FACE 1: "3Dvarius" Believe it or not, 3-D printing has created an electric, digitally 3-D printed acrylic violin, based loosely on a real Stradivarius --the world's most prized violins! The "3Dvarius" is the first of what can come to be 3-D musical instruments. The 3Dvarius looks more like a skeleton than a stringed instrument.
The 3Dvarius doesn’t actually duplicate a Stradivarius, but it is the first. As 3D printing continues to evolve, who knows what might be possible in the future?
CREATIVE THINKING SKILL: SKETCH Creative people are "sketchers!" Their constant "doodles" expose new ideas!
Face 2: Anaya Ellick Seven-year-old Anaya Ellick, who was born with no hands and does not use prostheses, recently won a national penmanship contest. Holding the pencil between her wrists, the first-grader at Greenbrier Christian Academy in Chesapeake, Va., formed neat, careful letters, earning her the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellence in Manuscript Penmanship.
"Anaya is a remarkable young lady. She does not let anything get in the way of doing what she has set out to do," said GCA Principal Tracy Cox in a statement from the school.
Though Anaya's arms end in tapered wrists instead of hands, she is developmentally normal in every other respect. Except, perhaps, for the unwavering sense of determination that she's had since birth. The newspaper wrote that when Anaya was an infant, "she couldn't hold a pacifier, but she was keeping it in her mouth by cupping it there with one arm. While still a baby she figured out how to hold a fork to eat and how to build with blocks." Those who know her say she never complains...
So...how's your penmanship? "Born With No Hands, This 7-Year-Old 'Stunned' Judges To Win Penmanship Contest".NPR.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 May 2016.
CREATIVE THINKING SKILL: MAXIMIZE Everyone has things they aren't so good at, but creativity always finds a way to maximize the ability you do have to make it work!
DAY 3 - ASH DOME
In 1977, sculptor DAVID NASH cleared an area of land near his home in Wales where he trained a circle of 22 ash trees to grow in a vortex-like shape for an artwork titled Ash Dome. Almost 40 years later, the trees still grow today. The artist has long worked with wood and natural elements in his art practice, often incorporating live trees or even animals into pieces. The exact site of Ash Dome in the Snowdonia region of northwest Wales is a closely guarded secret, and film crews or photographers who are permitted to see it are reportedly taken on a circuitous route to guard its location.
To make a gesture by planting something in 1977 for the 21st century, which was what Ash Dome was about, was a long-term commitment, an act of faith. I did not know what I was letting myself in for. Not only did Ash Dome change over the years, so did Mr. Nash. It has been almost 40 years since he planted his first tree.
