kse/dcrl open studios 2014

One of my most favorite days of the year, is our Kenilworth Open Studios event that happens each Spring semester. This always brings a ton of people to our lab spaces and gives us an opportunity to share what our students are learning and creating. It also allows the students in the DCRL the opportunity to network with people and create relationships. It was good to see the older generation out in full effect and engaging in questions with us. I was on the receiving end of so many great comments and conversations about what implications our student work is having. 

I had the privilege to see many alumni this year and it was such a joy to talk to one of my former Architecture students, Caleb, who was in one of the early groups of students that worked in my studio to develop FabMeth models. Caleb was working with me when I first had the vision of creating a unique collaborative work space that fostered creativity centered around material/process and the fusion of traditional and digital craft forms. I was so glad he was able to see what his work spawned. It was very special and meaningful for him to recognize the realization of the things that we talked about so many years ago. 

I am so grateful for all of the students that paved the way for the students that I have now and the contributions that each of those early students made by creating their best work ever. They may not realize it but they started something special that continues to grow. Bryant, Matt, and Jim were three of the pioneers that started this all with me and I don't think there is a week that goes by that I don't think about them when I step into the DCRL.

kse flooding

The Kenilworth studios flooded Saturday night. A water pipe cracked and dumped a whole lot of water from the 6th floor to the 3rd floor. The damage was isolated to the North East corner and luckily the DCRL and my studio happen to be closer to the South East end. This is not the first time something like this has happened. The University doesn't cover personal possessions, so some of my colleagues suffered great loss. I pray that this never happens to my studio; better stock up on renter's insurance.

kenilworth open studios

The UWM PSOA Kenilworth Open Studios event was this past Saturday. I had a great time talking with people from the Milwaukee area, as well as seeing former students. I was swamped with tons of people coming by to chat; Such a good time. I always look forward to this event each year.

uwm design entrepreneur showcase 2013

I stopped by the UWM Design Entrepreneur Showcase on Friday night before I went home. I was able to see the completed displays and had a chance to see some student work and chat with my SURF student John McGeen about his Seed&Sow app. He did a great job pitching his project and it was good to see the work that he had put into his project as well the work he had done with organizing and creating the class website. The display looked good although there was a minute amount of swaying of the display due to the cables not being spread enough at the grid and the number of people moving against and handling things. I went back the next day and took some pics after all was said and done. I actually think things looked better without all of the clutter of electrical cables (tapped to the floor), supplemental materials, computers, additional tables at the ends of each aisle, etc., so I was happy to get some simple shots of the display. The use if the track lighting would have been nice to see (since there are tracks built into the grid system); too bad they didn't do this for the show. All in all, it was a good experience building the display and this will be sure to serve me well, when I start doing some digital fabrication and design exhibits in the future.