Have you ever watched a skilled artisan make and demonstrate their craft?
Have you ever watched a skilled artisan make and demonstrate their craft?
You get this feeling of delight and inspiration when he or she smooths out their final product and presents their work to you. Your eyes glaze over and suddenly the gears of your ambition start cranking as you begin to wonder if you could ever make something as authentic and simultaneously functional as the maker themselves.
Well, tighten that brow and powder your hands because, yes, the truth is, is that you can make something as authentic right here here in your own town thanks to like-minded creative individuals.
RVA Makerfest will provide the opportunity to experience this maker-viewer phenomenon come this Sat. October 3 at the Science Museum of Virginia. Numerous makers and vendors will be out demonstrating and showcasing their craft along the echoing halls of the museum.
The non-profit has gears that crank and clog towards innovative progression in our area as its organizers have a couple of things in mind when it returns this year. Their goal is to allow RVA makers, creators, inventors and other artisans to gather as a conglomerate to celebrate their do-it-yourself craftsmanship, and to provide an experience that inspires and allows anyone and everyone to understand that their most important learning tool is their hands.
“There is a collection of seventy eclectic makers that fall along a wide-ranging spectrum of hands-on craft this year at RVA Makerfest,” said RVA Makerfest Director Kyle Lucia. blacksmith of Phoenix Handcraft in Richmond Kyle Lucia said. “There will numerous hands-on demonstrations from maker stands that include chocolatiering, papermaking, robotics, and other maker craft specializations of S.T.E.A.M.”
S.T.E.A.M is an acronym for RVA Makerfest’s intent on advancing the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math through demonstration. A scroll-long list of skilled artisans from Richmond will gather once more to demonstrate their maker crafts to engulf your mind, and to sell their wares to further inspire you.
Established just a few years ago, RVA Makerfest has become a much anticipated event this year due to word of mouth from attendees of the initial event last year.
“The idea for a platform to celebrate regional creativity that is now RVA Makerfest came up towards the end of 2013,” said Corey Lane, President of RVA Makerfest. “We talked about how there were these incredible pockets of really inspiring things happening–the RVA Makers meetup group, all the co-working and makerspaces, the innovation happening across various schools within VCU, etc.–but how isolated they felt.”
Lane added that when the idea for a city-wide festival came about, partners and sponsors came out of the woodwork to make it happen.
With the large outcome from last year’s Makerfest being unexpected, this year, there should be no surprises this time around.
“This is the sophomore year of RVA Makerfest, last year was the maiden voyage and it went well beyond our expectations,” Lucia said. “We were expecting a modest crowd, about 1,800 people, but the turnout ended up being 4,700 people.”
Lucia stressed that Richmond is the hub for a booming maker culture from local artists and this is the perfect event for them.
“Look at what Richmond is making. Look at how cool our town is.” Lucia said. “The event is family friendly, and what better way than to inspire future makers by having a hands on experience that one can walk away with?”
RVA Makerfest will be held at the Science Museum of Virginia on Sat. October 3 from 10 am to 5 pm.
