While the majority of my professional work involves computers and electronics,
my creative interests extend to arts and the community as well. In college I had
the pleasure of living in a unique residence hall that combined both arts and community
(Hashinger Hall, at the University of Kansas). Ever since that experience, I have looked for
ways to help community and the arts to foster each other in a more permanent setting.
I have also worked continue my own artistic growth, something easy to forget to do
if we aren't employed in the arts. Doing all this poses a continual struggle for
balance in life, but makes life more worthwhile. Here are details of some of
my interests and efforts:
Hashies Come Home. I created this website for a Spring 2004 event that brought together current residents of Hashinger at the time and a reunion of former Hashinger residents from the years since the beginning of its creative arts status. The event took place during the annual Spring Arts Week at Hashinger, and included a present-past art show along with other arts activities. Hashinger was closed for renovation in Fall 2004, with the community transplanted to some floors of another dorm, and returned to the renovated building the following year. I still try to stop by Hashinger from time to time to document ongoing activities and provide a connection to the past for current residents.
KansasFolk.org: The kansasfolk.org web site
is an effort to foster music, dance, and heritage community connections statewide
in my home state of Kansas. An outgrowth of a Library Science school project by my friend
Susan Sanders, this work in progress attempts to both provide resources for people looking
for information on past and present folk activities in Kansas, and to help connect and
record a history of the people living and evolving those traditions today.
Lawrence Creates 2012-2013 saw some
earlier arts and community morph into Lawrence Creates, a makerspace with an arts twist. A makerspace
is a community workspace offering classes, facilities, equipment allowing creation, exploration,
and collaboration with a range of old and new technologies. While some makerspaces focus more on
technology, Lawrence Creates includes a monthly art gallery, classes on sculpting and fiber work,
efforts in video and photography, and other arts as well. I am finding it, like Hashinger, to be
wonderful combination of art and community. I treasure some of the friendships and collaborative
atmosphere I have found at Lawrence Creates.
I also enjoy singing in the Lawrence Civic Choir,
celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2015 with a performance at the Lied Center in Lawrence and a June performance (with other choirs) at Carnegie Hall. If you sing, and live near Lawrence, join us!
If you don't sing, come listen at our concerts!
I enjoy capturing or expressing images. Sometimes I do this with a camera,
sometimes with pencil or charcoal, sometimes with graphics tablet and computer
software. I have exhibited my artwork in a number of juried shows, in addition to Art in the Park, Lawrence Art Walk, and Final Fridays in Lawrence.
Sometimes I capture images through words. Content varies. Sometimes it
is reflections on life's struggles, or a reach for balance (a primary theme
and challenge in my life). Sometimes? Just whimsy.
Sample some of Brad's Poems...
Most of my “hardware” work involves computers and electronics.
But I've enjoyed working with my father on a very different
sort “hardware” projects - like building a deck at my sister's.Here are some photos of it in almost-complete state.
I still miss and think of Lucy, the wonderdog, who kept me company for nearly fifteen years. I still carry puppy treats when out walking, to share with her canine friends.
See her typical look,
as a pup,
in the wind,
in the snow,
looking fierce!
I take after my dad's interest in engineering and desire to craft solutions,
whether they be electronic, mathematical, software, or wood. See the deck we
built here. We still enjoy figuring
out how to solve problems together.
I attribute my artistic talents to my mom, who was an artist in a variety of media. You can view one of her drawings here.
Links to goings-on in Lawrence, Kansas (where I live)
I co-founded and still do occasional consulting for Weather Metrics.
Over the years my dad and I developed several generations of electronic controls for his
San Juan and Tellurton On3 guage model railroad layout. We refined the turnout controls and introduced them as a commercial product in September 2014 at the National Narrow Guage Convention, marketed as the IntuiSwitch™ product.
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