On September 27, 2013, visual artist and Arizona native Paul Nosa visited the Global Institute of Sustainability and the ASU Art Museum for a sewing performance with his Solar Sewing Rover. The sewing machine is portable and powered by a solar panel or a bicycle with an electric generator. Nosa is currently on a cross-country tour to promote people’s creativity, providing a tangible sewn patch of their ideas, and to teach how to use alternative energy sources.

Nosa started the performance by asking the audience to give him a scenario, using five-words-or-less. A member from the audience shouted out “sustainable off-roading” another shouted, “cities of the future”. Nosa then began to stich these ideas into a tangible sewn patch. The point was to get a creative and tangible picture of the audience’s ideas and imagination.

The portable Solar Sewing Rover is designed to be powered off of a solar panel or a bicycle electric generator. The solar panel he uses is a 50-watt panel which transmits energy into a charger regulator and into a battery. The energy then travels through the invertor which converts the direct-current (DC) circuit into an alternating current (AC) circuit to power the sewing machine. The bicycle electric generator stores energy from peddling on the bike. The energy generated from peddling travels through the same process of charger regulator-to-battery-to-invertor system. Nosa said that for every ten minutes of peddling he can sew for one hour. Below is a video made by Paul Nosa explaining his method of powering through a bicycle generator.

The combination of art and science is what makes Nosa’s invention truly inspiring. Nosa is encouraging the creativity and imagination of his audience, while also highlighting innovative uses for alternative energy.

Written by Gabrielle Olson, LightWorks

Photos retrieved from Paul Nosa’s website and Gabrielle Olson, ASU LightWorks.