April Maker's Memo (Copy)

syshimizu · July 18, 2024, 11:22pm

Introducing

A2 Monthly Makers’ Memo
This is a working prototype for a monthly communication of various A2 news & events.

If you are interested in contributing content monthly or volunteering to develop future editions, or just have feedback here is a volunteer form .

Contents

Spring Open Studios + Makers Market (April 27, 11-4)

Open Studio registrations are available for studio-holding members. Register here.

Non-studio-holding members also have the opportunity to run demos and activities, or show their work in a Shop. If you’re interested in participating, please click on the link below to access the application form.

https://forms.gle/io8DCuKUTZCjJK5o9
Community Social Events

Board Game Night (April 11, 6-8pm)
Breakfast for Dinner! (April 23, time tbd)

More information soon; email social…@artisansasylum.com to volunteer!
Shop News

Call for Gallery Art: (Due June 30th)

Gallery at Asylum** welcomes all Artisan Members to submit work for their first exhibition. The theme is ART PARTY!

https://tinyurl.com/a2artparty

New Digital Design Lab & Photography Shop Lead:

Welcome Jonathan Polep-Saffer!
Member Profile

Matt Bajor (Holton Studio #2.12)

Matt Bajor creates sculpture using glass, metal, and light. While working as an automation engineer, he found the Burning Man art scene in Colorado. He helped friends fabricate, deploy, and operate their large-scale flame effects and metal sculptures. He decided to pursue his own work starting with The Double Diamond sculpture (on display by Matt’s studio).

Matt met a local master glass artist named Sid Hutter in Newton and was turned on to his current primary passion: cold glass. This process involves bonding layers of sheet glass with special UV adhesives, hand colored with dyes and pigments. Using primarily diamond tools, the glass is cut, ground smooth, and polished to a mirror finish.

Q: What is it that you enjoy most about the making?

A: It’s my curiosity about materials, geometry, light, and structure. I try to create all of my works so that they never look the same. From every perspective, lighting condition, and viewing distance the works are dynamic. I am always learning by experimenting.

Q: How does being at A2 support your work?

A: A2 makes it possible for me to create. When Tiffany and I landed in Boston, we wanted to find a space and after reaching out to seemingly 100 organizations in the South End / SoWA area there was no place that supported my craft of metalworking. Artisans has all kinds of crazy new equipment that I can use for my art, in addition to what I have in my studio.

The community provides a wonderful sense of inclusiveness and care that really is not common in a lot of art scenes. In addition to being great people, every member here has a wealth of knowledge, experience, and technical know-how that enables all of us to solve problems at any scale or complexity while having fun the whole time.
A2 Speaker Series

Leonie Bradbury (April 9th 7pm, Holton Classroom)

A respected authority on the creative and scholarly aspects of contemporary art, Dr. Leonie Bradbury has 20 years of experience creating compelling and innovative exhibitions and promoting artists as thought leaders. She currently serves as the Henry and Lois Foster Chair in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice and Distinguished Curator-in-Residence at Emerson College in Boston. At Emerson, she founded and now directs their platform for visual art “Emerson Contemporary” focused on presenting and commissioning moving image works, performance, and art engaged with new and emerging technologies.

In 2022, De Gruyter published her essay “The Networked Artwork: The Grid As Dynamic Relational Form?” as part of the anthology The Arts of the Grid: Interdisciplinary Insights on Gridded Modalities in Conversation with the Arts. Bradbury’s most recent exhibition One Day We’ll go Home,

featured moving image works by Vietnamese American artists who each critique the established historical narratives of the wars in Vietnam, colonialism, dislocation, and their long-lasting aftermath.
Upcoming Classes

Full Class Calendar is available here. In each monthly newsletter we will highlight some of our offerings. The following list is not definitive, is subject to change, and doesn’t include: shop nights, social events, other free activities.

April
1

Intro to 3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing

Figure Drawing (Every Monday night)

2

Intro to Kintsugi (Japanese Pottery Repair)

Hands on Basic Electronics

Metal Shop 101

Introduction to Bridgeport Universal Milling Machine

3

Bronze Amulet - Sculpt & Cast in One Session

3D Printing a High-performance Newtonian Telescope

6