Art… I grew up scribbling, coloring with crayons, copying characters from free Disney ™ magazines, drawing my cats with graphite pencils, and admiring an artist friend (Stephanie Stout) of one of my sisters' friends. I always had an affinity for art and…
History… I acknowledge the creative influences my parents have had on me, although they may not think of themselves as creative. Glen and Emily are both very creative!
Music... has been a great influence in my life. I enjoy a wide variety of music including world, folk, urban folk, traditional, polka, celtic (traditional, rock, folk…), alternative, blues… I grew up listening to what my parents listened to: polka, waltz, country. I never really learned to play an instrument until around 1992/3 when I took a few group lessons for guitar. My repertoire was/is folk and children's folk songs. I like to keep this simple and try to learn more and more songs. In 1996 I picked up a bellowed instrument called a concertina. I haven't taken any lessons but instead learned to play by ear; my first song was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I've since picked up many more and have really come to enjoy the diversity in music from bellowed instruments. During my time in graduate school I found a weekly music/dance club (Celtic Music Association of Madison, WI) and was later recruited to join an amateur dance troupe doing Ceili dancing. I did a few public performances in Madison, Wisconsin - one in the State Capital Rotunda… What a blast!
I believe… that my creative passions in drawing, painting, music, dance (listening, playing, singing and dancing) stem from my parents' love for music and dancing, from my own curiosities and life experience, and believe it or not, from my desire and knack for solving problems with my noodle, visuals (light, color, texture, contrast, images, etc.), my hands and with various types of technology! Web and interactive design are my current, key creative technological interests, and means of generating income.
We have all heard of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid, //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA) as a term from Biochemistry (science) that describes a type of genetic material, a chain of chemical "building blocks", inherited from both parents (in humans). Back in 1996 I became quite interested in some fascinating images that I saw in a science poster on apoptosis (programmed cell death); the master-mind of the poster was one of my housemates at the time, who is now my wife! Also, I have parents and they have provided me with some crucial creative juices…
I'm a curious character, enjoy tinkering and getting into some: code, gadgets, and stuff more than others. Can't say exactly how my fascination with tech started, maybe playing with Legos, but I doubt I'll ever stop being curious. My interests in art, music, dance, etc. all play into this I'm sure.