We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Larry Akers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Larry below.

Larry, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Since long before I became a working artist, I have been active in civic affairs. In the 1980’s I was a core member of a group that fought City Hall and the business community to have Austin’s waterfront land dedicated as parkland. With this background, in 1998 I was chosen to represent parks interests in redeveloping the current sites of the Long Center, Palmer Events Center, Butler Park, and Auditorium Shores. It was a difficult, contentious process of balancing various interests that were often at odds with each other. With great support from the community, I helped secure the replacement of a sea of asphalt by Butler Park with its fountain, pond, observation hill, and meadow. The idea of creating a children’s exploratory garden languished for fifteen years until I teamed with longtime colleague Jeff Jack to lobby for and finally secure the funding for the popular new Alliance Children’s Garden. Participating in its design and following the project to completion has been incredibly gratifying, partly out of a sense of accomplishment against resistance, but mainly because providing a great recreational opportunity for our community is what all this work has always been about.

The same spirit motivated my Moire Corridor project at The Thinkery. I saw a group of children captivated by the internally lit moire panels at my 2019 exhibition at the Dougherty Arts Center. Their spontaneous engagement told me that children were a natural audience for that work. When I approached The Thinkery about donating a permanent, large scale installation of those pieces, they enthusiastically accepted, and together we created the second floor feature that delights their many young visitors.

Doing the right thing involves sensing what people want and need, even if they do not necessarily know how to visualize or achieve it, recognizing opportunity, and then bearing down to turn ideas to reality. Doing this in the public sphere requires ridiculous patience, persistence, and a confidence in being on the right path, but it is wonderfully rewarding both personally and to the community.

Larry, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a senior citizen, recently retired from a lifelong career in computer science and software engineering. The beauty of the patterns of logic and algorithm was what attracted me to this career. Over a lifetime of visits to museums and galleries, I was likewise attracted to pattern-based artworks. So twelve years ago, with an eye to eventual retirement, I started delving into creating this kind of artwork myself. The interest turned into a second career, into which I segued from computer science. Fluid geometric pattern is the common thread in almost all my work. Using layered patterned, reflective, or refractive materials, I create highly kinetic sculptures whose only moving part is the viewer. I hope that by physically engaging with my work in a dance, viewers can not only delight their senses, but also examine these geometric puzzles and, in doing so, come to better understand the nature of visual perception itself.

Having almost no formal background in art, I require no background from my audience, either. I think I bring a fresh approach to materials and purpose that many people find refreshing and appealing. There is plenty of emotionally and culturally expressive art out there. For me, this stuff should be fun. I give people a chance to relish the wonderland of visual perception.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve mentioned the patience and persistence it took to foster the development of Austin’s waterfront parks. There have been defeats along the way. In 1990 I led an effort to install lighting along the central portion of the Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail for both aesthetics and security. The project started well but eventually rankled a portion of the community wary of over-development of green spaces. Though there was substantial support for the project in some parts of the community and within the City, the opposition turned mob-like, and public meetings were overwrought and full of insults, misrepresentations and hyperbole. I had seen this kind of thing before. I knew that despite the merits of the project and support from City Council, we would never be able to raise the required funding in such a toxic environment. It was time to back away and let time be the judge. Years later, the project went forward, only slightly changed. It did so without my involvement, which I thought might not only awaken old resentments but also cast a shadow on the other park work I was doing at the time. The lesson was knowing when to cut my losses while continuing to work toward the broader goal. No big achievements come without some setbacks. Accept those gracefully and keep working where progress can be made. I maintain enough optimism to think that good ideas will win out eventually.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Make supportive personal decisions. See live performances. Cultivate your taste for and buy hand-made works of art. There are certainly more economical ways to absorb art. The Internet offers unlimited channels of virtually free consumption. Mass produced decoration is readily and cheaply available. But remember that very few visual artists, even excellent ones, can make a living from artworks they produce. Doing so is like making it into the NFL. Most strive just to recover costs. If prices for handmade works seem high, consider that for most artists, much of their work is never sold. There are no economics of scale. The very act of marketing and selling is expensive. So give a bit of a lift. Pay more for a piece that you like than you would for a print at a store. Consider redirecting that budget from leather car seats and expensive drink to hand-made artworks and seeing live performances. And engage with the artists. Do the studio tours. Go to museums and attend openings. Take the time to look at original artwork displayed in businesses. Express your appreciation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eyeplaystudio.net
• Instagram: @LarryAkersArt
• Linkedin: Larry Akers
• Other: https://vimeo.com/501321575 https://www.geometricmadimuseum.org/event/larry-akers-solo-show/

Image Credits
Will Van Overbeek (Blue Green Lightbox)