WELCOME
BEACON
The WELCOME BEACON is an interactive installation for Brooklyn based, BEAM center’s art summer camp. Every summer the campers participate in a three week project led by visiting artists around the world and cultivate hands-on skills while exploring innovative thinking, design and the creative process.
The 2023 project, WELCOME BEACON, will be a chance for the youth to explore notions of acceptance and unity by creating an interstellar welcome center for visiting aliens. It is a large “stained glass” structure with individual symbols of welcome created by the campers. Mounted inside the form are LEDs that the campers will program to interact with visitors. The physical side of the project will expose the campers to skills in wood working, welding, and plastic forming. The programming side will expose campers to work in electronics, C++, and lighting design.
OPTICAL POPSICLE
​​Starting in 2009 as a DIY variety show in a co-op run music venue, Optical Popsicle quickly became an anticipated yearly installment in the Indianapolis art scene. Each year was bigger and better than the last featuring shadow puppets, dance, live music, comedy sketches, and an over arching narrative that drew everything together.
The vibe was whimsical, energetic, and inclusive as the materials and themes suggested that anyone, with enough creativity and ingenuity, could create spectacles just as engaging themselves. Props and puppets where made from scrap cardboard, bedsheets hosted overhead projector vignettes, and soundtracks were played live by friends.
Years after, the experience of creating the events have helped me realize the importance and power of creative community and has served as my internal compass for what is possible with good friends and a playful spirit.
OrcHASsTRA
Orch-Ass-Tra was a rapid prototype created during the incubator residency at Zoo Labs, Oakland. In two weeks the project went from ideation to presentation and was revealed during the music open house on the final day of the residency.
Inspired by electronic beat pads, we wanted to create a playful space to engage the audience and fully immerse the visitors in our installation. The room is filled with six brightly colored seats, each a button that play an individual music and video track. One seat played the drums, another a bass, another a melody, and so on. When participants sit, press, or jump on the seats they can arrange their own song.
The night was a wild success and made the insane schedule and late night problem solving sessions worth it. We created the experience but the users truly made it their own through experiment and play.
sTAGE PUPPETS
Creating the illusion of life through found objects has been a an amazing exploration in form and function. Operated by puppeteers of all ages, the greatest challenge was often to make the creatures as easy and pleasant to use as possible.
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Clients included Know No Stranger, The Phoenix theatre, Young Actors Theater, Indianapolis Shakespeare Theatre, and No Exit.
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Finding new and surprising ways to build creatures that had movement was always an exhilarating task.
ALBERS TEXTILES
A “farm to table” textile shop with space to raise livestock, shear, dye, spin, and weave wool located in the mountains of western North Carolina on the historic site of Black Mountain College. Inspired by the work of Anni Albers, an influential figure at Black mountain college, the plan reflects the patterns and weaving techniques of her textiles. Designed to create nature integrated work spaces, the forms take on an agrarian form both in shape and material.
The program consists of three buildings, a welcome center to display textiles and information, a clean studio for spinning and weaving, and a wet studio for shearing, cleaning and dying wool. Surrounding the buildings are interconnected outdoor spaces that offer gathering and circulation options.
The orientation takes advantage of the view of the Black Mountains as the main studio sits on the hillside facing and opening in the canopy. The back of the complex nestles in the thick grove of trees on the side of the mountain and digs into the earth. This offers both protected and projected areas within the same footprint.
EAGLES ISLAND
EDUCATION CENTER
Seeking to bring educational and recreational opportunities to the coastal communities surrounding Wilmington, North Carolina, the Eagles Island Education Center uses areas of the marsh island on the Cape Fear River to connect surrounding communities and exhibit tidal ecology.
A sweeping boardwalk offers recreational activity and connects the program elements throughout the island. The education center is arranged in three segments; water, woods, and sky. The water center, at the end of the long pier, exhibits naval history and tidal change information.
The woods and sky elements are inland among the grove of trees on the island. These areas connect the user to indigenous plant and animal life on the island in an effort of conservation through education.
3d
Visuals
Using digital mediums to create "tangible" experiences has been increasingly important during remote meetings and idea generation. Referencing familiar materials and textures in renders and models has helped clients and coworkers feel a connection to the proposed forms.
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Through programs such as AutoCad, Blender, Revit, Unity and Unreal Engine ideas and spaces can be quickly prototyped, shared, and even interacted with in virtual environments.
