Fall 2024 was a whirlwind of sawdust and pro bono projects for some exceptional nonprofit partners! We welcomed new and returning students, brought back welding to our construction process, and produced some large-scale work that we’re really proud of. We also welcomed a few new instructors and team members (yay, Miriam and Marjerrie!) and our youngest students went hog wild creating some of the most imaginative dioramas we’ve ever seen! Read on for the details of our fall 2024 after-school projects.
Advanced Design/Build, Mondays
Our advanced design/build crew redesigned and built a prototype of Murphy beds that will eventually be situated at Tiny Spirit Village for unhoused and transitional youth. This incredible team maneuvered through the intricacies of hydraulic arms, collapsible desks, wall-mount connections, and mattress counter-weighting all to build the best Murphy bed they could. This session’s experiments have set us up to build a total of seven (7) beds this coming winter. Bonus: in just a few short hours, this cohort also assembled redwood picnic tables and benches for Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. These structures were then assembled by instructors Augusta and Emily with help from Sam and Windz from Sogorea Te’.
Construction and Community, Tuesdays
Picking up where our Spring Architecture + Activism design studio left off, our awesome group of young people spent the session building wall partitions, where we re-introduced welding back into our process, and mobile altar carts made of white oak for the new Community Works West office in collaboration with our friends at Designing Justice Designing Spaces. While these projects may look straightforward, they demanded a level of precision, attention, and patience that surpassed anything these students had previously accomplished. What an incredible victory!
Protest + Print, Wednesdays
This fall, our students in the Print + Protest class paid homage to the beautiful Bay Area. Guided by the incredible HyeYoon Song and Miriam Klein Stahl (her first time teaching at Girls Garage!), they learned papercut, linoleum block printing, and risograph printing. Each student used these skills to create artful representations of their favorite Bay Area spaces, people, or memories, including Andy Samberg on a giant shrimp, a claw machine at Nomi’s, and a beautiful Victorian home. What resulted is an outstanding 24-page riso-printed zine full of great art, stories, and poems.
Carpentry and Woodworking, Thursdays
Our middle school students wrapped up work on their own diorama rainbow light clocks! These customized timepieces gave students an opportunity to let their imaginations run amok. From miniature pandas to glitter paper, Alice in Wonderland figurines to dollhouse furniture, fireplaces to beach scenes, each clock is unique just like each our students!
In other news:
- We were awarded an unrestricted grant from the Yelp Foundation!
- The Girls Garage team expanded! Marjerrie Masicat is joining us as the Community Storytelling Coordinator where she will play a vital role in connecting with our students, families, donors, and community partners through powerful stories and visual narratives.