community – Milwaukee Makerspace

Burning Man Art in Hales Corners (Temporarily!)

Pete Prodoehl — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 13:58:03 +0000

Members of Milwaukee Makerspace, led by artist Kathy Cannistra, were bummed that they could not take their installation to Burning Man this year due to the event being canceled (like all other large-scale events this year) but they thought they could still put it on display while also helping draw some attention to Hales Corners’ restaurant Clifford’s Supper Club, which is owned by Kathy’s father.

A team of ten makers, friends, and family members helped build “Atomic Forest”. Between painting, sanding, soldering wires and custom-fabricating the metal components, the team estimates they spent 2,600 hours on the project. The sculptures debuted at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin in fall of 2019. After the exhibit closed, the giant flowers went into storage, and with Burning Man canceled, had nowhere to go, so Kathy thought that sharing the art with the community by putting them up at Clifford’s Supper Club would be a great way to provide an outdoor seating area allowing patrons to eat outside or simply enjoy the artwork.

The “stalk” of each flower rises from the center of a large table that also covers the underlying support structure. The “petals” are LED lights encased by white tubing looped back on itself. Each flower can run different colors and patterns, and grow dimmer as the evening winds down. Barriers separate the “garden” from the parking lot.

Within days of the flowers going up, the Hales Corners Village Trustees held an emergency vote by phone to have the installation removed. With so many restaurants struggling to survive, Kathy hoped that her art could offer a solution and some solace to the neighborhood and those looking to eat outdoors, but it looks like the city is not on-board with a temporary art exhibit meant to help a local restaurant that has served the community for over 60 years.

If you’re as upset about the Village Trustees decision as we are, please express your support for keeping the temporary installation up for the summer. Visit Support LED Artwork at Cliffords on Facebook and leave a comment.

Statement from the Board Members

Alden Hoot — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 12:00:30 +0000

The murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests against police brutality have brought fresh light to the ongoing gross inequalities experienced by black, brown, immigrant, and minority communities here and across the nation. As individuals, we believe that the Makerspace as a community organization must not remain silent on these issues. We stand united with those who are struggling to achieve justice and equality.

Although the Makerspace has long prided itself on its diversity of opinion, we acknowledge that we have not yet achieved a similar degree of cultural and ethnic inclusivity. We know we have a lot of listening and learning ahead in order to change this. Nevertheless, today we reaffirm our stance that making is for all people and we pledge to do more to provide our members with equal opportunities for success within our own space.

We are actively re-examining our member conduct policies to ensure that no voice goes unheard, and no member feels unwelcome. We call on our fellow members to find ways they can better support and uplift our neighbors, colleagues, friends and family in the black community at all times, and in this particular moment of strife. We also welcome everyone’s feedback (however specific or general), on how the membership (Board included) might make further progress towards these goals.

To the communities who have been affected by inequality, we are listening, we see you, and we stand with you.

Be safe and look out for one another,

Milwaukee Makerspace Board of Directors

We help in all departments!

Pete Prodoehl — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:00:44 +0000

We’re currently in the process of moving to our new space, but we had our last Tuesday night meeting of the year this week and we had a few guests stop by looking for help with some projects.

Becky’s a local artist who works in “duct tape & bike parts” making unique recycled jewelry and other things. (You can check out some of her work on Etsy.) She was interested in using the laser cutter for some of her pieces. While we didn’t get a chance to do any test cuts due to some laser downtime, we grabbed some inner-tube rubber and we’ll be giving it a test run for her.

While talking to Becky, a guy named Jacob showed up and asked about cutting some stencils to sandblast things for rewards. Rewards? Yeah, he’s one of the guys involved in a recent Kickstarter campaign. Check out Matireal in this OnMilwaukee story. We gave Jacob some good advice and a member offered to cut the stencils he needs. Pretty cool! (And yeah, it did seem a little weird that we had one person who works with old inner-tubes and another who works with old car tires, but we love recycling too!)

So yeah, we like helping people who like making things, and even if the laser is down or we’re in the process of moving the entire Makerspace, we’re glad to help!

Wraparound Milwaukee – The Block

Pete Prodoehl — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:08:57 +0000

In March 2012 Jason H. introduced the group to Jessica Zoch from Wraparound Milwaukee. Wraparound Milwaukee is a unique type of managed care program operated by the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division that is designed to provide comprehensive, individualized and cost effective care to children with complex mental health and emotional needs.

Members of the Milwaukee Makerspace (led by Jason H. and Rich N.) helped create “The Block”, a work of public art that was hand-constructed by over 50 local youth. We basically did the construction of the piece, which was designed by local architect Alison Carlucci, and the kids all painted individual blocks. (There’s 170 of them!)

The Block is an interactive piece, as each block rotates to show four different sides. Want to see what it looks like? It’s on permanent display outside of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division.

I think Jason H. and Rich N. (and all the members that helped with this project) deserve a big round of applause. It’s one thing for our members to show up at the space and work on their own projects, but helping out in the community, especially helping those who are helping others in need, is a good thing, and I think it shows another aspect of what a makerspace (and its members!) can accomplish.

(Also, thanks to David from Korporate-Media for documenting this with photos and video!)