The Making Place - April Maker of the Month & TMP Classes!
I've been holding these cards close, but April is finally here, and I have a great big exciting announcement!
For the Month of April, I'm being hosted by our local non-profit - The Making Place - as 'Maker of the Month' and I will be TEACHING my very first classes at their workshop space on April 25th & April 26th! I'll be instructing how to cut some Moon Phases in Brass with my favorite tool, the Swanstrom disc cutter, arrange them for hanging, and teach you a few basic tool uses for cold connections. I am joined by my dear friend, studio assistant, and fellow smithy Claire Brosten of Trillium Metals, so it's absolutely SURE to be a good time. Come learn something new with us, or brush up on those basic building blocks for good practice in any metals studio. Claire and I will walk you through each step so you can take home your own Moon Phases. These are one-day classes, and the Saturday is already full, but Sunday is still available! If you have never used a disc cutter or rotary sanding machine, you are in for a treat!
Sun soaking and creative space for all!
The Making Place is a RAD local non-profit art community organization in Columbia Falls, and their mission is to provide creative space and resources for our community to make, share & learn together, empowering a community driven art scene & enabling the local making culture to flourish. Absolutely, YES PLEASE! Their beautiful upstairs 3rd story making space is in downtown Columbia Falls, MT on Nucleus Ave. above Uptown Hearth Bakery, and home to 3 residing artists with independent studios, a huge library of tools, specialty machinery, and gorgeous afternoon sun-soaked table space for you to spread out and get creative! The Making Place space offers these professional level tools & education to create the best version of your creative projects on a membership that makes sense for you, and offers workshop-style courses led by artists in the valley. They are a hub and home for the budding artist AND the local professional looking to add to their skillset, and are surely one of the most exciting things happening in the valley! They are also directly above my favorite bakery in town, morning buns please!
As part of their 'Maker of the Month' programming, I am teaching! I've never done anything like this before, or instructed much more than how to drill holes or bunny-loop shoelaces, but I am BEYOND excited to partner in April with this awesome non-profit, talk creativity, and get my teach on. We are a lucky valley to have such an amazing resource system at our fingertips, and I'm elated to be part of their mission this April. You can listen to a hilarious conversation for The Making Place Podcast between myself and their host, River Naile, where we chatter about education, creativity, and the almighty chase for Alchemy! You can also listen to other local artist interviews from TMP Maker of the Month highlights that will no doubt inspire you to sign up for the next class at The Making Place! See their entire line-up HERE for revving up your podcast ears and creative engine, and see their Calendar of Events for their full line-up.
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Mark your Calendars! Saturday April 25th, from 5:30-8:30 pm -SOLD OUT-
and Sunday April 26th, from 5:30-8:30 - spots still available!
Let's make some BRASS MOON PHASES!
Course Description: We will be creating a wall hanging coinciding with each phase of the Moon, using disc cutters, drill press, hammers, radial sanding motor, and bench jewelry hand tools. This is an excellent intro to simple skills for cold-connecting components in sheet brass. We will cover cutting shapes, adding textures, drilling holes, making jump rings, sanding, and finishing. Beginner friendly, No jewelry experience needed. Please bring your own safety glasses if you have them, and your creativity! I will bring tools from home, and also will show you what tools are available from The Making Place tool library. This course does not require torch flame, so no need to fret about fire.
You can register at the above links for this April workshop if you haven't already, the Saturday class is SOLD OUT but the Sunday class is still available! Or consider MEMBERSHIP, where this class and many other opportunities are available at discount. Be sure to check out all their membership options for more rad classes from makers here in NW Montana for the future, plug into creative spaces and tools for your next project, or collaborate with the artist community that keeps expanding! There's lots of options to get creative, involved, and excited about MAKING!
Hope to see you Saturday April 25th OR Sunday April 26th!
Let's hyuck it up and play with Brass.
XO Erin
