As a 2017-2018 Artist-In-Residence at Side Street Projects in Pasadena, CA, I presented monthly series of community workshops and social practice works. I put on a bristle bot building workshop, where participants learned simple electronics and built motorized puppets that wiggle and squirm. The culmination of my Social Practice was the staging of "Side Streets' First-Annual Rocket Launch," where community members built and decorated Alka Seltzer rockets, and blasted off from a mock launch pad complete with smoke, a countdown sequence, triumphant music, and NASA-approved safety checks.
As part of my educational outreach at Side Street, I held a Pendulum Wave Machine Workshop, where elementary and middle school students built oscillating kinetic sculptures based on physics principles out of wood, metal, and string. I participated in a Repair Cafe, where I repaired blenders, record players, and other electronics for community members. I also led a project on homopolar motors, and helped people make a moving machine out of only a battery, a magnet, and copper wire.