13. Implications and applications¶
feedback:¶
https://zenodo.org/records/18225148
From Aristrarco: Tree of Life
Can I use fish skin leather?
Why, What, Who, When, Where?¶
What will you explore? why? for who? with whom? how and when?
My Milestones/Goals until February 10th¶
Throughout working through the milestones or project phases/iterations below, I plan to get feedback from a variety of people on whether my ideas are clear in my project visualization. I will ask 3-4 people, at work and a few others, to periodically share their feedback. I plan to make a short survey I will ask people to complete to create a feedback loop at stages when I am ready to receive feedback.
January 1-February 10
1. Make a series of 1/2 scale models to further develop my ideas.
2. Continue to collect research on single use plastic and bio materials to support my my project approach and ideas.
3. Continue to make sample fish from leather and denim scraps using bio resin and a variety of types of colorants.
4. Make 1/2 scale sample pneumatics for the lower half of the body. Current challenges include 1) finding an attachable valve to keep the air in the pneumatics 2) figuring out how to have air channels to ideally fill and empty the pneumatics so that they have movement and rhythm 3) finding or making a skirt or dress in a fabric that works well with the movement of the actuators.
5. Make a sample mobile to use to inspire a variety of students, so they can contributew to the project. Making the mobiles includes doing more study and research of artists who have and do make mobiles to better understand their techniques, the way they use balance, form, and materials to make dynamic meaningful moving art pieces.
6. Take all of the above, and scale it for a first full-scale model including presentational elements for Fabricademy's February 10th - 12th deadline, "Fabricademy Coordination & Mentors. The focus of this session is all about crafting a first complete presentation of the final project."
My Presentation Slide Show, Re-Worked Based on Feedback and Further Idea Development¶
Presentation Feedback from December 15, 2025¶
- Anastasia: "Your presentation is great. I would recommend to use less text per slide. you can definetely has this length of text on your website, but for the presentation i would try to make it as condensed as possible. rebecca horn, i would also imagine having small scale mobiles all over ( https://kineticlevi.com/)"
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Claudia: Mobiles Before Calder Website
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Louise: Alex, well done on your first prototypes ! It will be about defining better the milestones to support your project and make sure you reach the education goal :) just a tip for your presentation, don’t hesitate to make more slides, with fewer text and more illustrations.
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Carolina: Hi Alexandra! Congratulations! Involving the students is a great step. As you mix different recycled materials, consider Designing to disassemble, so you can later separate and recycle whenever possible. check here
Interviews of Potential Target Groups/Users with Initial Outcomes & Insights¶
I have run initial interviews to gather feedback and brainstorm ideas for ways to build this project into existing spring 2026 programming I am already running and/or that is happening on campus that I can connect my project to. I discovered that: 1. existing collaborators and potential project collaborators see value in my project for community outreach, through engaging in creative ways to teach upcycling and reuse 2. that my theme connects to some other spring campus programming.
Target Group Interview # 1 with Holly R. Bullard, Ed.D.,Director of Academics, Programs for Talented Youth, Peabody College | Vanderbilt University Speaking to Holly about integrating my Fabricademy project into teaching my spring Vanderbilt University Program for Talented Youth class reinforced the idea that my project will provide a creative experiential learning opportunity for young people, in this case, 5th and 6th graders.
Interview #2 with Rachel H. Thompson, Program Manager, Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University In early December, I met with Rachel to ask her thoughts about whether I could apply for a Curb Center Creative Inquiry Grant to get funding for this project. Based on my ideas and proposal Rachel was more interested in funding the project directly through the Curb Center’s budget for their spring focus on adaptation and resilience. I recently submitted an updated project pitch to Rachel for more feedback. She is out of the office until January, but I believe there is a lot of promise around connecting my project to the Curb Center, which has existing funding for such projects, especially if I connect them to workshops. The Curb Center has supported my past projects through grants and exhibitions, so I believe there is a good chance I will receive financial project support from them and that they will help guide my project and build relevance for it to a range of applications.
Interview # 3 with Andreea Gatman of Act on Learning, ttps://actonlearning.org/ Over the last year, Andreea and I have been discussing the idea of “building a global garden," working together to build this project into a vision for creative engagement globally. We are working on finding a time to meet on zoom. I will add notes after we have our meeting.
Full Fabricademy Timeline of Project Milestones¶
Found on the Fabricademy website here
1. Dec 16: Project Proposal Presentations
2. December 20-January 15: Begin experimentation through working on my project while completing my class modules, including my electronics weeks to work on lighting fish for hanging on mobiles.
3. January 13: Student Updates
4. January 27th: Fabricademy Coordination & mentors
5. January 24, January 31, and February 7, 2026: on these Saturdays I will teach 5th and 6th graders for the Vanderbilt Program for Talented Youth.The students will make fish using denim and leather scraps, plastic bottle molds, and bio resin. They will design 1/2 scale mobiles as well as 1/2 scale upcycled denim dresses with words, ideas, and pictures drawn onto the dresses using acyrlic fabric paints regarding their thoughts around sustainable fashion. Their models will 1)serve as samples for my project 2)be on display for the final afternoon of the program when parents come to pick-up their children.
6. February 10th - 12th: Fabricademy Coordination & Mentors. The focus of this session is all about crafting a first complete presentation of the final project.
7. February 24th: Focus Groups, Fabricademy Coordination & Mentors. The Final Projects are clustered into topics and participants get personalized mentoring sessions from a group of selected international professionals.
8. March 10th: Fabricademy Coordination & Mentors. The focus of this session is:
1)a clear update on the final prototype (physical, digital, process, performance, etc) crafting the narrative that communicates/presents the project to your “audience” achieved in a variety of formats
2) pitch, storyboard, video, interactive overview.
9. March 30- April 2: Final Project Presentations . Fabricademy Coordination & mentors. I am required to use at least 3 out of the 12 assignments for my project, or advance the state of the art by presenting innovation that was not presented in class.
Additional Artists Who Inspire My Project Ideas¶
A useful inspiring article on Artist Aurora Robson can be found here
Aurora is working in an art collective in ideas around using plastic trash as art, within Project Vortex. From their website:
"Our Mission:
We are an international collective of artists, designers, and architects actively focusing on the global problem of plastic pollution in our work. Operating at the intersection of art and science, we strive to inspire people to rethink and reinvent plastic debris through artistic innovation, creative stewardship, and education. We are dedicated to improving global understanding of the impacts of plastic consumption + pollution and we support and assist with the development of initiatives to restrict the flow of plastic debris to the oceans."
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Notes from Oscar's Lecture¶
Fabricademy prefers systems to projects. Final project needs to serve US and what we want; I would like to do this kind of project. What do I know and what don’t I know? Needs to be meaningful for me—as a person, professional, community member. The final project is the beginning of a project.
You need to LOVE your final project. Make, explore, prototype
Questions to ask to justify who will my project affect? 1. What is the meaning, value, and purpose of the project? 2. What exists? 3. What do I want to start now that I’ll continue working on? 4. Does what I’m making already exist? If so, what is my contribution?
Design: 1. A product/proof of concept artifact 2. A system-how to bring the product into a system? 3. Educational plan, building these ideas into your courses can be the final project
Frame my proposal 1) without making it completely defined and closed 2)shape the possibilities and where it might go 3) what trends exist in academic research?
Pick-up the first five things I find relevant: 1. Five projects related to what I want to do. What projects are inspirational and closer to what I would like to compare myself to? 2. Five related academic trends
Do first-person research: How are you going to wear this: samples; try things on; balance the thinking with the making. Do some first person research, relate the process to my own life. Sketch and prototype. Could interview experts to help if necessary. How can I design with trash? How will this change myself, my identity, my everyday? Try to interact with others, with machines, how much am I throwing away in a day? How will these things change my daily life? Can learn something new.