UC class goes off the grid for “Darktober”

“This experiment is designed for us to share in an altered perspective of the material and its history,” says Lynch, who is introducing the lights-out aspect to this course for the second time. Offered via the DAAP School of Art to undergraduate and graduate students, the class looks at woodworking from a historical point of view, with readings related to the pioneer era of the United States. They even visited a sawmill to see the process of logs becoming lumber.

Lynch also mentions the longtime PBS show “The Woodwright’s Shop,” hosted by craftsman-historian Roy Underhill. “That  guy is really inspiring, the way he talks about metabolic power generated by the human body. It's a way to get closer to the material.”

But the Darktober project is more than an exploration of old-school methods.

“I merged it with the idea of the prepper lifestyle,” Lynch says, referring to the survivalism movement centered on preparing for doomsday, which has recently made a splash in pop culture. “We gave it an apocalyptic spin, which of course students get excited about Halloween, zombies and all that.”

Darktober is truly a combination of old and new: In addition to traditional low-tech hand tools like chisels and mallets, solar power is harvested to charge drill batteries and illuminate the LED lights in the workshop. Perhaps most impressive is a bicycle Lynch rigged to power tools like a bandsaw and lathe.

“I find myself most creative when I'm working with my hands, so I was definitely looking forward to going with no electricity for the month,” she says. She even took the challenge to another level. “I'm also not using the internet to research for my project, so learning how to use unfamiliar tools through books, peers, trial and error has been a new experience.”

Watson is working on a piece created from firewood scrap, hand carving the salvaged wood to accentuate its natural patterns and irregularities.

“Many of the processes without power do take a lot more time, so it forces us to think more thoroughly about why we're doing what we're doing,” she says. “These slower processes also have more of a meditative quality, and I tend to feel more connected to the work when I've spent hours carving it by hand.”

The experiment ends with a Halloween exhibit at the off-site DAAP workshop that the class called home for the month, where students’ works will be displayed with solar energy light. In November, it’s back to traditional electricity and the subject will shift to plywood, a more manufactured material dependent upon machinery and technology. Lynch hopes Darktober gives students a new appreciation for the roots of woodworking.

“I think it’s given students concrete ways to interpret the history of the material. I think they’ll recognize that newer isn’t always better.”

Featured image at the top: Illustration/Margaret Weiner/UC Creative Services