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MAKE: Lost Knowledge

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

For anyone wondering, the art opening last week at Utilikilts went smoothly–tons of lovely people showed up to drink wine, sample chocolates, and gawk at the hot chicks on the walls.  A handful of kids started a dance party in the back of the store–how many art openings do you get to attend with their own hip-hop dance floor?! I met a number of interesting individuals including several gentlemen in bowlers, double-breasted vests, and handmade hakama (we smoked fat cigars and talked about how clothing is really just social networking, after all).

Thanks to everyone who came out! The show’s up until the end of the month if you didn’t get a chance to drop by at art walk.

I’m also pleased to mention that I’m in the current issue of MAKE Magazine, along with a number of my dear warranty-voiding friends (that’s the handsome-pants Jake von Slatt right on the cover!)

Volume 17: MAKE Volume 17 goes really old school with the Lost Knowledge issue, featuring projects and articles covering the steampunk scene — makers creating their own alternative Victorian world through modified computers, phones, cars, costumes, and other fantastic creations. Projects include an elegant Wimshurst Influence Machine (an electrostatic generator built entirely from Home Depot parts), a Florence Siphon coffee brewer, and a teacup-powered Stirling engine. This special section also covers watchmaking, letterpress printing, the early multimedia art of William Blake, and other wondrous and lost (or fading) pre-20th-century technologies.

Issue 17 is on major newsstands right now, or can be ordered/read online.  Also, check out the final pages of the magazine, as I’ve got an ad back there for my Etsy shop (which contains instructions for acquiring secret free goodies!).

Thank you.

IEEE Spectrum – The Steampunk Contraptors

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

I nearly forgot to mention it, but three glossy printed magazines arrived in the post yesterday and reminded me: October’s issue of IEEE Spectrum Magazine, the flagship publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, contains two pieces of my photography. The pictures support an article by Eric Guizzo about the contraptors of steampunk, almost all of whom are personal friends of mine, and real bang-up guys. It’s a very well-written article, and surprisingly enough, gently touches on all the backlash steampunk has received since slamming head-first into the mainstream’s radar this year:

Steampunk fans regarded the criticism as pointless. What’s wrong, they asked, with some Victorian-era fans who enjoy building stuff, adding that the movement does strive to find a deeper ideology. “If you can imagine another world, it can allow you to creatively confront the challenges of the present,” says John “Manyjohns” Shamberg, a member of Kinetic Steam Works, a San Francisco Bay Area arts group, whose creations include a 10-meter-high steampunk tree house.

Seriously, you do not front on the guy with the giant treehouse and the Victorian mansion on wheels. You do not. :) Well done, IEEE! Read the article here and see the photo gallery here.

I should also mention that working with the IEEE was absolutely painless and they more than fairly compensated me for my contribution. It’s really lovely to work with professionals.

Only remotely off-topic: Jake von Slatt is coming to visit us Seattle folks tomorrow, and I couldn’t be more pleased about getting to spend election night with people like him–people who are actively making our country (and our internet) a more whimsical, intriguing, and functional place. Three cheers for all of my scheming and dreaming maker pals!

Steam Dream in the Boston Phoenix

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Freshly returned to the Midwest/blogosphere from my voyages to San Mateo, San Francisco, and Seattle, I received word today of the Boston Phoenix’s article on steampunk makers. I interviewed with the journalist responsible for the story a month ago, and she included coverage of many of the talented and vibrant makers I met in person at the MAKE Magazine Maker Faire ten days ago.

Check out the article here! I’ll be posting photos from the Maker Faire and additional West Coast adventures later this week.

jake von slatt

The Heather Gold Show / The New York Times

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

–or– Good Lord, My Life Is Crazy

heather goldThis week has quite possibly been the wildest one I’ve had in a while. A few days ago, I was asked to participate in The Heather Gold Show live from the Maker Faire. It will be streamed live from the main stage on this Saturday, May 3 at 4:00pm PDT (watch online at heathergold.com).

The issue we’ll be addressing (for which I’m vaguely responsible) is: How can you be authentic to yourself and part of a (sub)culture?

Through the lens of Steampunk, a meta-subculture that is currently at its tipping point of growth, we explore the inevitable question a subculture faces as it grows from disparate DIY roots. Who and what belongs? Can it transform permaculture?

Conversating with Heather will be computer and car modifier Jake von Slatt, Abney Park singer Captain Robert, yours truly (on behalf of Steampunk Magazine), and the live/web audience. Expect hijinks.

Item Number Two of OMG Insanity is that I learned yesterday that my photography of Seattle artist Molly Porkshanks Friedrich will be featured in the New York Times in a week or so as part of her interview. I’m not yet certain which image will be featured but it will be one from this set, which we shot last fall. I will post more details when the article is published.

Call this my 4.23 seconds of fame. Um, squee.

Weird Tales #349

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

Weird Tales #349 (March/April 2008), the magazine’s 85th (!) anniversary issue is now available.

Weird Tales 349

I was asked last November by the inimitable Molly “Porkshanks” Friedrich to shoot the photos for Cherie Priest’s coverage of her steampunk artwork.

Little did I know at the time that Molly’s artwork is actually Molly herself. She’s a fully-automated diesel-powered crafting machine, spouting philosophies and plans, and is constantly decked out in lavish handmade garb and ray guns.

She was a pleasure to work with, and we did the photos for this article in Gasworks Park, Seattle. See some of them here on my Livejournal.

You can check out Molly’s artwork on her Deviant Art site, or in her Etsy store.

You can acquire a copy of this issue of Weird Tales here. I haven’t yet seen the article in question, but I’m very excited about the collaboration between Cherie, Molly, and yours truly.

Many thanks.