Thank you for visiting this website for
Mind's Eye Manufactory
School/Gallery/Community Workshop
(The website and Manufactory are both works-in-progress. Please check back often.)
(The website and Manufactory are both works-in-progress. Please check back often.)
Mind's Eye Manufactory has been many years in the making; growing, morphing, and always expanding within the imaginations of Marc and Leah Daniels. Marc, a life-long woodworker and tinkerer, became infected with the idea while teaching high school woodshop in a small village in the Central Bering Sea region of Alaska. After dismissing his regular students each day, Marc would usually stay in the shop working on one project or another. On one of these afternoons a small band of rough, wind-burned fifth-grade boys showed up and started poking around the shop, asking lots of questions. Rather than kick the little guys back out into the cold, Marc asked them what they wanted to make. "Swords!" they shouted, and it wasn't long before the rowdy boys were busily absorbed with sawing, pegging, sanding, and polishing. The very next day after school more than a dozen curious and eager kids were waiting at the woodshop door, and it was clear that something meaningful had begun to happen. Those kids were discovering for the first time the primal joy of "making". At the same time, their teacher was realizing the profound richness of sharing that joy with others.
From that point forward, Marc began laying out a plan, along with his wife and partner, Leah, to create a unique place where over-the-top imagination, inventiveness, and mechanical exploration would be encouraged to thrive; an extra-ordinary place where anyone could have access to the finest of tools in an inspiring atmosphere, along with expert guidance. What began as the spark of an idea over a decade ago has now grown into a passion for Marc and Leah, and is taking shape in the quiet town of Ferndale, on northern California's "Lost Coast".
What we aim to do...
Mind's Eye Manufactory (being arranged and created even as you read this) is to be part multi-materials workshop and part science laboratory; a melding of old-time boatshop and cutting-edge proto-typing shop. The Manufactory will be a fun and fantastic school where imaginations can flourish, as well as a community workspace where anyone can have access to all of the tools and guidance needed to manifest his or her most creative ideas. There will be a wide range of on-going "maker" activities, plus a schedule of truly unique classes taught by visiting artisan-instructors. We also hope to offer specialized classes aimed at inspiring specific groups, such as Parent/Child, Grandparents/Grandchildren, and even classes to accommodate the specialized needs of paraplegic individuals.
At Mind's Eye we advocate for the actual as opposed to the virtual; for taking what's in one's imagination and making it with one's own hands. We strive to make The Manufactory a place -- and indeed a culture -- that inspires a sense of wonder and delight with the physical and material world.
How?
The Manufactory shop is fully equipped for working in a variety of materials, and the artisan-instructors are experts at their chosen crafts. Student-participants will have endless opportunities to unleash their minds and expand their skills through fascinating projects in wood, metals, textiles, stone, molten glass, plastics, and other materials. Multiple activities may be underway at any given time at the Manufactory, from group projects to individual creative endeavors. Visitors to Mind's Eye Manufactory will find participants engaged in many traditional crafts like woodworking, blacksmithing, and foundry work, but will also see ultra-creative activities like something we call "Gizmology and Contrapting", in which participants de-construct mechanical "junk" and re-purpose the parts into fun new inventions.
Over time, as participants acquire skills and gain knowledge, we'd like for them to think of the Manufactory as their shop.
Over time, as participants acquire skills and gain knowledge, we'd like for them to think of the Manufactory as their shop.
Who is it for?
Mind's Eye Manufactory is for you. It is for adults and for youth; for parents and their children; for grandparents and grandchildren. It is for anyone who has the natural curiosity and the desire to make something with their hands and mind. A wide variety of classes and events with a broad range of complexity and requisite skill levels will be aimed at providing "maker" access to everyone.
We say: “Dream it…
Leah and our hound pup, Ranger
Why create?
First of all, creating something beautiful or functional is just plain fun! But in addition, some of the not-so-visible benefits of hand-making include:
a) A sense of pride gained through building a beautiful, fine, and useful item.
b ) Strong character from disciplined goal achievement, patience, and long-term skill building.
a) A sense of pride gained through building a beautiful, fine, and useful item.
b ) Strong character from disciplined goal achievement, patience, and long-term skill building.
c) The confidence possessed by those who understand the things in their world and know how to make or fix them (think MacGyver).
d) Cognitive growth through real world problem solving and hand-eye exercise.
e) A deeper sense of connectedness that comes from close involvement with elders and other community members.
We say: “Dream it…
Make it." ™
Abigail Sylvia
Leah and our hound pup, Ranger