We need to make things that we actually touch.
Read that again. It’s important.
Using our hands to make tangible objects is part of our DNA. We are supposed to immerse ourselves in the act of making. Because of technology however, too many of us have lost that connection. We create products and services that live in a virtual world.
Working with our hands and making art has evolved so that we do more and more of it on computers. While that has had profound benefits for humanity, it has also created a real problem. Meaningless work, a sense of disconnection, depression and physical health issues are just some of the documented effects on lives lacking the physical act of making.
Join us for a rare opportunity – three days immersed in a professional metal arts studio at historic American Steel in Oakland, California.
Leave your job behind, step away from your life, check your ego at the door and get ready to bend your world with fire and steel.
Are a closet artist? Someone who has always wanted to do art but was afraid to? An artist or creative who left it behind to pursue other dreams? Or someone who feels a “burn” inside when they imagine working with fire and steel? Then this is for you!
Our initial offering, Men and Metal, gives men a chance to connect with others who share their experience and creative goals. If you are struggling personally or professionally with the idea of Creativity, this an opportunity to try something completely different. You are not alone.
Men and Metal
Join other men for three days and get your hands dirty as you explore the world of metal.
Learn more about this workshop.
Coming Soon!
Women and Metal
Join other women for three days and get your hands dirty as you explore the world of metal.
Teams
Give your team a completely different experience as they explore creativity for three days in a world class metal facility.
Couples
Grab your partner, get on down to the metal shop and explore your creative side for three full days.
Father Son/Daughter
Reconnect or just build a stronger bond as you work side by side for three days with metal and fire.
Mother Son/Daughter
Reconnect or just build a stronger bond as you work side by side for three days with metal and fire.
Note:
If you identify as Trans, Bi-gender or non-binary, please sign up for the workshop that best suits your individual needs.
Whatever program you chose, you will join others who have been searching for a way back, or a way to a primal creative place. It’s not cave painting, but fire and steel will bring you to something deeply elemental. Working side by side as peers and equals, you will experience a part of yourself that breaths life into the rest of who you are.
JAMIE E. DOES
Jamie is Founder and Principal at www.jamiedoesvisuals.com. Men and Metal is his latest offer and one of more to come. At his core, Jamie is an artist and sees the world through that creative lens. Painting, woodcuts, metal sculpture and photography have been at the center of his practice. Jamie also loves business and balances the two. Over the past twenty years, utilizing a unique Visual Thinking methodology, he has been changing the way leaders and their teams see, understand & engage with their company strategies. Jamie has worked as an internal employee in corporate and not-for-profits and as an external design consultant. His undergraduate degree is in Fine Arts, with advanced study in metal sculpture and painting, and he has a Master’s in Organizational Psychology with a focus on Corporate Social Responsibility and Group Dynamics/High Performing Teams.
Along the way, Jamie has lived in Ireland, Australia and Germany, painted wildlife t-shirts to pay rent, fought fires for the Idaho National Forest Service, managed an Italian gourmet food store, was a cross-country ski racer, did hunger and poverty work for AmeriCorps in its inaugural year, and did humpback whale research in Maui (mind blowing!).
Jamie has two kids and loves being a father. His older brother is his best friend, shocking, since they used to send each other to the Emergency Room as kids. If you’re looking for Jamie on a day off, try Point Isabel in Richmond, where he’s getting some fresh air and exercise with his Pit-Lab, Tucker.
Thwen Chaloemtiarana
Thwen lives at the corner of precision and chaos. At the Flux Foundation, he links visions and ideals through art projects, connecting dreams to people and their tools. In roles ranging from metal fabrication to resource and workflow management, Thwen brings logic and creativity to Flux.
Away from Flux, Thwen is a homemaker, shuttling two daughters to school then artistic and athletic pursuits, even acting as their school’s music teacher and ‘lunch lady.’ He received a B.A. from Cornell University before graduate work at the University of Michigan.
A multilingual and multicultural child of Bangkok, Thailand and Ithaca, New York, Thwen has lived as a poet, defense contractor, rower, drum major, hockey player, fine arts model, car racer, and surfer.
FLUX FOUNDATION
Our Mission :: The mission of the Flux Foundation is to engage people in designing and building large-scale public art as a catalyst for education, collaboration and empowerment.
What We Believe :: The Flux Foundation exists as a new model for the exploration of large-scale art. At our core, we are collaborators. We believe that every step in the art-making process is an opportunity for people to work together to create something monumental. Individual contributions made by participants are invaluable and fundamental to the art we create. We also believe that anyone can be an artist and build big art. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a tool or even thought for a minute you could draw or paint or sculpt. All that matters is your drive to learn and your passion to create. Each project is a vehicle to learn new technical skills, cultivate a critical approach to art, and discover that you, too, can be an artist, a creator, and an instigator.
What We Do :: Flux doesn’t just create public art; it creates public artists. We invite individuals to submit ideas for collaborative large-scale art projects, and we utilize our infrastructure to help bring these projects to life. We seek to provide artists with resources that may not otherwise be available to them such as shop space, volunteer teams, fundraising support, project management and other valuable tools.
Who We Are :: Our team is comprised of people with a wide range of skills and interests. We are engineers, nurses, artists, lawyers, designers, metal workers, public health nerds, architects, film producers, programmers, event producers and so much more.
Men and Metal
November 3-5, 2017, Oakland, California
$1000 (one time 50% off program rate)
Other Programs
Coming Soon
Scholarship Program
Our scholarship program expands offerings to underprivileged and underrepresented people in our local community. Your tax-deductible donation will give battered women, military veterans, kids in foster care, those in recovery from substance abuse and others the chance to tap their creative side while connecting with others.
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