Pumping Station: One

Heat up them skillets and put on your eating face, Pumping Station: One is once again ringing it’s funny little metal triangles and yelling “Cooooome ‘n get it!” That’s right faithful onlookers, stop your bacon, get eggcited, and stop by PS:One for a pun-themed potluck.

Bring a dish to share and parcake in everyone else’s. While as the saying goes, becoming a vegetarian is a missed steak, it’s inevitable that there will be vegan and vegetarian options. If you feel like bringing some drinks, feel free, but don’t drink beyond the pint of no return or we may require you take a leave of absinthe. More than anything, come relish time to ketchup with friends!

Seriously though, food & puns, Tuesday the 29^th at 8:00 pm, we’ve got a microwave for reheating, but the cutlery may well be up to you. Bring your galores through the red doors! See you there!

This month we have two Guided Tour talks from a couple of great people doing very interesting things. In the June “It’s so awesome it’s probably illegal” edition of PS:One Guided Tours we’ll have the following talks:

This Friday, June 18th:

DIYLILCNC

A low-cost, open-source desktop CNC mill – http://www.diylilcnc.org

Chris Reilly and Taylor Hokanson will talk about the history and evolution of the DIYLILCNC project, some general bvackground of CNC technology, some of the shortcomings of the present state of CNC and how those are addressed by open-source hardware projects like the DIYLILCNC. We’ll also go over the specs of the DIYLILCNC, giving details about how it is built and its functions.

Chris Reilly is a Chicago-based artist, writer and teacher. He received his BFA with a focus on New Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2006. Chris is currently employed as manager of SAIC’s Advanced Outptut Center, and a part-time faculty member teaching between SAIC’s Design and Film/Video/New Media departments. Since 2003, Chris has shown work in several solo and group art exhibitions in the US and Europe; he works with modded video games, virtual/augmented reality, scripting/programming and kinetic sculpture.
http://www.chris-reilly.org http://www.rainbowlazer.com

Taylor Hokanson is an artist and educator based in Chicago. His studio practice fuses functional design (as exhibited by the DIYLILCNC project) with artworks of a more conceptual nature (such as his Sledgehammer-operated Keyboard). Until recently Taylor taught digital production/fabrication at DePaul University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
www.taylorhokanson.com

Tuesday, June 22nd:

Unatronics

Making unusual and fun electronic musical instruments and turning it into a business – http://unatronics.com/

Maker and Circuit-bender Michael Una will give a talk about the steps involved in turning a hobby into a business. Topics will include business plan creation, logistics, and marketing. Michael will discuss the creation of his company Unatronics, demonstrate his products and discuss his development process.

These are some great talks that I’m really looking forward to seeing. The doors will open at 7pm, the talks will begin at 8pm. I hope to see you all there!

It’s that time again…the Unusual Musical Instrument Jam is tonight: Friday, June 11 at 7pm, at Pumping Station: One.

Come to the space with all of your loud things. We’d love to see your circuit bent toys, electronic contraptions, loud computer programs, microcontroller gadgets, MIDI controllers, absolutely anything–whether it was intended to make noises or not. If you’d like to be a little offbeat and bring your “usual” musical instruments, those are welcome, too. IF you don’t have any musical gadgets, don’t worry…there’ll be plenty to go around, or plenty of avant garde ways to make some noise when you come to the space.

It’s free and open to members and nonmembers alike, so bring your friends. See you there!

(Picture licensed Creative Commons BY-NC-SA, by shankar, shiv on Flickr.)

PS:One GP, Pumping Station: One’s Power Racing Series team, is proud to present the video evidence of our early-bird test run.  In order to earn 100 points towards the main event at Maker Faire: Detroit, we were challenged to create a video of our car driving, at full speed, on a straight-away run of, at least, 100 feet.  You can check out the proof of our progress below:

Do you scan the pages of Readymade or Make, but rarely (if ever) build anything you see there? This is where you’ll learn how to change that. This will be a 3-hour hands-on workshop for beginner reuse-niks, and instructor Carl Boyd will be joined by a guest instructor, Khader Humied, a green designer + architect from New York:
http://www.metaformst…

This workshop will involve materials like wood, plastic and metal, and how to make and wire-up a lamp, and build some other things. Salvage wood and metal will be provided.

Attendance donation for workshop is $25, (full members only pay $10). This is requested in advance. This class will be very much like cooking or crafting classes at other institutions like Chopping Block or Lill Street, where you learn repeatable skills and walk away with finished items in your hand.

When: June 17, 6-9pm

Where: Pumping Station: One 3354 N. Elston Ave, Chicago

Signup and Pay: http://www.meetup.com/Creative-Reuse/