national movement to celebrate this anniversary. The program follows the tradition of the California Glass Exchanges. San Jose State University glass instructor Dr. Fritz and his student George Jercich started the Glass Exchange with the goal of gathering the California glass community together to share skills and techniques.

 

PROGRAM
Saturday, Nov 10 and Sunday November 11 – 10am to 6pm

EXHIBITION RECEPTION AND AWARD CEREMONY
Saturday, Nov 10 – 6-9pm

KEYNOTES
Suellen Fowler, Marvin Lipofsky, Richard Marquis, Susan Stimsmuehlen-Amend

 

  • Demonstrations in the Crucible’s six glass studios: blowing, cold working, fusing, casting, neon and flame working areas.
  • Panels and lectures featuring California glass artists who began working in each decade.
  • Two-day Pop up exhibition of California glass artists 10-5 pm.
  • Reception and Awards ceremony honoring contributions to the California glass community is scheduled for 6-9 pm Saturday Nov. 10. Honoring collectors, including Dorothy Saxe and artists who have contributed to our movement.
  • Add your information to the “Living Glass Timeline” that will be created during the two-day event. We welcome glass artists of all decades who have worked in California to download and complete a Registration Form for inclusion on ourDirectory of California Glass Artists. See our website below.

 

 

Partially Sponsored by: The Crucible, The Glass Alliance of Northern California, the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, Denny Abrams, the Glass Art Society, and the Clay and Glass Arts Foundation.

Studio Glass Movement

The studio glass movement was founded in 1962, when artist Harvey Littleton gathered a group of artists, craftspeople, scientists and scholars at the Toledo Museum of Art for a series of hot glass workshops that demonstrated that glass could be made into art in the artist’s studio rather than in an industrial setting. At the same time, starting in 1962, glass art classes and programs began to be established at colleges and universities in California. Come help us celebrate the history and future of California glass artists and innovators.

Teaching the History

Make this 50-year anniversary part of your curriculum for this semester. The Oakland Museum and California College of the Arts are also sponsoring exhibitions and events to celebrate this anniversary and California glass artists. Keep an eye on our website. We will be adding additional links and resources in the coming weeks to help you highlight other events celebrating the American Studio Glass movement.

The Crucible
1260 7th Street
Oakland, CA 95607

www.theCrucible.org

50 Years of American Studio Glass2018-03-08T15:03:09-08:00

Gift & Get

2018-03-08T11:36:57-08:00

It’s the time of year for giving. As the holidays approach, we are giving our hardworking community an opportunity to give an extraordinary gift to a loved one and receive one as well. We are now offering a Gift and Get promotion.

Now through December 31, 2012, anyone who purchases a Crucible Gift Certificate, class, or membership as a gift gets a voucher of $30 off a class valued at $100 or more for themselves.

Vouchers are made out to the purchaser only, and are non-transferable and not redeemable for cash. This promotion excludes Fun Together classes and cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion. One voucher per person.

Gift Certificates

Gift Certificates can be used for Crucible classes, memberships, and events like The Crucible’s exclusive fire fashion show, Hot Couture. Gift Certificates can only be purchased in person or by phone, and are available in any denomination above $50.

Gift A Class

The Crucible offers an incredible variety of industrial arts classes including blacksmithing, ceramics,fire performance, glass blowing, jewelry, kinetics and electronics, metal fabrication, stone working,wood carving, and more. Classes start for artisans as young as age 8 and offered on weekdays, weekends, and weeklong adventures.

Gift A Membership

Recipients of a Crucible membership enjoy exclusive member benefits including discounts, priority access to classes and events, and special gifts while supporting and raising awareness of industrial arts education in the bay area. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the support of our community to fuel our fires. Membership dues directly subsidize our arts education programs, allowing us to provide free programs for West Oakland youth, develop innovative performances with artists from throughout the Bay Area, and continue to offer the world-class industrial arts education you enjoy.

Gift & Get2018-03-08T11:36:57-08:00

East Bay Mini Maker Faire 2012

2017-11-22T11:11:42-08:00

The very core of The Crucible is about learning and doing: inspiring creativity in everyone, and unleashing their potential to make things. It’s no surprise then that you’ll find us at the 2012 East Bay Mini Maker Faire. If you like building / tinkering / fixing / prototyping / making things, block off October 14th on your calendar immediately…

A Maker Faire is about celebrating learning and doing, not the finished and perfect end product. It’s a place to share what we’re learning with others, and celebrate the fun and freedom of being an amateur.

Featuring both established and emerging local “makers,” the East Bay Mini Maker Faire is a family-friendly celebration coming to Oakland for its second year on Sunday, October 14, 2012. It will feature rockets and robots, DIY science and technology, urban farming and sustainability, alternative energy, bicycles, unique hand-made crafts, music and local food, and educational workshops and installations.

Maker Faire started back in 2006 as a spin-off of MAKE magazine. The original Maker Faire entertains over 100,000 visitors in San Mateo over a weekend at the end of every May, and additional Maker Faires have now happened appeared in Austin, Detroit and New York City; Mini Maker Faires have started to sprout up around the United States and the world, including events in Ann Arbor, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Shenzhen, Dublin, Brighton.

The East Bay Mini Maker Faire follows the “big” Maker Faire model of celebrating do-it-yourself creativity and tinkering, but is smaller in scale (150 makers vs. 800 makers; 5,000 people on one day vs. 50,000) and will showcase the wonders of Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The East Bay Mini Maker Faire is fortunate to have Park Day School as its host and sponsor. Park Day School has just expanded its campus to 4 beautiful acres snuggled behind Oakland Technical High School in the Temescal district, and is opening its doors of this secret wonder to the greater East Bay for the Mini Maker Faire. The Faire also utilizes the wonderful and adjacent facilities of Studio One Art Center, Oakland’s only city-run building and program dedicated to studio arts instruction in a wide range of media for persons of all ages.

The Crucible will be on hand with demonstrations and information, complete with red hot metal and roaring fire effects.

Additional Resources

EMBBF official website
Follow EBMMF on Twitter @ebmakerfaire
EBMMF Facebook fan page

East Bay Mini Maker Faire 20122017-11-22T11:11:42-08:00

2012 Fall Fireside Lounge: “Shape / Shift”

2018-03-15T11:47:57-07:00

October 12, 2012 * 6:30-9:30pm

Interested in participating? Click here to download the Art Submission Form.

The Crucible’s Fireside Lounge is an intimate evening of art, industry, community and entertainment. This exclusive engagement takes place in The Crucible’s studio and highlights our extraordinary art programs. Explore the creative passions of professional artists and the educational opportunities available while sipping cocktails in our unique atmosphere. A gallery of remarkable artwork by students and faculty will be on display and live performances are scheduled throughout the night. Admission is $10 at the door and is free for members of The Crucible.

As does life, art shapes and shifts. Join us for an evening of makers, innovators, dreamers, and creators, as we celebrate “Shape/Shift.” This evening hosts some of the Bay Area’s most influential makers and artists. Join us as we explore the lines and texture of raw materials and the dynamic processes that shift their natural shape into refined representations of artists’ imaginations. Join us for a riveting lecture on how the shape of art has shifted through time. We will host an industrial art show, fire performances, discounts on Crucible classes and live industrial arts demonstrations.

Event Highlights

  • Live industrial art demonstrations in eight featured areas
  • Spectacular art gallery showcasing work from featured areas
  • Fiery stage performances from The Crucible Fire Performance department faculty & students,  and RockaBelly Dance Company
  • Panel discussion hosted by Randolph Belle with Crucible faculty Barry Baldwin, Stone Carving Artist and Mary White, Glass Artist
  • Hosted Fire Spin Jam
  • Tasty food from Fist of Flour Pizza, wine from Periscope Cellars & beer from Linden Street Brewery
  • Exciting discounts on Crucible classes if you register during the event
  • And chances to win free tuition for Crucible class!

 

Featuring Demonstrations In

  • Ceramics
  • Fire Performance
  • Glass Blowing
  • Glass Flameworking
  • Moldmaking
  • Neon & Light
  • Stone Working
  • Textiles & Soft Sculpture
  • Wood

Event Location & Directions

The event will be located at:
The Crucible
1260 7th Street
Oakland, CA 94607
Directions…

Parking

The Crucible has a very small parking lot on the corner of 7th & Union that will be available for disabled placard parking only. Those spaces are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and go quickly. There are also two paid parking lots that will be staffed. One is on Kirkham Avenue and the other is the 5th Street lot by BART. Please do not park in lots owned by local businesses or the residential area behind The Crucible; your car may be towed.

Public Transit

Ditch the car and don’t worry about parking – The Crucible is easily accessible by BART! From the West Oakland BART Station, exit onto 7th Street, turn right and walk 2 blocks east to Union (at the 2nd light). The Crucible is on the northwest corner of 7th & Union, at 1260 7th Street. To plan your BART trip, visit www.bart.gov.

2012 Fall Fireside Lounge: “Shape / Shift”2018-03-15T11:47:57-07:00

Peralta Junction

2018-03-15T11:01:04-07:00

A Pop-Up Creative Commons in West Oakland featuring Art, Food Trucks, Performances, People & Pumpkins.

Beginning October 4, 2012, the 24,000 square-foot vacant lot full of weeds at the corner of Mandela Parkway and West Grand will be transformed into a creative community space filled with art and commerce. For three months this fall, The Peralta Junction Project will change the nature of weekends in West Oakland, utilizing the strong local opportunities for our often-challenged neighborhood. The project team will clean up and activate the space through art installations, creative workshops, local performing arts programming, micro retail shops featuring local artisans, Oakland-based food trucks, and a tented creative commons.

As we’re an integral part of the West Oakland Industrial Arts Cooridor, The Crucible will be hosting workshops for West Oakland youth on several of the Thursdays and Fridays while the space is open. These workshops will feature copper metalworking as well as learning how to work with light emitting diodes (LEDs). We’ll be tayloring our programming in conjunction with the many other organizations running workshops.

In addition to the workshops, we’ll also be taking over one of the 25 canvas tents to create The Crucible Artist Pop-Up Store, open every Saturday and Sunday 10-6pm. At the Pop-Up Store you’ll be able to browse through works by artists at The Crucible, all of which will be for sale!

Grand opening is this weekend, October 6th & 7th, with a host of installations and performances to kick off the project.

To learn more visit www.PeraltaJunction.com.

Peralta Junction2018-03-15T11:01:04-07:00

Artists of The Crucible at Peralta Junction

2018-03-08T15:03:45-08:00

Peralta Junction’s Pop-Up Creative Commons has become a hive of weekend activity in West Oakland. Movies, music, dancing… Each weekend as the doors open up inquisitive visitors are treated to art, food trucks, performances and a special booth of artists from The Crucible showing (and selling!) their wares.

A few of the artists showing off their craft include:

The weather for the past few weekends has been warm with blue skies, making for a steady stream of interested, creative folks coming through the pavilion.

Sound like fun? To learn more about Peralta Junction, visit www.PeraltaJunction.com.

Artists of The Crucible at Peralta Junction2018-03-08T15:03:45-08:00

Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Trunk Show

2018-03-15T13:51:59-07:00

Friday, September 21, 2012 • 10AM-6PM
Saturday, September 22, 2012 • 10AM-5PM
Free Admission

The Crucible is hosting a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event. Featured events include:

  • Test their full line of woodworking hand tools.
  • Participate in hands-on demonstrations.
  • Learn tips & tricks from the Lie-Nielsen staff.
  • Meet the guest demonstrators.
  • Enter the door prize drawing!

Come see how great handtools make woodworking easier!

For more information on Lie-Nielsen, you can visit their website at www.lie-nielsen.com.

Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Trunk Show2018-03-15T13:51:59-07:00
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