TEACHER FEATURE // Joel Murphy's Pulse Sensor

Have you ever wanted to incorporate live heart rate data into your work?

3rd Ward teacher, artist, inventor, and Parsons faculty member, Joel Murphy has made a super small, low cost, and accessible pulse sensor for Arduino. It can be used by students, artists, athletes, makers, and game & mobile developers and it will all be open source! Learn more about their project and its versatile applications on our Curated Kickstarter Page.

Are you a Member and have a Kickstarter project you want to get featured on our page? Email membermade@3rdward.com with a brief description and the link.

MakerBot in Space // Photos Are Up!

Thanks to everyone who came out for MakerBot in Space!  We had an amazing crowd of hackers, designers and even a few astronauts!  See below for a couple of our favorite pics and check out the 3rd Ward Facebook Page or Flickr to see the whole album.

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

MEMBER PROFILE // It's Jello Shot Girl!

There is a superhero in our midst. She swoops into parties, bars and other events around the city to save you from the same old beer and liquor drinks, replacing them with tasty gourmet jello shots. Meet Jello Shot Girl.

Jello Shot Girl daylights as Abby, a fine artist, textile designer and 3rd Ward member. "My paintings tend to be conceptual, emotional and personal," she says. "When designing my textiles, I strive to acheive pieces that are timeless, inventive and beautiful."

After a few years working in the fashion industry, Abby felt burnt out and starting looking for another outlet for her creativity. "This just sort of started by accident," she says. "One day I made a few batches of shots, and next thing I know I'm running a pretty full-fledged operation and working with people like Jelly NYC, Matchless and Pete's Candy Store."

"The Jello shots are an entirely different animal because of the added dimension of taste," she says. "I like to start with an indredient I'm inspired by, such as lavander, and work from there to figure out what other flavors and what liquor would pair well with it.

When not concocting her shots, Jello Shot Girl also regularly attends Drink N' Draw on Wednesday nights. "It helps keep my juices flowing," she says. "It's also wonderful when I'm not in a creative place, as I feel like it helps keep me in check."

See Jello Shot Girl in action (and sample some of her delicious shots) this  Saturday, July 23 at the Bushwick Block Party and at 3rd Ward's monthly Wind-up on July 28! And like her on Facebook to stay up to date on her future events.

MEMBER PROFILE // Johnny Sandaire Complements Technical Research with Vibrant Photography

3rd Ward member Johnny Sandaire daylights as a Technical Researcher for Hewlett-Packard, where he develops applications for data mining. "I also manage large technical projects, dealing with encryption and intellectual property protection. My research involves the implementation of Fuzzy Logic to enhance Likert Scale data analysis."

In his spare time, though, he uses 3rd Ward's studios to shoot vivid and creative photography. Investigating light and shadows in his work, he's produced some amazing portraits. "I am looking for Body Art in all its aspects that I can photograph with my experimental lighting techniques," he says.

Sandaire also recently published a book featuring 111 photos that he took in his native Haiti prior to the recent earthquake. He's also captured images in places like Bulgaria and Poland.

Sandaire's work shows that, even if you have a full-time job doing something completely different, there's always room to innovate. 

Check out more of Sandaire's photography after the jump.

MEMBER PROFILE // Ellen Espelund, 3rd Ward's Transatlantic Member

Ellen Espelund3rd Ward attracts all sorts of amazing folks, but it's somethin' else when a member signs up from across the Atlantic.

That's what Ellen Espelund did, becoming a 3rd Ward member while living 3,640 miles in Lillehammer, Norway. Knowing that she would need a place to work during future stays in New York, Espelund joined without ever having seen our space. "When you come from abroad it’s good to find the right artistic environment where you can feel at home in a way, so you can concentrate on your projects, because New York is such a big city," she says. "I simply felt 3rd Ward was the right place for me."

Espelund is a fine artist working with photography, painting and poetry. "My paintings are usually mixed media, the newest containing gold, silver and bronze," she says. "My photographs are built up in a special way regarding lighting and more. I'm inspired by how photographers worked in a time gone by."

Espelund visited 3rd Ward for the first time to take part in our Member Show and had a blast (check out more about her visit on Norway.org). " I had long planned to go to New York and do some projects, but suddenly I was there to exhibit," she says. "As with many artists, I’m more shy than people are aware of because I can seem outgoing, and it was an enormous amount of new people at once, but they were all so welcoming and nice, so it went fine. I loved it!"

Right now Espelund is working on multiple things. "One of these projects, the one I’m working most intensely on right now, is about death, but not in the way most people would associate when they hear that word," she says. "Like in my other projects this one is also connected to the authenticity in how we live our lives, and the way we dare or not to go our own way, to realize our dreams. It's connected to the joy of living."

Check out some examples of Espelund's work after the jump and look for way more from her in the future. "There might be some cool happenings later this year if things go according to plan," she says. "If not, look out for 2012..."

"I dreamed a dream"

"I want my freedom"

"Life...LOVE...Dreams" (detail)

OPEN CALL FEATURE // Jorge Vergeli

Jorge VergeliToday's 3rd Ward Open Call featured artist is Jorge Vergeli. His colorful and tactile Altars—made from wood, metal, glass, and found objects—are created for prayer, meditation and self-reflection. Vergeli work is a facinating and beautiful juxtaposition of the decorative and functional.

Friday is your last chance to enter to win the biggest Open Call yet—a solo show in New York City and a solo feature at Art Taipei, the largest art fair in Asia.

Submit here.

DOWNTOWN FARMING // 3rd Ward at the Dekalb Weekend Market beginning July 23

3rd Ward's plot at the Dekalb Market.3rd Ward is beyond thrilled to be part of the Dekalb Weekend Market, a new urban farm and creative marketplace at Downtown Brooklyn's Fulton Mall.

We're one of several other groups, including Brooklyn Grange and the NYC College of Technology's Hospitality Management Department, curating urban agriculture plots at the market. We'll also be offering both free and paid urban agricultural workshops.

The workshops will be an all-star team of instructors featuring Zach Pickens, who writes for Young, Broke, and Hungry and Farming From Three to Twenty Feet Up, Michael Doherty, who has been working with the Window Farms Project, and Elise McMahon, a furniture maker and instructor here at 3rd Ward with lots of experience creating innovative compost bins, milking stanchions, chicken coops and other agricultural infrastructure.

"Topics will include everything from general education about seasonal and sustainable growing practices, to addressing the challenges of viably and responsibly producing produce in the city, to incorporating the latest DIY technologies such as sensors and circuit boards to manage a garden," 3rd Ward Education Director J. Perelmuter says.

And if that wasn't exciting enough, stay tuned for more info about 3rd Ward's own container storefront at the market...

Starting July 23 the Dekalb Weekend Market will be open every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 7pm through December. Check out the market's Facebook page for all of the latest news.

OPEN CALL FEATURE // Jonny Briggs

Jonny BriggsWe're back with another 3rd Ward Open Call feature. Meet Jonny Briggs, whose work strives to preserve the inventive and imaginative spirit of childhood. Briggs explores the complex and intricately entwined relationships of adult and child, father and son, love and resentment. His work spans photography, scultpure, performance, textiles, and more.

This is the last week to submit! Don't miss out on the biggest Open Call yet. The grand prize includes a solo show in New York City and a solo feature at Art Taipei. 

Get started here.

TEACHER FEATURE // Buck Jackson's Rational Polyhedra

Buck Jackson is real, real busy. In addition to teaching at 3rd Ward, the designer teaches at CUNY, is opening his own design studio, and he’s a dad. Exhausts us thinking about one of those things.

About that design studio: it’s called Design Office Studio, and Buck says, “The primary focus of the studio is on furniture and skatepark architecture. The ultimate goal on the furniture end is: design, prototype, create finished piece and fabrication documentation, and sell designs to furniture companies. On the skatepark end, I’m working with skater, surfer, and documentary filmmaker Felipe Arias on a skatepark in his home country of Panama.”

Buck describes his design work as “rather rational,” saying, “I’ve been working with polyhedra and simple tension/compression systems in furniture. Right now I’m interested in wooden furniture that moves outside typical assemblages that are free of glue, screws or nails, and can be broken down and re-assembled.”

The Louisiana native had a humble entrance into the furniture design world, taking a job sanding and sweeping the floors of a cabinet shop when he was 18. But three years later, he began a series of assistantships for local artists and crafters, and went on to study at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and Georgia’s Savannah College of Art and Design, before moving to New York in 2005. Here, he worked for the mechanical engineering firm Hoberman Associates, and for a model and prototyping firm “which held denizens such as Frank Gehry, SOM, Calatrava, Sir Norman Foster and Richard Serra,” before beginning the process of opening his studio.

When asked about his run here so far: “The thing I like most about teaching at 3rd Ward is the diversity of the students; I can have a Harvard grad and a bus mechanic in the same class.” 

Meanwhile, make sure to keep up with Jackson's Design Office Studio in two very different incarnations; head on over here or here.

-- Anastasia Friscia 

INTERVIEW // Jessica Hische: Graphic Designer, Typophile, Freelance Advocate

Drop Cap by Jessica Hischeessica Hische is a designer, illustrator and letterer in Brooklyn who does nothing halfway. Her last meal would be something along the lines of oysters, slow-cooked pork, about 100 pickles, and a good bourbon. “Pigs should be elevated to status of venerable cows,” according to Jessica.

Jessica is out and about campaigning for young designers as well. “There is plenty of work out there to go around,” says Jessica, who is happy to help them out... “as long as they don’t mess it up for those already working in the field by lowering pricing standards or giving up the rights to all of their artwork.” That is the guiding philosophy behind her fun and educational side projects, including the hilarious and useful flowchart Should I Work For Free? and instruction manual (for everyone, not just Moms) Mom, This is How Twitter Works.

Privately, designers talk about pricing but Jessica saw the need to address the topic publicly. Maintaining integrity is a critical challenge in a business where it's too easy to find someone willing to do the work for less, just to get out there, without understanding the effect it has on the market. In the spirit of creative commons and education, Jessica’s side projects are intended for sharing (SIWFF has been translated by fans all over the world) and contain invaluable lessons for designers about having the confidence to be successful.

Many people have come to know Jessica’s work through side projects like SIWFR and MTIHTW, but one of her first forays into the online design world was in 2009, when she started Daily Drop Cap as a personal challenge and a way “to prettify the internet.” Daily, or at least frequently, Jessica posted a new drop cap to the site. Daily Drop Caps are available for free use within personal blogs (additional permission needed for businesses and non-profits.)

She sought to create 12 different alphabets, but when she reached her goal, it didn't feel like enough. So Jessica invited her friends and type-design heroes to contribute a drop cap. “There aren't a lot of publications that award letterers because they are hard to categorize. People are never sure if lettering is 'design' or 'illustration'. I wanted the final alphabet to be a place where I could celebrate letterers from both disciplines,” says Jessica. The response was overwhelming.

The same humor and pure enjoyment of design can be seen across Jessica’s work. She may be best known as an illustrator and letterer but has recently made a jump into typeface design. In a continuing education class at Cooper Union, she discovered that the nitty-gritty detail of text typeface design, a process that typically takes years for one typeface, was not for her. Jessica decided display fonts were the perfect blend of lettering and type design.

Her fonts are whimsical and luxurious, and so are their names. According to Jessica, naming fonts is best done with some element of randomness, maybe even “a online game of scrabble" to force you out of your habitual choices. What matters most is that "the name look really good set in its own font" but Jessica is quick to point out that any font could be named after "food, wine or women."

Brioche, a revival of Celtic #2, took its name because a toasted slice of brioche cuts straight to the spirit of the letters rather than a name reflecting its historical originsFor Buttermilk the key was to highlight the double t and lowercase k

Jessica says her biggest motivator are other designers. She continually finds inspiration by working with great peers and clients. In the early stages of projects she likes to get out the studio and mix up her work environment by going to the coffee shop and being around other designers. Battlestar Galactica and Law & Order: SVU are two of her favorite shows while working as the easily digestible format can help you pace yourself while working.

But freelance is not easy, and Jessica’s two biggest pieces of advice for those looking to take the plunge is to make sure you have enough savings to last six months (even if you are working, she warns, it can take that long to get paid by clients) and that you try your best to be genuine and nice to people. Enthusiasm, honesty, and understanding will get you much farther than talent alone.

Thanks, Jessica for sitting down with 3rd Ward in Bushwick last week! Learn more about Jessica and her awesome work here >>>