Keith and I met mid-summer to talk about our workshop (we did much of our planning long-distance.) When we started talking about the workshop, we agreed that the workshop should focus on art machines that moved brushes, pigments, or media (like paper or canvas) in planned (and unplanned) ways. We weren’t sure what software we would be using (we didn’t know at first what computers we would have), but we wanted to figure out how to keep the programming as simple and intuitive as possible. We planned to demonstrate a few of our own machines at the beginning of the workshop.

Mix paint-brushes pigment, canvas and craft materials. Build a machine that simply wants to make art all the time! In this workshop you'll use the LEGO RCX Mindstorms brick, buckets of paint, paper, canvas, and motors to make an animated art machine. Use sensors to explore color and light. Program your machine to react to an audience to spin faster and slower, to create complex abstract designs, or to simply fling pigment like Pollack! Collaborate with other workshop artists to fill a room with art!

The workshop lasted 1 1/2 hours. Participants pre-registered and paid a registration fee.

Our workshop had about 16 participants, most of whom were kids ages 5-8, nearly all or all of whom had adults with them. It was good to have the adults there: the kids were really young and the parents were able to help them.

The workshop was held in a classroom space in the Fort Worth museum. The classroom was double-sized, so it gave us lots of space and divided easily. We cleared half the room and taped a large tarp to the floor for a painting area. On the other side of the room, we set up tables down the center of the room, with computers on both sides. Art materials and Lego supplies were on tables between the two areas.

The room worked great for us: there were sinks, lots of space, and a tile floor (so it didn’t matter if we got paint everywhere, which we didn’t).

Keith started the workshop by gathering all the kids around the tarp and talking a little about the RCX. We demonstrated a couple of the painters, and one ran all over the tarp (a good chance to talk about how you might want to tell it to stop or turn). Keith told the kids not to worry about getting paint on the RDC bricks, "You can just wipe it off." He didn’t want them to worry about being careful.

Next, Keith showed the kids a simple program. (I don’t remember the program, but I think it started with some beeps or notes, then moved forward for a few seconds.) One group of kids gathered around a computer with Keith, and a second group with Margaret and she tried to demo on her computer what Keith was talking about.

Now the kids got to build. We left samples out, and there were some partially built things around. Most kids started with Lego structures, but they did use lots of the art materials. Some kids built machines that were primarily art materials, using only the motors from the kits. They built pretty quickly and were then ready to program. All of the kids that Margaret worked with started by recreated the program that Keith had demonstrated (they all remembered it!) The kids generally tried out the program once without paint, just to trouble-shoot, and then went directly to load up with paint and try it out on the tarp.

Troubleshooting was a big part of the process because the machines roll or spin so differently once they are loaded with paint. Kids had to vary how long the machine ran (they often thought 3 seconds would be a really, really long time), or make it change directions, or figure out how to build the machine a little differently to work better.

"I think a installation of a 'mural' and potentially having test canvases would do a couple things. It would make the testing and playing more child-scaled (which might be helpful in addition to the big tarp) and each child would leave with a 'canvas' and the traces (or tracks) of their work."

"Some parents participated as helpers and some as builders. I remember that one parent, who had a son I think, come up with a very elegant design to hold a roller brush on with a rubber band. This was interesting for a couple reasons; one was that I think the parent was one of the signed-up participants, so there was a little bit of tension on who was supposed to be helping the child (and I just simply couldn’t help as much as the parent would have liked, I think). So when there was a problem trying to recreate my clumsy Lego-based solution to holding on the brush on, I was seeing the fact that the parent had to help the child, and, a great solution came out of it. I made a big tadoo out of that also…(and borrowed the idea immediately)"