Art-ecology is a selection of work by San Francisco-based artist, naturalist and educator Amber Hasselbring and collaborators.

Thank you for featuring our living wall Amber!

Participants will work together to create an original show, which they will perform at VA Hospitals and for community groups July 5th-7th. These young adults will be joining us in service, building stronger communities and healing through laughter.  It is also ridiculously fun.

dates : June 17 – July 7
times : M-F 12:30-4:30pm
***FREE***  But you must Register NOW!

This is a collaborative project between American Steel Studios, Prescott Circus Theatre, Clowns Without Borders, and American Clothing Experiment with support from Circus Center San Francisco and Renegade Juggling.

Ignite.me is a blog and discussion community dedicated to art and forward-thinking ideas. Their core principles are openness, inclusion, and human connection. They believe that everyone has a creative spark inside, and that the world is a better place when we follow our passions and share them with others. The site was founded by a group of individuals who support the arts as a catalyst for creative collaboration.

Thanks for honoring the Department of Spontaneous Combustion Ignite.Me!

Have you ever wished you could read minds? If so, go to Burning Man this year and check out Mens Amplio (Latin for “expand your mind”).

What is it?

Mens Amplio will be a 15 foot tall model of a human head and brain, designed by Don Cain and built by ateam of artists from a wide range of disciplines.

The brain will incorporate an array of light and flame effects controlled by a participant through the use of an EEG headset. The headset will translate the participant’s shifting mental and emotional state into patterns of light and fire mimicking the images of clinical brain scans in real time.

Essentially, if you’re hooked up to this giant playa brain, fire and colored lights will show the crowd what you’re thinking and feeling in response to certain stimuli, at least in a general sense. I can imagine so many naughty tricks we could play with this crazy machine.

Don Cain and crew are constructing this wonder of metal, fire and neurology at the Department of Spontaneous Combustion.

The Ignite.me team had the opportunity to ask the Mens Amplio designer a few questions about the inspiration and philosophy motivating their work.

What is the story behind the concept? How’d you come up with such a wild and fantastic idea?

The idea for this project was sparked when I saw the cover of the December 2012 Smithsonian Magazine.  My first thought was, “Wow, that’s a really clever way of depicting a brain.”  Of course, with my background in making large scale art, the ensuing thought was, “That would look really fantastic if it was huge and made out of steel!”  The following weeks brought embellishments to the idea.  Its final design incorporated my background and experiences in med tech, electronics, fabrication and fire effects.

Who will wear the EEG headset? Random volunteers? Or is it more of a scheduled demonstration? 

The hope is that people passing by us will see that there is something going on in the crowd and notice that others are lined up to take a spin at it. There won’t be “demonstrations” scheduled; we want the people to participate and try it for themselves and experience the interactive aspect of the use of their own brain activity controlling the light and fire show.

“You notice a crowd gathered around the head and around a person seated on the ground in front of the head…The crowd is interacting with the seated person who is wearing a headset. As the mood of the seated person changes – at times with the prompting of the crowd – the patterns of light and fire change.” Should the headset wearer be scared? What are you going to have that crowd do to us?

If the headset wearer is in a focused and meditative state, the light and fire will reflect this. If the headset wearer gets excited or roused up all of a sudden, the crowd will see and they too will become energetic. It may be that the participant is focusing really hard to calm their thought and their friends circle around and provide a challenge by distracting the headset wearer. There are many variations of ways to have fun with the interactive aspect of our sculpture!

Is there any way to estimate how many hours you and your crew will log on this installation? 

Total hours to build it should be close to 1500 person hours…..

What do you hope we take away from the interaction with your project? Any particular ideas or emotions you hope to elicit?

Rather than taking away a specific, single emotion, I think the fun of our project comes from playing with the experience of how our emotions ebb and flow. The participant gets to play with the shifts and changes which are naturally constant within our brain and find personal meaning within the context of the art sculpture’s atmosphere.

How can people who are interested in your project help you?

Our supporters can visit us on the web at ma-brains.com for news and events. Soon, we will be publishing an Indiegogo fundraising campaign where people can donate to help the project. In exchange for the donation, we’ll give out prizes and Mens Amplio swag. If we meet our fundraising goals, we look forward to taking the sculpture to local Bay Area schools for hands on/interactive education in science, art, and technology.

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Read the original article here

American Steel Studios, CORE Foods, American Clothing Experiment, and a dedicated group of people who live and work in West Oakland are coming together again for a community clean up. Please join us in our efforts to enhance the community and remove the illegal dumping and excessive litter in our streets.
This month, Councilmember Lynette McElhaney has generously offered to support our clean-up.

date : Friday June 14
time : 1-4pm
local : on 20th street between Mandela and Poplar

All supplies will be provided, however, if you have work gloves, please bring them. We also recommend wearing sturdy shoes.

Lunch is generously being provided by 10th and Wood, a brand new exciting cafe opening in West Oakland!

RSVP : outreach@americansteelstudios.org

Join the event on Facebook 

We are a growing group of inspired individuals encompassing a wide variety of skill sets, with a common vision for community engagement and neighborhood beautification.  We are artists, landscape designers, water conservationists, habitat architects and enthusiastic program developers and fundraisers. We are making our communities better using reclaimed materials, recycling, and doing educational outreach.

Every Tuesday night from 7-9pm we come together to learn and progress in new skill sets in an incredible skills share.  We are learning to weld, practicing under the expert tutelage available at American Steel Studios.  We are learning about plants, pollinators, and gardening from the green house and nursery teams, about living walls and urban green spaces, about pollinators and their struggles and importance in cities, about storm drain issues, runoff, water ways and catch water systems, about solar power and its strengths and weaknesses and best use in our setting.  About community building, and the power of groups to creatively address issues of dumping, graffiti, air and soil quality, and the power that each of us has to contribute to change.

Most of all, this night is FUN. We get to play, laugh, share and grow together. This rapidly growing team has won our hearts, and we welcome you to come join!  There are a million ways to be involved, dates and times are flexible, but Tuesday’s are when we come together and get to play.

 

Photo Feature: Art + Industry, American Steel Open Studios

MAY 21, 2013

Stephen Bruce is interviewed on KWMR with Vicki Leads  on The Vicarious Traveler Show

Find the archived show at  KWMR.ORG