Theo Jansen Creation

Inventions and Presentations

This past week the Nesters watched a short video about artist/engineer Theo Jansen who makes kinetic sculptures of creatures out of lemonade bottles and plastic tubing. Mr. Jansen's work bridges art, science, and engineering. We then spent some time designing inventions of our own. Some kids made functional objects designed to send messages and ease laundry chores while others created beautiful sculptures to please the eye. The Nesters regularly combine areas of study in creating their projects. We have had some presentations this past week that combined sculpting and academics. One student studied the history and architecture of the Tower of Pisa and another Nester presented a full scale model of a person made out of recycled materials. It is always so much fun to see the kids translate their academic studies into a creative product. And the creativity is bubbling over at the moment in the Nest. Zach is writing and performing a song based upon a sports figure he has been studying, another student is choreographing a dance, Laura is making a video highlighting the many talents of the HES student body, and Stephanie is designed and building a model of a house. The Nest is an exciting place to be!