My name is Jenny Albores and I’m a senior Mechanical Engineering student originally from Los Angeles, California. I’ve never considered myself to be an artistic person, but somehow art finds a way into my life. Maybe that’s a sign to stop resisting and start accepting that I am artistic!
As I’ve mentioned before, I spent some years away from WPI and during that time I got the opportunity to design and build escape rooms. I was able to apply the skills I had learned as a Robotics student in a low stakes and fun environment. Some of the more tech intensive things I did involved programming microcontrollers for electronic puzzles, wiring sensors and actuators, and drafting room layouts. The intent was to create an interactive and immersive room that engaged all the senses. Except for taste, although I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did create that. The use of lights were especially important in creating a spooky atmosphere and aiding to progress the game. We often used blacklights to reveal codes that were previously unseen, floodlights and lighting filters to create certain vibes, and EL wire and LEDs for a variety of purposes. It was great to see people’s excitement as they activated the puzzles and solved their way through the rooms.
Outside of light tech, one of my biggest hobby is pole dancing. I have been doing it for about 4 years now and have become decent at it. I went from couch potato, to being able to do multiple pull-ups! That still blows my mind, knowing how weak I used to be. I may want to perform a routine, so I am considering implementing an EL wearable like the one below. It’s a possibility.
Dark – I find it very interesting how you use darkness as a tool in your art
Detailed – All of the little pieces that go into these works are great! From the exposed electronics/wiring to the discoloration and lighting, it feels like they all belong in some kind of grim steampunk setting.
Inventive- You created some very cool designs that definitely transform the environment. Feels like I’m instantly transported into a creepy cyberpunk world. Side note: I always wanted to try pole dancing, but felt like I wouldn’t be strong enough to hold myself up.
Detailed – I liked how detailed everything is for the escape rooms, especially Reed Switch, Bomb Face, and Bomb Skeleton. Pole dancing is a pretty unique hobby, it looks like you need quite a bit of core/upper body strength.
Impressive – The amount of detail and work that either is apparent or must have gone into those escape rooms you worked on really shows. I’ve always found working with technology to make physical props like that to be really cool! Not to mention escape rooms can be quite a blast too!
Colorful – I like how you utilize colors in your artwork to create a dark theme. The colors that you choose are very purposeful and your pieces are very impressive.
thought-provoking – The fact that you got to work on designing escape rooms is super cool! Seeing and reading about the work has me thinking about the craftsmanship that building one of these rooms requires. I can only imagine how much fun that job was!