Yes

Woodie Flowers was a mechanical engineer and professor at MIT. He was also a gifted practical designer who reengineered engineering education. In his Introduction to Design and Manufacturing class, he introduced contests that challenged students to build robots to solve problems. Other engineering schools followed Flowers’ lead in making practical building an important part of learning. The FIRST Robotics and VEX Robotics Competitions are extensions of his vision.

East Rock Park, which surrounds the Museum, is enchanted. The Park's large size, its mix of trees and understory, the Rock itself, and the Mill River welcome birds. Some birds reside year round. Some travel long distances, stopping over or nesting and staying the summer.

Learn how to see and recognize the birds that inhabit the Park. Make models that show their shape and color. Learn their songs, their nests, the places they find food. Collect your field notes in an artful fandex. Meet master bird watchers who know the Park's inhabitants well.

Nature is an inspiring artist. Each day, take time to gather sticks and rocks, leaves and pine cones, seeds and grasses that will give form and color to your creations. Improvise small constructions to warm up.

Major Projects (of nature)

Weave: Create a frame loom and weave vines, willow shoots, bark strips and grasses. All parts of nature are connected, after all.

Float: Launch maple seeds and dandelion feathers. Construct a leaf kite and give it the colors of a butterfly.

History is often understood through the observation of the materials and objects left behind a civilization or culture. Museums are full of the material objects which give us the clues to our ancestors. The difference between a practical object and a piece of art is often only decided centuries after it was made.

During this week we will learn about 5 historic ceramic objects – when they were made, why they were made, and how they were made – and what they were used for. All now are valuable treasures that modern man considers art.

Play is a teacher, an inventor, and an artist. Consider the spinning top. All over the world curious hands noticed the joy of spinning things. With experiments and practice, persistent hands discovered shapes and materials and techniques to make spinning tops an art.

Construct tops from hardwood, softwood, acorns, paper, steel and plastic. Use old tools (a lathe) and new(a laser cutter and 3D printer) to study the genius of inventive hands in Malaysia, Germany, Japan, Turkey and France. And celebrate your inventive hands.

After a long winter it’s always an amazing feeling to get out and explore the stories nature has been crafting during that time.

Construct a tabletop sandbox. Fill it with Shape it Sand (a nearly massless modeling sand). Smooth the sand. With your finger, trace a path. A circle, perhaps. Smooth it, again. Can you draw a more twisty continuous path? Smooth it. When you can fill your whole box with a continuous path, you will have invented the Labyrinth.

A good chair is so much more than a comfortable place to rest. Inspired by Centerbrook Architects, we will embark on a weeklong chair challenge. You will design and build this essential piece of furniture, beginning with sketches as well as an introduction to iconic chair forms. At the heart of the Centerbrook Chair Project is an emphasis on craft and the magic of design. Each chair will respond to the unique needs of its creator — you!

In Greek mythology, civilization begins with Prometheus’ gift of fire. This workshop will introduce fire as we present every tool: with respect for skill and safety. A celebration fitting for the summer solstice.

Major projects:

Ceramics: Shape and burnish pinch pots to be transformed in an oak fire that will reduce minerals into elegant colors.

Chemistry: The Chemical History of a Candle: experiments designed for children by the brilliant inventor Michael Faraday in EliWhitney’s Time

100 years ago, artists and designers, fed up with the waste of the First World War formed a Workshop (in German: Bauhaus) for new design and a new world.
Their vision was to start fresh, build simply, respect materials, and build to help people live better. Their work still inspires young designers.