Occupying a large room filled with completed and in-progress projects as well as the equipment needed to do them, the Makerspace is a part of Seven Generations Education Institute (SGEI) that provides a wide variety of modern tools and machines to be used in creative practices.
The area is open for anyone to use, regardless of age or background. People utilizing the space are also not required to be an enrolled student or faculty member, said Makerspace assistant Maggie LeMesurier, making it a great asset to everyone in the community.
“You don’t have to be a staff or student,” LeMesurier said.
“We accept everybody here. So if you’re wanting to come in and learn how to do this, whether it be for class or for individual reasons, you can come in and learn.”
Another aspect of the Makerspace that keeps it convenient and accessible for everyone is the price to use the area, free.
“Everything is supplied,” LeMesurier said, “Training is free, materials are free, everything is free to use. The only thing it costs is your time. If you’re wanting to get training on these machines, for example, it would be about an hour and a half to two hours to get the full rundown. But once you get that training, you can come in and use it whenever you’d like.”
With its abundance of machines and tools to use and learn with, the Makerspace can build a huge scope of creative talents that many people wouldn’t have the means to practice anywhere else.
Some popular features that get regular use from the public and students alike are the digital section, a crafting section and a line of production machines.
The digital section of the space features computers with all kinds of editing software, whether it be photos, audio or video, programming tools for people interested in coding and software for 3D deisgns, which can then be #D printed in house at the Makerspace. Another key piece that makes the digital section unique is the conversion lab, which LeMesurier said allows users to convert outdated media files to modern formats.
“VHS will eventually go bad so if you’re wanting to convert them, we actually have a conversion lab here that will turn them into a disk which you can then transfer onto a digital file,” she said. “We also have cassettes and records to digital files, so it just plugs right into the computer and then you can play it and you’re good to go. A lot of people have old media like videos that they took when they were younger, and that can all be converted here.”
The crafting section provides visitors to the Makerspace with tools for handmade art, beading materials sewing materials and unique Cricut machines. The Cricut machines allow for the making of custom designs that can be placed on shirts, mugs and countless other surfaces.
“Tons of options with the Cricut,” LeMesurier said. “We’ve even done Christmas cards in the past, we’ve done Every Child Matters shirts, just recently we had Pink Shirt Day, so people came in and design them here. Lots of options with the Cricut.”
The production machines held in room give people utilizing the Makerspace means to make and laminate posters, print and bind books and engrave materials with a CNC laser cutter, which LeMesurier says is her personal favourite.
“If you’re looking at doing anything on wood, whether it be plaques, or you can even do glass, coated metal, rocks, I’ve had people do leather, stained glass and even antlers. A lot of it can be put in this machine, and then it can be engraved,” she said.
The Makerspace has locations at both Rainy Lake and Kenora campuses of Seven Generations, However Rainy Lake was home to the original idea. Christine Woolsey, the school’s director of IT and media relations, as well as Makerspace supervisor said was originally designed with the intent to give a place for people to explore their creative talents with tools they wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
“Initially, we had wanted a Makerspace here to start providing technology opportunities for those that don’t have the new technology in their areas and provide an opportunity to do cultural teachings,” Woolsey said. “A lot of Indigenous people are very talented in the art areas. We wanted to provide that opportunity so that they had a space to make regalia, tobacco pouches, dream catchers or art in general, and provide an opportunity that they could share their knowledge and teach it with others.”
“We also recognize that there’s a lot of groups of drummers around the area, and we knew a lot of people were trying to record their drum songs. So, we created an audio lab so that they could come into the space and record their songs and be able to promote their music.”
“We also noticed that statistically, a lot of the communities in the north didn’t have the opportunity to use the latest technology,” she said. “We wanted to provide a space so that people could come and learn those resources and gain skills and knowledge in technology, which led us to starting to use more technology in our entire organization and all of our programming.”
The Makerspace can be visited by anyone during regular operating hours of Seven Generations. Large groups of people wanting to use the space together can book private events at either locations for any occasion, whether it be a birthday party or professional skills development for businesses.
