KW Maker Terry Jantzi drops by Kwartzlab to show off two of his bicycle creations: a tadpole recumbent “Warrior”, and the KrankiKobra. Check out his videos — lots of interesting things being made here in KW.

• Who: Everybody is invited!
• What: A workshop, wherein we’ll learn how to combine LEDs with textiles
• Where: At kwartzlab, of course!
• When: Saturday, April 13, 1-4pm
• Why: Because everybody should be able to make blinken lights.

Electronics aren’t just for geeks anymore! Learn how to add lights or sounds to your textile-based project, without picking up a soldering iron.

In this beginner’s level workshop, we will embellish a simple embroidery project with LEDs. Learn how to make a battery holder & push button out of textiles, and then sew everything together into a working electronic circuit. Basic embroidery skills are recommended, although not required.

kwartzlab Members: $10
Non-Members: $15

Fees include all project materials.

Pre-registration is required, and space is limited to 10, so sign-up soon!

To pre-register, email steph@kwartzlab.ca

Gift. 2013. Fabric, thread, basting glue.

“I often find the middle a lot more interesting than the end.”

Heather Morton is a local artist and designer whose current exhibition at kwartzlab highlights the process of her work. While there are a few “finished” works on display, the installation celebrates the journey of the making process. Beauty and inspiration can be found in a few scrap of materials, thoughtfully pieced together.

“I’ve always loved colour so I began to use fabric the way one might use paint; I liken my over-sized fabric stash to paint; each fabric is a “paint colour” so I have trouble throwing anything out. Most of my finished pieces are practical items (bags, costumes, quilts), so most of the work I still have are the experiments in between.”

We welcome you to join Heather next Tuesday, March 12th at kwartzlab where she will do a short artist talk about her work, starting around 8pm. Heather’s work will be on display in the lab until the end of the month.

At tonight’s Tuesday Open Night, to go along with RJ Anderson’s QUICKSILVER book launch, we’re hosting a mini Learn to Solder workshop!

We’ve acquired a dozen LED Blinkie kits from Hacklab.to for you to try your hand at making a blinky light thing! As supplies are limited, they’ll be available first come, first served.

Blinkie! 3D Printed monster not included.

You can learn to solder just like Niki!

11:00am Bottle Launcher Demonstrations

Jaymis Goertz will demonstrate his pop bottle launcher, a fun project you can build at home!

12:00pm Laser cutter Demonstration

Mark Pitcher will show you how he put together a simple project on our laser cutter, to give you an idea of the sorts of things we can make with this versatile tool.

1:30pm Agnes Niewiadomski’s Artist Talk

Agnes talks about her work currently exhibited at Kwartzlab.

1:45pm Artist in Residence, Michael Hornyak

Michael will give a short talk about Hyper-interactive Reality, his work and what we can expect during his residency.

2:00pm Isabella Stefanescu

Isabella Stefanescu is a local artist and a founder of the Globe Studios. Her recent work has included The Euphonopen, which is a drawing instrument that produces music as it draws. Her next project is The Lineage Machine: a device to record the movements of an artist’s hand while drawing, and a robotic arm that plays those movements back. Isabella received a grant for The Lineage Machine from the KW Awesome Foundation. We’re thrilled to have her give a talk during our opening.

3:00pm Laser Cutter Demonstration 2

Mark will be giving another demonstration of the laser.

5:00pm Open House Ends

7:00pm PARTY BEGINS!

Also…

Throughout the day

All throughout the day, from 11:00am-5:00pm, we’ll have tours and refreshments. Agnes will be demonstrating string word art, James Bastow will be running his 3D printer, robotics expert Karl Williams will be showing off his robot gripper arm, and you’re welcome to bring in your awesome projects to impress us and anyone who happens to come in.

It’ll be a fantastic day! I hope you can join us!

Local author RJ Anderson will be at Kwartzlab during a very special Tuesday Open Night, February 26th at 7pm to celebrate the launch of her new book, Quicksilver.

Quicksilver features several pivotal scenes in a makerspace very much like Kwartzlab. Rebecca visited our old Boehmer Box location last year to do some research and get a tour. In the book, she describes it as “fantastically squalid,” which I find incredibly charming. So while she’s somewhat disappointed she can’t give her readers a tour of our former space which she was able to describe so evocatively, I’m thrilled that we can have her give a reading at our new, significantly less squalid location.

Also, as noted, there will be cake!

To RSVP, please either sign up for the Facebook event or email the address in the e-vite above. (You won’t be turned away if you don’t RSVP, but it will help us determine how much cake we need. Thanks!)

Michael Hornyak is a master programmer who has been coding for over 25 years, creating graphics, 3D animation, 3D modeling, user interfaces, websites, sound engineering, music composition, multimedia, and pioneering an evolved virtual reality system that he calls Hyper Interactive Reality, or “HiR” for short.

HiR is a new paradigm in human-computer interaction, it will provide alternative ways to do work and have fun. It is 2D, 3D, 4D and beyond. Control of a computer is possible via motions of the body, voice control, sensors or traditional input devices. HiR is a graphical 3D environment that transforms your computer into an advanced “virtual reality” work-play-place in which your imagination can go wild. Complete control of your media in an outside-the-box kind of way.

Check out a video of Michael’s work in progress here: http://hyperinteractivereality.com/videos/

Michael will be demonstrating his HiR system at our grand re-opening party on Saturday, February 16th during our open house which runs 11am-5pm. And will also be giving a short talk at 1:45pm about his work and his plans for his residency with us, which will conclude at the end of April.

In just a couple weeks, we’ll be hosting our grand opening in our new space! After almost 2 months of build-out, moving and set-up, we’ll be up and fully operational again. And we’d like you to celebrate with us.

Open House: 11am till 5pm

During the day, we’ll be holding an open house, with tours, equipment demos and some small projects for you to make and build!

Schedule.

Party: 7pm till late

In the evening, we’ll be partying like only Kwartzlab can. Whether you’re enjoying our kick-ass sound system in our fantastic new front space or chilling and socializing in our comfy new lounge upstairs, it’ll be a great time. We’ll have some hors d’ouevres and a cash bar and maybe even cookies baked in our new kitchen!

Best of all, we’ll have live music, featuring local bands Post Normal opening for Binary Forest. Here are a couple amazing tracks from Binary Forest:

Come join us at 33 Kent Ave. in Kitchener on February 16th for an awesome day of partying and making to celebrate the new Kwartzlab!

Cherie Fawcett will be wrapping up her tenure as Kwartzlab Artist in Residence at the end of the month. This week, she will be hosting both her Artist in Residence talk during Tuesday Open Night and her workshop on Wednesday.

The workshop will be directed by Cherie Fawcett and will explore memory and sentimentality. Participants of this workshop are asked to bring either a sentimental or mundane object along with them. There will be two parts for this evening. Firstly, the participants will render the object/objects that they brought with them in any style that they chose. For the second half of the workshop, participants will think of a memory or story surrounding this object and explore this concept in any style that they chose.

If you are interested in participating in this workshop, please RSVP Cherie at cherie.fawcett@gmail.com.

There will be a $5 fee for this workshop to cover the cost of supplies.

Artist Bio

Cherie Fawcett was born in Sudbury Ontario. As a child, her family frequently uprooted, and to this date she has lived in 22 different houses. Constant relocation brought with it a strong interest in the idea of relationships, recreating identities, as well as the temporality of memory. More specifically, she focuses on how documentation—whether it be photographic, film, text, or collected objects—can influence how and what we recall.

Cherie lives in Kitchener, Ontario. She received her BA from the University of Waterloo in 2011. Upon graduation, she was presented with the RCAA Howe Award. For the past few years, Cherie has curated at local galleries including The Artery Gallery and WalterFedy. She has an upcoming curation at Cambridge Galleries in September 2013. She is currently working at Kwartzlab as their Artist in Residence until the end of the 2012 year.