The Hawk Makerspace to host free open house with prizes and demonstrations on Friday, Sept. 13 from 3-7 p.m. in celebration of second anniversary

 

The Hawk Makerspace, an immersive creativity incubator in Farmington Hills, is launching a new season of programs starting in September. New programs range from one-day embroidery workshops to comprehensive multi-week woodworking classes. Registration for fall programs is open now at fhgov.com/makerspace.

 

“At The Hawk Makerspace, creativity is limitless! If you can dream it, you can do it,” said Jessica Guzmán, coordinator for the City of Farmington Hills Cultural Arts Division, which includes The Hawk Makerspace. “The Hawk Makerspace provides access to all the necessary tools and equipment and brings together a diverse group of creatives who help foster a culture of community through shared resources, shared knowledge, shared experiences, and shared responsibility.”

 

In celebration of its second anniversary, The Hawk Makerspace will welcome the public to experience the shared studio during a free open house on Friday, Sept. 13 from 3-7 p.m. There will be demonstrations of the state-of-the-art equipment, prizes and special discounts.

 

Located within The Hawk, the City of Farmington Hills’ award-winning recreation and arts venue, The Hawk Makerspace is a shared studio designed to empower makers of any skill-level or age, through providing access to a high-quality technical and artistic space, including highly skilled instructors. The Hawk Makerspace offers one-day workshops, giving creatives a sample of the full experience, as well as six and 12-week classes that allow makers to fully immerse themselves in a new skill or solidify an old hobby. Programs are available to makers of different ages and interests, catering to absolute beginners and experts, including hobbyists, crafters and entrepreneurs.

 

This fall, classes in The Hawk Makerspace cover beginner sewing, weaving and screen-printing in the craft lab, and a selection of woodworking classes in the woodshop. Highlights include:

·         Decked Out: Building a Skateboard, a new six-week class on Tuesday evenings starting Sept. 10 or Nov. 5. In this class, participants will build a custom skate deck from scratch using a bandsaw, various sanders and other tools in the woodshop, in addition to using equipment from the craft lab to embellish the boards using vinyl decals or laser etching. As part of the class, Plus Skateboarding in downtown Farmington will share information about outfitting the custom boards with everything needed to make them street ready.

·         Shaker-Style End Tables, a special 12-week class that is returning to The Hawk Makerspace by popular demand. Participants will learn to use various woodshop machinery to master the well-made, simple aesthetic for which Shaker furniture is known. Students will learn to edge, join and glue boards, layout joints, cut tapered legs, and more. Each table will follow the beloved principals of Shaker furniture making and will incorporate each students’ individual design aesthetics. Shaker-Style End Tables meets Monday evenings beginning Sept. 16.

 

In addition to classes and workshops for adult creators, The Hawk Makerspace offers a selection of programs for youth makers, including Inkredible Designs: Wearable Graphics, a six-week class that will teach teens the graphic design program Inkscape to transform their works into wearable art using equipment in The Hawk Makerspace craft lab. For creative kids ages 8 to 12, they will team up with a parent or guardian in the Squishy Stuffed Toys workshop to create a pattern, sew and complete a new stuffie in four hours.

 

The Hawk Makerspace also has open studio hours, allowing for self-directed use of the studio’s premium equipment, including a full woodshop with professional-quality saws, planers, sanders and routers, and a craft lab with an industrial sewing machine, laser cutter, 3D printer, and more. Self-guided use is available to daily, monthly or annual Passholders, which include hobbyists, experts and small business owners. Prior to self-guided use, Passholders must complete a checkout course, covering safety protocols and basic instructions, for each piece of equipment they plan to use. Open studio hours for Passholders are Tuesday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m. You do not need to be a Passholder to sign up for instructor-led workshops, classes and checkout courses.

 

The Hawk Makerspace opened in Sept. 2022 as a facility within the City’s Special Services Department Cultural Arts Division with support from the Bosch Community Fund. The City of Farmington Hills has the largest dedicated municipal Cultural Arts Division in the State of Michigan. In addition to managing The Hawk Makerspace, the Division coordinates arts programming for the community, including classes, events, and activities in visual and performing arts, and year-round performances at The Hawk Theatre, with the goal of exposing diverse populations to the arts. In 2023, the Michigan Parks and Recreation Association (mParks) recognized The Hawk Makerspace for outstanding facility design.

 

The Hawk Makerspace is on the second floor of The Hawk, located at 29995 W. 12 Mile Road, between Orchard Lake and Middlebelt Roads. For more information about The Hawk Makerspace, including class descriptions, program fees, and program or Passholder registration, visit fhgov.com/makerspace or call 248-699-6489.

 

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