MEMBER SHOW PREVIEW // Beril Gulcan: Home at 3rd Ward

When Beril Gulcan first moved to New York, she heard about a place in Brooklyn where folks creatin' things could all hang out. Bonus: that place also gave away free bikes. As a photographer, Gulcan found herself immediately drawn to 3rd Ward.

Her sources of inspiration? Other than her Hasselblad camera: watching documentaries, immersing herself in the work of Irving Penn and Alice O'Malley, and meeting interesting people. Being surrounded by creative doers is the key to her productivity, she says, and advises prospective or new members to “Just hang out at 3rd Ward. You’ll be surrounded by creativity. A lot of inspiration will follow.”

Gulcan's most recent creation, ''Between You and Me,'' is a portrait-based project built around the intimacy and distance between mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, and siblings. That work will be on display Friday at the 3rd Ward Member Group Show.

So come raise a glass to Beril and her fellow exhibiting members! It’ll be good for you, as she knows well after getting “a little drunk” (and having a blast) at a recent Wine: For Your Health! course.

-- Cara Cannella

Pictures Are Up! // Mike Perry Presents : PULLED

Thanks to all who came out to the Gallery Opening for Mike Perry. See below for some selects from the night and visit the 3rd Ward Facebook page to see the entire album.

If you didnt grab PULLED : A Catalog of Screenprinting the night of the world launch party, head here to get your copy which includes all the work featured at 3rd Ward and more.

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

© Liz Clayman

MEMBER SHOW PREVIEW // Bernard Vauzanges' handmade wooden clock

One day, 3rd Ward member Bernard Vauzanges was sitting in his apartment listening to the tick-tock of an old grandfather clock he'd inherited when he thought, “How does it work?”

After a few months of research, Vauzanges, an architect and furniture-maker, decided to build his own clock here in 3rd Ward’s wood shop -- taking advantage of the newly-acquired scroll-saw to craft all those intricate gears and other parts.

Vauzanges’ clock is completely open, allowing you to see its every motion. Oh right, it’s also made entirely out of wood. Some people have guessed that he created some of its parts using a laser cutter. Nope. This masterpiece is 100% hand-made.

You can see Vauzanges' clock in action and watch the gears turn this Friday from 7-10pm at the first ever 3rd Ward Member show. Admission's free, and in addition to Vauvanges’ amazing creation you can check out excellent work by some other serious 3rd Ward talent.

-- John Ruscher

3RD WARD ALUMNI ALERT // Hunter Kaczorowski designs costumes for The Human Comedy in Queens, heads to Yale

One of Kaczorowski's design sketches for The Human Comedy.Hunter Kaczorowski, a 3rd Ward alum, puppet designer and award-winning costume designer, has some big things on the horizon...

First: He outfitted the characters in the Astoria Performing Arts Center's production of The Human Comedy, which debuts at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church this Thursday, May 5.

His designs are not your easy razzle-dazzle costumes, but more subtle pieces that carry the telling details of everyday life. Here's an excerpt from an interview about his work on the musical:

My role in this production is looking at how these characters dress themselves and thinking about where they get their clothes.

Since the central story of The Human Comedy is about family, I’m also looking at where things are hand-me-down clothes.

As a designer, I want to make this world as specific as possible and particular to these characters. A lot of what I’m doing is carving out how these characters live, who they are, what they do, where they’re from and trying to inform all that into how they dress.

Read the rest of the interview here and check out Hunter's impressive and diverse portfolio in costume design, puppetry, and craft here.

Kaczorowski is no stranger to the New York costume design scene -- he's contributed to more than 20 productions around the city, and his designs have graced the stages of venues including The Living Theatre, St. Ann's Warehouse and the Midtown International Theater Festival.

Soon, though, he'll be saying goodbye to the Big Apple and hello to New Haven, Connecticut, where he's entering the Yale School of Drama to earn an MFA in Costume Design. Congrats, Hunter!

And make sure to check out The Human Comedy this month in Astoria. It runs from May 5 through May 21 at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, with shows at 8pm Thursday through Friday and 2pm and 8pm on Saturdays. Grab your tickets here.

-- John Ruscher

Etsy & 3rd Ward: Craft & Shoot Lab // Photos Are Up!

Last Saturday, DIYers came together to learn new craft skills and get their Etsy pages looking sharp!  See below for our favorite shots of enameling, crocheting, sewing and homemade skincare and see all of the photos here.

Scan Space Now, Print it Later // Meet Kyle McDonald before the MakerBot Make-A-Thon

Kyle McDonald reaches into 3D virtual space, represented by a massive point cloud, through his Kinect code.If you've read our event listing for the MakerBot Make-A-Thon, you might wonder what MakerBot's hacker/artist-in-residence, Kyle McDonald, is actually doing: "turning the Xbox Kinect into a 3D Scanner."

The XBox Kinect is essentially a depth-sensing camera, and has been an incredible, game-changing tool for hackers and developers.

As Kyle says in this Create Digital Motion interview, 3D scanning and printing has the power to change sculpture, sound, photography experience design...basically the very way we live.

Some people are most interested in the raw data, the inherent glitches, the aesthetic of 3D scanning. Sculptors will record and build unusual models of spaces informed by 3D scanning, spatial mash-ups will be standard fare.

Sound artists and musicians will use the device to control standard audio parameters, or use the values as input parameters to complex synthesis environments and for controlling spatialized sound with large speaker arrays.

Photographers will work with long exposures in combination with 3D-reactive projection to augment layers of the space over time.

Interaction designers will invent new gestures and modes of interaction specifically targeted at the strengths of the sensor.

Interactive art will experience a minor renaissance as a variety of tasks that were previously very difficult become very simple (e.g., tracking someone against a background that is the same color, or even tracking someone against a moving background).

Intrigued? This is all in the very near future, but you can experience it first at 3rd Ward. Come get 3D-scanned yourself on May 14th. Kyle will be there to scan you in his 3D Photo Booth, then print you using the MakerBot. RSVP and learn more about MakerBot here. 

A Mike Perry Video Teaser

Apple commissioned Mike to create a series of illustrations for the launch of the iPhone 4G. We can't wait for Mike Perry's book launch party this Friday. Seriously. If you don't know about this man of many talents, check out this website, mikeperrystudio.com.

You don't have to look far to see some amazing work. Check out his prints, paintings, collages and innovative work with clients as diverse as the 92Y to Mac Cosmetics to Apple. Here's a fun video he did for Kate Spade. Excited yet? Yeah, thought so. Learn more about the awesome panelists (Maya Hayuk! John Cochran! Demo!) and RSVP here.

Kate Spade Live Colorfully from Michael Perry on Vimeo.

Can You Kick It? // A New Way to Share & Fund Creative Pursuits

There are so many inspiring, creative, ass-kicking projects around us, and sometimes it's nice to show them some love, personally. That's the idea behind Kick It!, an event next month at Lab 24/7 in Bed Stuy. According to Jonathan Landau, who runs the space from his cellar, "Kick It! is a mini-conference, a celebration, an inspiration session, and a chance to give props to projects we love."  Sounds pretty good to us!

So, here's how it works. On the afternoon of May 21st, Lab 24/7 is inviting 5-10 budding, creative projects to present their ideas in front of a live audience. When the presentations are complete, the audience will vote for their favorite, who'll go home with a small bag of loot.

Kick It! is one part Kickstarter, one part TED, one part Feast, with a big chunk of Brooklyn on top.  In fact, we like the idea so much, we're committing a $50 Gift Certificate to add to the prize pot.

If you want to attend, we suggest moving quickly. This is their pilot event and space is very limited! To snag a ticket, head over to EventBrite.

We're hoping to see some 3rd Ward projects demo at Kick It!, so if you want to get it in front of an intimate group, fill out the Kick It! request to demo form.

Check out the official Kick It! website, and if you're inspired, you can love Kick It! on Facebook too.

Superfront Archi-Film Mashup I // Pictures are Up!

The first installment of Superfront was a success! On April 16, we held the first of a series of multimedia screenings, lectures & workshops presented with Superfront-NY. 

Evan Tribus of p*g5ive guided a paper-folding exercise using stop motion techniques. Richard Joon Yoo of h-a-h-a.us explored the connections between Dutch still life and cityscapes, then guided workshoppers in documenting the creation and destruction of abstract skylines in collaged still frames. Check out Richard's 3rd Ward presentation here.

See below for some photo selects and head here to see more photos of folded masterpieces, still-life cities and destruction.

The next Superfront session will be held at 3rd Ward on June 4th, so be sure to stay tuned for details. 

The Many Meanings of "Sketch" from Drink-n-Draw

Wow! Check out these two very different artists from last night's Drink-n-Draw. Thanks to Tai from Daily Etch-a-Sketch and Martha Hipley of and again now for sharing.

Got your own DnD sketch you want to share? Whatever your medium, tweet us @thirdward or send us an email at membermade@3rdward.com and we might post on the blog.

by Tai

by Taiby Martha Hipley