Posts in Session 2
The Goody Bag!
The Goody Bag!

We are going to be rummaging around for the good stuff in this steel fabrication workshop. We will learn how to construct a volumetric, cohesive whole using drafted patterns and armatures. Advancing our welding skills, making sheet steel malleable through heat, and learning how to grind without losing weld integrity are just some of the delightful techniques that we will explore. Demos will cover welding, plasma cutting, and various surface treatments to articulate personal expression for a heady mix. All levels welcome.

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Session 2Molly FlaniganBlacksmithing, Alexandria Carrion
Not Winging It: Calculated Uncertainty
Not Winging It: Calculated Uncertainty

The focus of this workshop is to investigate the relationship between intention, control, and unpredictability. We will go through strategies for planning, designing, and breaking down simple surfaces both in analog and digital formats. This workshop can be a place to try your hand at 3D modeling, 2D illustration, or simply become more comfortable with a tape measure and ruler. We will work through techniques for surface pattern in both greenware and bisqueware, with the workshop ending in a soda firing. The objective of this journey is to find the intersection between the intentional and the unplanned, allowing yourself only at the end to loosen the practiced authority over the work you produce and permitting the firing to take on a portion of that ownership. The first half of this workshop will be about calculated steps, while the second half will be about embracing uncertainty and welcoming the potential that exists beyond control. Previous ceramic skills required: ability to create basic shapes either by wheel-throwing or handbuilding without assistance. This workshop will only cover what happens after your piece is in its leather hard stage.

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Session 2Molly FlaniganCeramics, Sarah Hussaini
Stitching Time & Space
Stitching Time & Space

A needle pulling thread through fabric may be a means of construction or an act of embellishment. Stitching has a broad range of expressive and conceptual potential within cross-cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts. We will consider hand stitching as an event in time while exploring its impact on space, the body, and the community. Exploring different pliable planes and stitching techniques, related readings, presentations, and conversations, students will stitch a series of samples and develop personal and/or collaborative work. Basic cutting, piecing, embroidery, couching, shibori, kawandi quilting, and many forms of applique will be demonstrated. This workshop aims to reimagine the act of stitching for our present-day context. All levels welcome.

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Session 2Molly FlaniganFiber, Susie Brandt
Textravaganza! A Social Practice & Print Exchange Crash Course
Textravaganza! A Social Practice & Print Exchange Crash Course

Are you social practice-curious? Design and conduct a quick-turnaround participatory research project engaging the Haystack cohort. You’ll learn how to turn this source material into experimental text-based artworks in papercuts, rubbings, collagraphs, and linoleum relief prints to exchange with research subjects and classmates. Along the way, you’ll engage in fun, experiential community-building exercises—useful facilitation tools for your social practice toolbox. No prior experience in social practice or printmaking is necessary, but interest and/or experience with lettering will be helpful. All levels welcome.

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Session 2Molly FlaniganGraphics, Christine Wong Yap
Let’s Make a CAD/Jewelry Sandwich!
Let’s Make a CAD/Jewelry Sandwich!

Explore the boundless potential of the brooch by learning Computer-Aided Modeling, 3D printing, laser cutting, and hydraulic press forming. Whether you are an experienced jeweler, an artist seeking to infuse tech into your craft, or simply curious about 3D printing, this workshop is the gateway to expanding your studio toolkit. Embrace an opportunity to experiment in an environment that celebrates an open, hybrid approach to making. We will employ 3D printing and computers within the metals studio and Haystack Fab Lab. While Haystack does have access to a limited number of computers, it is recommended that you have a laptop with Rhino 3D installed. Don't worry–Rhino offers a complimentary 30-day trial, so aim to install it just before the workshop commences. Prior familiarity with computers/CAD and basic skills in sawing, filing, and soldering are encouraged. All levels welcome.

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Session 2Molly FlaniganMetals, Arthur Hash
Get a Grip
Get a Grip

Through exploration of form, surface treatment, and adornment we will create “tools” that do not quite fit expectations of the everyday objects around us. We will begin by looking at unconventional and functional modifications, and explore the endless forms and functions that tools provide. Demos for techniques in connecting and transitioning disparate materials as well as shaping and surface adornment will be presented. By exploring and experimenting with these methods you will create unique sculptural “tools” of your own design. All levels welcome.

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Session 2Molly FlaniganWood, Chloris Lowe