This year our Maker Faire Lynchburg planning team put together a series of videos to take viewers behind the scenes with local makers. At a time when we could not gather in person, we wanted to bring you closer than ever to the making process. We conducted more than 20 interviews, shop tours, tutorials, and more to give you a peek at the motivation and momentum that drives local makers. In planning a virtual event we were hard-set against creating content you could find elsewhere online, or redundant stories that have already been told. These are the makers here in our community, and their process is their own. When you eat their food, use their goods, and take their classes you are supporting a local ecosystem of makers right here in your neighborhood. We are excited to introduce new faces and take you behind the scenes of some of your favorite local brands.
Amazement Square
We whole-heartedly recommend that you watch each of our 21 maker videos. But, to make it easier to find what you're most looking for, we broke it down by medium and genre for your viewing pleasure. Until next year, enjoy Maker Faire Lynchburg 2021!
WOOD
Kime Design - Lathe turned wooden rolling pins and bowls Scene3 Designs - Upcycled skateboards transformed into beautiful home goods
METAL
Iron & Earth - Hand forged knives with carved wood handles Laxton Forge - Everything blacksmithing: knives, hooks, decor, and more Chelsea Tinklenberg - Industrial motors and kitchen essentials mix and move in Chelsea's sculptural art Siobhan Byrns - Tin types, cyanotype, and more; photography that mixes modern tech with traditional techniques
PAINT
Nugent Koscielny - Mixed media artist and educator, making frames and filling them with art Christina Davis - Artist and art instructor, painting on a variety of non-traditional canvases
Kime Design
CERAMICS
Ted Batt - A tour of the Academy Center of the Arts May Carter Pottery Studio Kenny Tinklenberg - Ceramic artist, demonstrating hand built and wheel thrown techniques
SCULPTURE
Chelsea Tinklenberg - Industrial motors and kitchen essentials mix and move in Chelsea's sculptural art Gioia Calabretta - New Covenent Schools student with her award-winning 3D printed art piece
TEXTILES
Elegant & Royal Collections - Custom clothing and tailoring by a self-taught sewist Benaiah Clothing - Screen printers running small batch and full production jobs Midsummer Maker - Laser engraved, hand-painted leather wearable art Siobhan Byrns - Tin types, cyanotype, and more; photography that mixes modern tech with traditional techniques
Vector Space - Tour Lynchburg's full service community makerspace for teens and adults Amazement Square - Tour The Hive makerspace, a place of exploration for kids and their adults Heritage High School Makerspace - Tour the space and see what creative ways students are utilizing maker tools
FOR YOUTH
Amazement Square - Tour The Hive makerspace, a place of exploration for kids and their adults Heritage High School Makerspace - Tour the space and see what creative ways students are utilizing maker tools Gioia Calabretta - New Covenent Schools student with her award-winning 3D printed art piece BWXT - Two tutorials for hands-on projects by the Women in Manufacturing group
From February 15 through February 20, bid on items from our makers including art, home goods, fashion accessories, private lessons, and more. Every item is either made here in Central Virginia, or designed to inspire YOU to make something. Our community has put together some truly remarkable work, including several one-of-a-kind items.
How does it work?
The online auction will go live on Monday, February 15 at 6:00am. You can browse with no obligation or registration! When you've found the perfect piece and you're ready to bid, you will be prompted to register and enter payment information. You can bookmark items to come back to, and if you are outbid you will be notified by text or email, whichever you prefer. Bidding ends at 1:00pm on Saturday, February 20th.
To learn more about the items in the auction and our mission at Vector Space, you are invited to join our founders live online February 19 at 7:00pm. We will reflect on our 5 amazing years on 5th Street, highlight some of the auction items and their makers, and send a special thank you to our community partners that have been there for us from the beginning.
Give a fun and rewarding experiential gift for the makers in your life! We have gift memberships for adults, and projects for teens. Not sure what your recipient would be most interested in? A general gift card can be used towards membership, classes, or projects. Please enter both your contact information AND the recipient's information. Recipients will not be contacted until after the holidays.
Please note that project and workshop fees vary; your recipient will recieve a discount code for the amount purchased to use toward a project or class of their choice.
Thank you for supporting your local community makerspace, and for encouraging creativity and innovation with your gift this year!
Details Membership: Membership is for those ages 18+ and offers 24/7 access to the makerspace, including a tour, orientation, and member communication portal. Safety training is available as well. Minimum 3 month sign up.
Teen Projects: Participating in one of our projects is like joining a sports team. Coaches lead small teams through immersive and ambitious projects. The teammates work closely with each other and with their coach as they learn the skills necessary to solve the problems they've been given. Project topics and schedules vary. Available to teens ages 14-18, no prior experience necessary. For past and upcoming project examples, visit: https://vector-space.org/projects
Workshops: All workshops at Vector Space are open to the public and do not require membership to attend. Many of our students come to learn how to make at Vector Space with no prior experience. Workshops are short term and usually focus on a single skill. They're a great way to learn something new! You can also gift a specific class by visiting our workshop page: https://vector-space.org/workshops
In August we hired Jess Coco as our new Workshop Coordinator. And now, workshops are back!! In October we are hosting public workshops for the first time since March. Blacksmithing, wood turning, graphic design, 3D printing, and welding are all on the schedule for this month, with wood carving, sewing, and more classes being added next month. We launched with eight classes in October, with a goal of 10-15 per month going forward. Whether you are learning a new tool or refining your skills, we have a fun, fully guided class that will walk you through it!
Our educational model prioritizes theory and practice; making sure you know not just WHAT to do but WHY. Each class is designed to introduce a tool and techniques, allow for practice time, and then students will produce a small project to take home. Each class is small so that students receive indivdualized attention and assistance from the instructor. Workshops are open to teens (14+) and adults, and pre-registration is required. All workshops at Vector Space are open to the public and do not require membership to attend. Many of our students come to learn how to make at Vector Space with no prior experience.
For COVID-19 safety during all classes, we ask that participants and instructors, as well as members working in the space, wear a mask indoors at all times while inside the building and maintain a safe distance of 6ft from each other at all times while at Vector Space.
We are excited to introduce our new Workshop Coordinator, Jessica Coco. Jess is a member at Vector Space, an adjunct math professor, and a life coach with a love for people and making.
Jessica Coco hails from central Florida. She has been teaching Mathematics at both the High School and College levels since 2010. Currently, she is an adjunct Math professor at CVCC and a Habit & Academic Coach as a side hustle for her own business called Silver Bullet Coaching. As a graduate of University of Lynchburg, she holds a Bachelors in Mathematics and a Masters of Science Education.
During her time in Florida and in Graduate school at UL, she was tasked with coordinating educational programs such as the Math Monitoring Program at Polk State College (FL) and the Peer Assisted Study Session Program at UL while in graduate school. Jessica has also had the opportunity to coach teachers with instructional strategies as well as new mountain bikers with bike handling skills, teach Yoga, develop/design new traditional and online courses, and judge STEM science fairs as well as assist students with STEM projects.
Since Jessica loves to learn and exploring, she has a wide range of hobbies and interests such as Yoga, mountain biking, sewing, drawing, crafting, and painting. In the near future, she hopes to add all of the Vector Space offerings, like wood and metal working to her list of hobbies!
The part time Workshop Coordinator will be responsible for scheduling and overseeing the successful execution of workshops. The goal of workshops at Vector Space is to introduce new skills, tools, and techniques to makerspace members and the general public. While initially only a five hour per week position, there is potential for growth of responsibilities and a more substantial workload in the future. Compensation will be discussed during the interview process.
Responsibilities
Work with instructors to schedule workshops
Use internal calendar and VS map to avoid overlap
Use surveys to determine ideal times for participants
Publish workshops on VS website at 1-2 months in advance
Become familiar with CiviCRM and the VS website CMS
Recruit new instructors
Promote workshops to fill participant slots
Post on website
Social media
Local events calendars
Some photography and graphic design
Prepare and print workshop flyers
Gather feedback from workshop participants
Online followup surveys
In person check-ins during classes
Meet 2x per month with Executive Director
Schedule/curriculum approval
Questions, concerns, feedback
Meet every 2 months with Director of Education
Review surveys and curriculum with respect to pedagogy
Meet every 6 months with workshop instructors
Feedback and suggestions
Social and sharing
Be familiar with workshop content and look for opportunities for improvement
Assess backend/registration workflow
Assess instructor performance and student success
Participate in workshops (not counted as paid time, but registration is waived)
Expectations
It is important that workshop experience is positive for instructors, participants, and other users of the makerspace. Workshops are not expected to produce production quality projects, but are an educational experience for learners ages 15 through adult. The Workshop Coordinator should be comfortable meeting and engaging new people, willing to ask questions and learn new skills, and have managerial experience. This position is a liaison between workshop instructors, students, and Vector Space staff, and exists to provide support, feedback, and increase efficiency of workshops.
We currently offer an average of 2 - 3 workshops per month. The workshop coordinator is expected to increase this number to 5 - 10.
COVID Caveats
At this time, Vector Space is not offering workshops to the public. There are opportunities for member learning, but we have put workshops on hold due to COVID-19. We recognize that the initial work of the Workshop Coordinator will be learning systems and preparing to offer workshops again, but without knowing exactly when it will be safe to do so. We appreciate the difficulty of this situation and the short-term expectations of the Workshop Coordinator position will not be based on the quantity of workshops. Public safety concerns will take precedence over workshop scheduling.
To apply, please email resume and cover letter to info @ vector-space.org by July 27th.
We are kicking off the national Week of Making with our latest program in response to changes due to COVID-19: Repair Cafe. As re-opening and getting back to "normal" will be a gradual process, we wanted a way to engage with our community in lieu of our usual hands-on educational events like First Friday and Maker Faire Lynchburg. We also wanted to serve a need in our community, and Repair Cafe fits the bill for both of those items. Plus, Repair Cafe has three important benefits that all fit our mission:
Community Service - We have hosted a few Repair Cafe events during First Friday in the past, but now more than ever the financial strain of job loss and a struggling economy can make replacing broken household goods difficult. We are here to help, free of charge! While we can't guarantee a fix (anything irreplaceable is not a good candidate for our program), we will give it our best shot and are pretty adept at fixing even unusual requests.
Eco-Friendly - Repair (or reuse) is the second most effective eco-friendly choice when it comes to consumerism, so when you participate in our free Repair Cafe program you are making a healthy choice for our environment.
Education - Each of our repairs will be recorded and shared online, to encourage you to pick up your own broken lamp, dusty typewriter, or other household goods in need of a fix and give them the ole DIY effort. From robots to tables, our video series will provide insight into basic repairs in electronics, wood, metal, textiles, and more.
Want to send us something broken? We have developed a quick but necessary process for accepting repairs to ensure 1) that they are realistic objects for repair and 2) that we are not overrun with more repairs than we can handle. Just fill out our Repair Request Form and we will get back to you with a drop off time, if we are able to accommodate your repair.
Give a fun and rewarding experiential gift for the makers in your life! We have gift memberships for adults, and projects for teens. Not sure what your recipient would be most interested in? A general gift card can be used towards membership, classes, or projects. Please enter both your contact information AND the recipient's information. Recipients will not be contacted until after the holidays.
Jessica Coco hails from central Florida. She has been teaching Mathematics at both the High School and College levels since 2010. Currently, she is an adjunct Math professor at CVCC and a Habit & Academic Coach as a side hustle for her own business called Silver Bullet Coaching. As a graduate of University of Lynchburg, she holds a Bachelors in Mathematics and a Masters of Science Education.
