Amanda with an IC prepped for a soft circuit.It’s alive! 3rd Ward instructor Amanda Ervin can help you bring inanimate objects to life in her muscle wire class, where you’ll create robotic paper cards or a sock that appears to be breathing. (Check out this YouTube video of muscle wire to see what you could be creating.)
With a masters in Combined Media and a desire to use technology as a means to engage, Amanda teaches her students how to incorporate electricity—and add a little of the unexpected—into their art.
Find out what has Amanda all wired up as she discusses her upcoming classes, her recent stint at the Maker Faire, and some of the more unusual objects she’s electrified recently: from blooming flowers to glowing thank you cards to a felt woman whose literally “turned on” when you touch her in a special place.
Spark your own project with Sensors or Muscle Wire. Sign up for Amanda’s October classes today!
3rd Ward: Tell me about the instrument you build in your DIY Sequencer class—how many tones can you get? Do you use it when making your own music?
Amanda Ervin: It's infinite, it's huge. It can go from inaudible frequencies through the whole spectrum. You just create based on the different oscillation frequencies that you use, the different resistors and capacitors. I’ve performed with it a couple times.
3W: The people who take the class, are they doing it just to learn about what's involved in making a sequencer?
AE: I think everybody who takes it is showing up to learn a new thing to make. It's not necessarily a basic electronics class, it's more like, "here's something that I know how to make," and I'm sharing that skill with other people. It's pretty cool. And some of my students have gone on and performed with it too.
3W: How did you first get involved with doing this kind of stuff? AE: In graduate school I started building robotic puppets, like paper dolls. I was in a very traditional school doing new media kind of stuff, and had this weird idea to make living photographs and so I started making them and got really into electronics. When I moved here I met a few people that were playing music, and I told them that I had these skills making mechanical, electronic things and they said, "You know, you could probably use that to make instruments." So I figured out how to do it, and then I started playing in bands too. 3W: What about sensors, this that's a new class right?
AE: Yeah, it's a new class. I'm basically going to show everyone different kinds of sensors, like touch sensors and light sensors, and different ways to interact with computers. It's like designing an interface so that people can have better interactions with technology.
3W: And for the muscle wire class? AE: The muscle wire, also known as Nitinol,
works by applying current to it from a battery, and then it shortens in length. So you can use it to move things, and create different kinds of mechanics with it. And then, if you use an oscillating circuit again, it will turn it on and off at a different frequency—a different timing rate. 3W: Give me an example of what you would use it for. AE: Well, I'm using it at Maker Faire and I'm going to teach a lot of people how to use it. (editor’s note: this interview was conducted before Maker Faire on September 25) Basically, we're going to build fabric flowers that open and close their petals. They're called soft circuits. You just have to hook it up to a battery. Everyone's making something different at the Faire and sharing it with the community. I'm there to be part of a community.
3W: You were able to get the money for Maker Faire, for all the petals and all the supplies through Kickstarter. What did you offer to the people who donated? AE: One thing that I offered was thank you cards that have electronics in them. They say, "Thanks, love Amanda" and the heart glows. And then the second thing that I offered was to do a one-on-one with muscle wire. 3W: Are you creating any other kind of art that involves circuitry? AE: Well, I've made a soft circuit that—it's the stupidest little thing, but I got really giggly about it. It's just a nude, and you touch her vagina and her heart lights up. 3W: Really? That's hilarious! I like that! AE: There's videos of it too, it's on my blog. 3W: That's great. Do you sell any of your pieces?AE: I sold stuff at the craft fair at 3rd Ward last year, a 555 timer that puts out a tone frequency and you can change the frequency by waving your hand in front of a light sensor.
You know, in graduate school I had a hard time because they didn't consider what I did to be real artwork; it's technology. But lately, with a lot of different electronics kits and things coming out, it's becoming totally do-it-yourself. And people are sort of reclaiming this really powerful technology, so it's pretty cool. I did all sorts of projects while I was in school, and it's just so hard for people to understand, to break out from the two-dimensional wall hanging. There are so many layers; art doesn't have to be in a vacuum.
Oct 15, 2010
Catch action shots like this one from the Night Welding class!Are you an emerging photographer, passionate about capturing high impact images? Looking to gain more exposure and experience? Love 3rd Ward?
