Amy Mietzel
Six-year-old Henry Patterson’s curiosity with both building things and tearing them apart inspired a new workshop.
By now, many are familiar with the concept of a “maker space,” a collaborative work area where people use industrial machines, 3D printers and other supplies to create. But what about a “breaker space”?
Bare Knuckle Arts, an independent art center at 1949 Winnebago St., has one for kids ages 6 to 12 who want to take things apart. Many curious kids that age love pulling things apart to see how they work, but their parents don’t always appreciate it — especially when it’s (up until that point) been a working appliance in the household.
Amy Mietzel, founder and director of Bare Knuckle, learned how to use tools from her grandpa. But with so much emphasis now on computers, “children don’t always get to use tools much these days,” she says.
Bare Knuckle’s Take Apart Lab teaches children how to use tools while disassembling such discarded appliances and electronic devices as boom boxes, cordless phones, fans and cassette tape players.
“Take Apart Lab is for the maker, inventor, tool-obsessed child in your home,” reads a flier for the class. “We will take apart old technology as a curiosity to see what is inside and discover how it works, and then we might use the parts to create something new, we might repair it, but most likely we take it apart just to take it apart.”
“Learning the trade skills is so important,” Mietzel says. “But it’s also super engaging to use tools. We’re going to take things apart and see where it leads.”
This is the first time Mietzel, a former middle school art teacher, will hold the class. It was inspired by 6-year old Henry Patterson, who participated in one of her inventor camps this past summer. “I noticed that Henry had unbelievable motor skills,” Mietzel says. “A lot better than some of the older kids.”
While Bare Knuckle’s classes, for people of all ages, often focus on the visual arts, this one is both investigative and practical: “I wanted to give children the experience of figuring out tools with a focus on the process, not the final product,” says Mietzel.
Patterson’s mother, Anna Richter, says she and her husband first noticed Henry’s interest in building things when he did a project in 4-year-old kindergarten. “He made a giant fortress out of wood,” Richter says. “So we created a maker space in a corner of our porch and that rapidly grew into a maker space in half of our basement,” Richter says.
With supervision, Henry now uses drills, sanders and saws. He’s even learned how to weld.
When Richter started looking for classes for 6-year-olds, she discovered Mietzel’s art studio. “The really great thing about Bare Knuckle is that it combines the use of hand tools with the arts,” Richter says. “It’s a good mix of old-school foundry, plus art.”
During a recent test run for the class, Henry works tirelessly to take apart a keyboard using a screwdriver. He’s excited about getting “closer to the inside of the keyboard. I get to find treasures,” he says.
Take Apart Lab will meet Thursdays at 4 p.m., Jan. 9 through Feb. 13. For more information contact Bare Knuckle Arts, 608-852-1394.
