The Artist Engineer Podcast

Our guest this episode is Maria Hwang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. Maria received her Doctorate of Education from Columbia University in Instructional Technology and Media. Her research focuses on delivering fashion, health, and wellness content through persuasive, personalized, and playful human-centered interfaces.

We discuss how she adapted standard computer science subject matter to better suit the needs of her fashion students, how AI designers and wearable tech can be used in fashion design, and we ponder the future of digital fashion and virtual fashion shows.

Finally, Maria tells us how bringing the fashion and technology fields together can play a part in reducing the barriers for women starting careers in computer science.

You can find out more about Maria and her work below:

Maria Hwang: http://mariahwang.com/

Algorithmic Arts Workshop: https://algoarts.cofc.edu/watch-videos/

Please don't forget to share/rate/review/subscribe

On our latest episode, we are joined by Joby Harris, a Visual Strategist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where he supports scientists and engineers with visuals, strategy and communication. Prior to working at NASA, Joby worked for many years as a designer and artist in the film, television, music, and theme park industries.

Joby tells us how Star Wars and Night of the Living Dead sparked his interest in art, design and space. He shares his career advice for both art and engineering, which include being supported by healthy relationships, being generous with your time and talents, and learning to sketch to better communicate your ideas.

We learn how artists, scientists and engineers at NASA collaborate with each other and get their message out to the public, how travel posters to exoplanets became a thing, and find out whether we'll have light sabers anytime soon. ;)

You can check out Joby's amazing work below!

http://www.jobyharris.com/

Please don't forget to share/rate/review/subscribe

Join us, your hosts Tony and Bill, in this final episode of the year, as we share hot toddies and look forward to 2022! We discuss New Year's resolutions and why they fail, whether it's better to swim towards a goal or float with the current, and how setting an intention can act as a North Star.

We share our model and methods for keeping ourselves on track. We explore the certitude of death and the finite number of weekends left in one's life as great motivators and finally, we set our own personal intentions for next year.

Please listen in and help hold us accountable! :)

You can find a few resources referenced in the show below:

4 Powers of Effort (Bill's Human42 Blog)
http://www.human42.com/blog/2021/7/30/4-powers-of-effort

21 Questions (Bill's Human42 Blog)
http://www.human42.com/blog/2020/12/17/new-years-assessment-and-planning

Most Important Tasks (MIT)
https://personalmba.com/most-important-tasks/

Atomic Habits by James Clear
https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits

The 90 Day Year
https://www.90dayyear.com/

Please don't forget to share/rate/review/subscribe

Our guests on this episode are Delaney Martin and Taylor Lee Shepherd of New Orleans Airlift, an artist-driven non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire wonder, connect communities, and foster opportunities through collaboration, arts education and the creation of experimental public artworks. Delaney Martin is a multi-media installation artist and the Co-Founder/Artistic Director of New Orleans Airlift. Taylor Lee Shepherd is a sound artist and Technical Director of New Orleans Airlift; as well as one of the founders of Airlift’s musical architecture project.

We discuss Music Box Village, a whimsical village of artist-made interactive “musical houses,” which is the flagship project of New Orleans Airlift. We explore the importance of intuitive interfaces and the collaboration that goes on between "wingnuts", tinkerers, and inventors to realize something bigger than the sum of their parts, as well as what artistic expression, technical engineering and social engineering have in common.

To learn more about New Orleans Airlift and Music Box Village check out the links below:

https://www.neworleansairlift.org/

https://www.tixr.com/groups/musicboxvillage

Please don't forget to share/rate/review/subscribe

Our guest this episode is Elliott Lawson (aka @AstroLawson). Elliott is an astrophotographer who captures beautiful images of the night sky with his telescope, a camera and sometimes even an iPhone.

Professionally, Elliott has been an engineer in the defense industry for 20 years
after spending 11 years in the Air Force. He is currently employed as a Field Engineer at Raytheon.

We discuss Elliott's passion for astrophotography, the equipment needed to get started, and why he MUST share what he's seeing with other people.  As well, we explore his experiences with the diverse community of astrophotographers, both online and in-person, and the traits they share with engineers -  such as creativity, attention to detail and having fun.

Finally we hear about the amazing experience of "STAR PARTIES" - and why he recommends it to "every human on the planet"!

Find out more about Elliott and Astro community below:

Astro Lawson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astro_lawson/

Friendly Cosmos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendly.cosmos/?hl=en

Friendly Cosmos Discord: https://discord.com/invite/dTJupMKmaN

Please don't forget to share/rate/review/subscribe.

On this episode we’re joined by guest host Jennifer Palmer, a self-described “techie” and full-time writer. We asked Jennifer on to help us reflect on our past guests' wisdom, find out what Tony and Bill have learned so far, and to explore what the future of the show might hold.

We discuss people’s inherent potential, the power of community and mentors, and whether this show should focus on being “useful” and/or “interesting”.

You can follow Jennifer's current writing here: www.odiousawry.com

And you can check out past episodes mentioned in this show below, which you also might enjoy 😉

Bill Brovold interview: Chainsaws, Harps and Star Wars! (Sep 25, 2021)

Justine Greenland Duke interview: Keep Dancing, Keep Learning! (Aug 26, 2021)

Howard Robot interview: F.I.R.E., Flaming Phalluses and Feelings (Aug 12, 2021)

"Real Artists Ship!" (Tony and Bill) (Jun 30, 2021)

Sabrina Thompson interview: NASA Engineer, Artist, Author and Baller! (Mar 10, 2021)

Sunil Garg talks with us about science, art, law and the cosmos! (Dec 15, 2020)

Caroline Miller interview: Flaming Lotus Girl and Biotechnology Scientist (Dec 01, 2020)

Ron Diorio interview: Imagination + Productivity = Creativity (Nov 17, 2020)

Resources for people management

Manager Tools Podcast - https://www.manager-tools.com/
The Effective Manager - https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Manager-Mark-Horstman/dp/1119244609/
First, Break All the Rules - https://www.amazon.com/First-Break-All-Rules-Differently/dp/1595621113/
Getting Things Done - https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563/

If you enjoyed the show, please remember to share/rate/review!

Our guest this episode is Bill Brovold.

The phrase “Renaissance man” comes to mind when describing Bill. Whether roasting his own coffee, baking his own bread, both of which he gladly shares … or building a 16-foot Aeolian wind harp, or repairing a barn door, Bill tells us how he finds as much joy in the journey as the destination.

Bill is an accomplished musician who was a pioneer of the no-wave movement in NYC, as well as an avant-garde visual artist and educator. He also builds musical instruments for himself and others.

We discuss how his deep-seated desire to “know how things work”, has helped him acquire a wide variety of skills and explore how artists and engineers are most alike due to their problem-solving abilities.

Finally, we learn where the awesome sound of land speeders in Stars Wars comes from.

You can check out Bill's music here:

https://billbrovold.bandcamp.com/

Episode intro "Space to Let" via Bill's "Double Celled Organism" collaboration

And if you enjoyed the show, please remember to share/rate/review!

Justine Greenland Duke joins us on this episode! Justine is Head of Knowledge Management at Mastercard Foundation in Toronto, where she helps people, teams and organizations make sense of apparent complexity through the thoughtful use of technology. 

For over 15 years, Justine has focused her efforts on philanthropic organizations. Previously she pursued careers in dance performance and choreography.

We discuss the value of knowledge management inside philanthropic foundations, how working backwards from a strategy can make knowledge more useful, and how honing both technical skills and creative skills can help you recognize patterns in both your professional and personal life.

Justine tells us how the skills learned in gymnastics and dance, such as discipline, communication and simplifying ideas, have helped her in her professional life. Finally, we explore some tips for managing professional transitions, including taking a break, serendipitous relationships, talking out loud, and journaling.

You can find out more about Justine here:

https://about.me/justinegreenlandduke

Thanks for listening!!  Don't forget to subscribe/share/review

Our guest is Howard Robot! Howard is the creator of My Robot Friend - a musical and performance art project from New York City - known for live performances in which he wears his homemade robot costume complete with flames, lights, shooting ping-pong balls and confetti!

Howard is also a creative software developer designing and implementing web, desktop, and mobile applications.

In this episode, we discuss the origin of My Robot Friend, his philosophy of what it means to be a robot, and learning about basic electrical theory (spoiler alert, it's shocking!) As well, Howard gives us his thoughts on how to fund a creative life while maintaining artistic freedom and the importance of pursuing F.I.R.E (Financial Independence Retire Early) in his life.

Finally, he shares his insights on the ways in which creativity, collaboration and community overlap between software engineering and creating art.

Intro song "By Your Side (feat. Dean Wareham)" by My Robot Friend

To check out more of Howard's music and art go to https://www.myrobotfriend.com/

Thanks for listening!!  Don't forget to subscribe/share/review

In this THEME episode, it's just your co-hosts Tony and Bill! We discuss when is a creation - be it a piece of art, software code or a product - ready to "ship"? We explore where and how does creativity flourish? And we unpack some of the psychology behind procrastination and how that can be a good thing, by giving us the time and space to come up with creative solutions and new ideas. 

Speaking of ideas, where do they come from? Are there any new ideas? ... Really? Let's get philosophical!

Finally, we name drop and quote Pablo Picasso, Jerry Garcia, and several of our guests throughout this episode so ...

If you liked this episode, please don't forget to share/subscribe/review.

And check out a few past episodes whose guest's wisdom we draw upon.

• John Mohr interview: Indie Rock Star to IT Rock Star (October 2020)
• Ron Diorio interview: Imagination + Productivity = Creativity (November 2020)
• Sunil Garg talks with us about Science, Art, Law and the Cosmos! (December 2020)
• Sabrina Thompson interview: NASA Engineer, Artist, Author and Baller! (March 2021)
• Robert J. Lang interview: Origami Master and Physicist (June 2021)

Our guest this episode is Robert J. Lang, one of the world’s leading masters of the art of origami.

Robert's work combines aspects of the Western school of mathematical origami design with the Eastern emphasis upon line and form. It has been shown in exhibitions around the world including in New York's Museum of Modern Art and Paris's Carrousel du Louvre. He has consulted on the application of origami to engineering problems ranging from air-bag design to expandable space telescopes. He is also the author or co-author of twenty-one books on origami art and design.

We discuss Robert's decision to quit his job in laser physics to focus on origami full-time, how he applies families of patterns from origami to industrial problems, and what constitutes "good" origami in both the art and engineering worlds.

Robert describes what elegance in design is and how pursuing elegance can lead to surprising results. And finally, we share resources that will help you to get started learning origami.

You can find out more about Robert and his work below:

https://langorigami.com/

We love hearing your feedback, so feel free to reach out!

If you like the show, please don't forget to subscribe/share/rate/review.

Our guest this episode is Shefik! Shefik is the Executive Producer and Host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Shefik Presents Invocation", which is broadcast on 23 terrestrial radio stations throughout the United States.

Shefik is also a seasoned technologist with a career background as a Lead Architect and Senior Web Developer. He is currently a Technical Lead for NBC Sports at NBC Universal.

We discuss how a CD collection and creating playlists were the inspiration behind his radio show, as well as the circumstances that led to him being knighted, not once, but twice! And what a knighthood means in modern times.

Finally, Shefik describes how balancing creative and analytical thinking can help build technology and entertainment that serves a greater good.

You can find out more about Shefik and his show below:

http://invocation.co/

We love hearing your feedback, so feel free to reach out!

If you like the show, please don't forget to subscribe/share/rate/review.