officially blown away

WARNING! Super tech nerd type stuff to follow.

At anytime you can go to my flickr stream to see the rest of the photos.


Sooooo. Earlier this week I got an email from an online acquaintance Susan Lomuto. Susan runs the infamous Daily Art Muse web site. Susan informed me that a friend of hers recently acquired a large LCD research center/factory where he was moving his solar panel company. From what I understand he bought the place with everything inside. The whole package. Apparently the equipment needed to make solar panels is pretty close to the equipment needed to make LCD screens. Susan knows that I have been doing the upcycling/recycling workshop thing. Well, put the two together: he had to get rid of a lot of odds and ends and I needed some odds and ends. The following pictures were taken while I was getting the grand tour of the facilities. It was very much a nerd in a nerd store. Also even better all of the dismantled machines are being recycled and or re-appropriated. What a great thing.


So first off this place is about two miles from my house. I was told that it was where the first LCD was designed and made in the US. The place is HUGE. 96,000 square feet or something. Anyway. They had some really cool things Like a 1000 watt laser cutter! Just to put it into perspective the laser cutters that I have been using to make my work have been 30-40 watts. Anyhoo Prism Solar Technologies have been developing (and I know I am going to get this wrong) "designer holographic films" that when laid on top of solar cells redirect the suns rays more efficiently to get more power out of the cells. This in combination with a specific arrangement dramatically increases the amount of energy generated from a normal panel or solar array.

Moving on.


So here is where they cut the glass for the panels with CNC cutters (the glass is paper thin so it is super fragile and very flexible


Here is the 1000 watt laser cutter. It is currently being used to cut solar cells into strips in order to make unique and more efficient arrays. Notice the yellow bars on the opening. If anything passes beyond those bars the machine shuts down. So no giving your self a fancy haircut.


This is one of the "clean" rooms. Note the tiles that look like vents. They are vents. This whole room circulated clean air and created a vacuum so there was no dust. This is where they almost made me put on little booties. Since they are reconstructing everything I don't think they cared so much. This room housed CNC controled microscopes that inspect the solar panels (or LCD screens) for errors (or dead pixels). This room also houses a vertical laser cutter that fused the circuits if there was a problem (All super precise CNC stuff down to microns)


CNC inspector


Vertical laser cutter


CNC microscope. This machine was on a huge slab of granite (AKA machinist's stone)



They also on top of all that had a TOOL and DIE room with two CNC mills a CNC router and a bunch of other dream tools!!!

another video

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

WOW

Kent State!

I wanted to blog about the Kent Blossom Art workshop I just did. I had a great time. It was really nice to see Corey Ackelmire and Nathan Dube, who I had not seen since SNAG Memphis. I also stayed at Katheen Browne's house. I got a sneak peek into Kathleen's studio. What a place. Steve and Katheen live in a great old house. It makes me miss the property that we own in Virginia. Her studio has cathedral ceilings with hardwood floors. Totally jealous.

I think the workshop was a success. I had made kits from materials that were salvaged from a a recycling center (test tubes, shrink tubing, stainless findings, mirrored plexi, etc etc etc). The assignment was that everything in the "kit" had to be used.

Some materials were more challenging then others. If they were unhappy with something they could alter it (there was a powder coating demo by one of the grads and I did an impromptu mini lathe demo, tool dip, vacuum former etc etc). I wish I could have stayed to see the final product. I can't wait for photos! It was great to meet all the Grads and to see Kristen Beeler. I had a great time. It was very much a whirlwind of things to do and people to meet. What a great facility. I am really jealous of all of the technological research being done on campus using Liquid Crystal Display technology and the GIGANTIC enameling Kiln.

I also have to plug Corey's cookies. Holy Crap!

See Photos below.

SNAG Sound track

So here is the sound track to the Student slide show.

1. intro to Always sunny in Philadelphia
2. M79 by Vampire Weekend
3. Solder's gun by Wolf Parade
4. Lake Michigan by Rouge Wave
5. No Time for Time by Tommy Guerrero
6. One Heavy February by Architecture in Helsinki
7. The Only One by American Analog Set
8. So much beauty in dirt by Modest Mouse
9. When We were Young by the Killers
10.Getting Better by the Beatles
11. Summertime by Will Smith

30 pounds of jewelry

Just got this in the mail today. Wow. I think I have my reading material for the next year or so. I am going to have to build a stand for this thing or something. What a great thing.

SNAG student slide show!!

it takes a little while to load...

SNAG 2009 slide show from arthur hash on Vimeo.

My voice is shot, my brain is mush and I don't think I can hear anything through my left ear.

So I am back from SNAG's 2009 Conference in Philly (whoa nelly). SNAG is always a whirlwind. So much to see so much to do. One of the hardest things for me is trying to decide what to spend my money on, books or tools? This year I went with tools. I did a lot of looking and found some AMAZING stuff. All of that will have to wait for another post.

I spent most of the conference hanging out with some good friends and meeting new people. For the most part I had a blast. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to talk to a lot of other people during the conference which really sucks. I feel like an A-hole when someone buys me a beer and then I never get to buy them one. Anyhoo, instead of giving an account of every little thing that was questionable or strange I thought I would only talk about what I loved. I will leave the complaining to the experts. Don't get me wrong there was a lot of things that could be improved (number one the freaking student slide show, another epic failure of technology) For some reason I really hate myself for that. It went soooooo well in the dry run on Wednesday. Sigh.

Moving on.
I wanted to thank Doug Bucci for being a freaking trooper through all of this. I am sure it was INSANE. Also the usual suspects, the board, Evangelina, all of the volunteers and the students most of all. Truly the future of our field.

So the first thing that rocked my world was the Pin swap. Totally unprepared. I only made 12 or so pins. HUGE mistake. I missed trading with some people that were rocking some really cool stuff. I did however score some sweet pins from Jillian Moore , Sara Tropper and Rod McCormick . Oh man. Really good stuff. The next thing that was great was Myra's lecture. Sooooo inspiring. What a power house. Standing ovation! On to the Gallery tour. Unfortunately I missed most of the openings but for once I feel like I went to the best of the best instead of the worst of the worst. The Wexler was really nice. I loved some of the pieces in Neoteric Matter (The white necklace that Doug Bucci made was killing me, All I a wanted to do was touch it. I am going to have to come visit him in Philly) Upstairs, it was really nice to see Myra's work all together. Some of the pieces I had never seen before so seeing those pieces next to other pieces I hadn't seen before made it a great show! I could have stayed up there all night but I started getting really hot. Sara Tropper convinced me to walk from the Wexler to Bambi to see Unbalanced Forces. It was a long haul but I am so glad that I did. What a great show. Some of the work blew my socks off (rubber band ball ring, Gold star "prints", freaking studded band aids!). I think all of them were SUNY alumni. Go figure. Earlier that evening I went to the Philadelphia Art Alliance to see Stanley's show, rEvolution and Challenging the Chatelaine. All really good. I loved John Rais piece (the chartreuse underneath was a really nice touch) and of course Lola Brooks piece was really nice to see up close. Her work is like trying to figure out how a magician saws someone in half. Then finally the Sub Octo Gallery to see STUFF. That was a great show. I loved Anya's blacklight piece as well as her sister, Natalya's felt and enamel pieces!

Whew that whirlwind is still going. I spent a little time nerding it up with Anthony Tammaro as well as having a "what is my future" talk withTracy Steepy. I spent a little time with Gabriel Craig but really not enough. I wanted to pick his brain about so many things. Mostly input on the conference. I had great time at the UA, SUNY Alumni party. That was the highlight for me. That bar was a riot. The bartender drank my beer. She was Awesome! I am sure as the dust settles by brain will spill the beans on what my body did and I will try to put it into words on the blog. In the mean time here are some photos in no particular order.



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

MORE SNAG

follow me on Twitter and find out what is happening at SNAG.

http://twitter.com/arthurhash


Also updating my flickr stream!!!

Have to wait to blog a little busy with things to sit down and really blog.

SNAG! SNAG! SNAG! SNAG! SNAG! SNAG! SNAG!

Sooooo We are almost ready to leave for SNAG. I just wanted to post some last minute pics. We sorted all of the SUNY Grad cards today for the conference. Come by the educators room and say hi to Jamie Bennett and I and you can pick one up yourself. Also I made about 20 or so pins for the pin swap. I kind of went all out on em. Mini metal coffee stains. Anyhoo. I might be hiding behind a beer during the swap but come find me if you wants one. -arthur

SHOW

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more random

I know whenever a glass blower sees altered beer bottles they are like Meh. When I see altered beer bottles I want some. I am a sucker for these things. I just found this artist named Nick Paul from Chicago via (Paula Lindblom's blog). Buy his stuff on Etsy.

http://lucasmurgida.com/

Lucas Murgida

Lucas Murgida at 667 Shotwell from Chris Sollars on Vimeo.

Via Extreme Craft

YO! check it out

Just wanted to give a shout out to my pal Hilary Pfeifer. She got a sweet little write up on the featured sellers on etsy Etsy. GO Hilary!! check it out here Buy her stuff here and some of her one-of-a-kind work can be found at the Velvet Da Vinci gallery in SanFran here

lasers! lasers! lasers!

I don't know why it needs to be said three times LASERS!LASERS!LASERS!
I just got back my cutting. Not too bad. I still have to paint and weld them all up. I am actually loving this stuff. The perforation was kind of big. I should have made it smaller but it makes it so easy to bend by hand. I was off by about 2/1000 on the slot so the ball chain doesn't quite fit but I think I can hit it with a disc. Thought you guys would like to see the end result. Build build build.

(UPDATE!!) Two postings in one day!!! whew!

(Added photos of finished piece!)


So I have was invited to participate in Hudson Fulton: take two. Here is the copy for the show:



Memorabilia from the 1909 Hudson-Fulton celebration was the inspiration for 10 artists whose exhibit of new work opens on May 2 (a Saturday) in the Friends of Historic Kingston Gallery.

“Hudson-Fulton: Take Two” features painting, sculpture, photography, fiber, metal, jewelry and prose, inspired by 1909 memorabilia drawn from Friends of Historic Kingston archives and the John F. Matthews Collection. The items from 1909 are included in the exhibit so that visitors can link the artifacts with the contemporary works

Artist and Friends of Historic Kingston Board Member Ken Gray came up with the idea for the exhibit as the preservation organization’s contribution to the 2009 Hudson-Fulton Quadricentennial Celebration. Gray is also the exhibit curator.


Anyhoo I am only halfway finished with my piece. I silhouetted the outline of the Hudson River with Henry Hudson's ship the "Halfmoon". Another round of sticking on stickers tomorrow. I will try and post some sneak peaks later. If you are in the area come to the Opening this Saturday (May 2nd at the Friends of Historic Kingston Gallery, located on the corner of Wall and Main Streets in Kingston's Stockade National Historic District.)

PONOKO order is here!!

So I have been wanting to make this piece forever and finally it has made it into the real world. It came out great. I love ponoko!! I can't wait for the piece to go into the gallery and get broken apart. I want to be there when the first piece gets snapped off! I think is might be too grid like. Maybe next time more of a cluster or "mob" of rings?