We were lucky to catch up with Ar Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, AR thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I actually have a good regular job and create as a side-quest; perhaps as a form of therapy? This creates a good balance for me in terms of being able to pay the bills and also having a creative outlet that can be put aside if needed. Respect to those who try to make a living as an artist because it’s very difficult and that tension can push people to the next level of creativity. For me this is a good balance and I can decide for myself how much time, effort, and money to spend pursuing my next idea.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

This year I founded a hobby business to explore my own inventions and art as I continue my 30-year professional career in product development. I’m particularly attracted to the intersection of art and technology which is a result of my two parents having these two areas of talent and raising me with a balance of both worlds. I have degrees in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA. My professional career started in robotics and automation and progressed to consumer products for the past 16 years. I started my first business after being let go from my first job to develop a small wind turbine with colorful flexible blades and was able to sell some products before shelving it in favor of going back to the corporate world.
I’ve been fortunate to have a career that gave me so much experience for my current hobby endeavor. My first product line is a laptop organizer system I invented for myself years ago and finally decided last year to mature it for commercial sales. Attending meetings in an office setting means taking your laptop, computer mouse, mobile phone, and other items from meeting-to-meeting. My mother taught me how to sew so my first prototype was made from elastic and fabric which worked for many years but kept wearing out. Once I decided to mature the design I taught myself how to 3D print high-quality parts and now I’m making the products in my small apartment. I filed for 2 patents on the novel parts of the designs and am looking to let someone else manufacture and sell it as I move onto other things.
My main interest in this side-quest called Gadget Fantastic LLC is to pursue kinetic art ideas I’ve had for many years. I’ve had exposure in my professional life to all the technology I need so now it’s a matter of using all the making skills I taught myself to bring the art to life. Anything that moves in a beautiful way is fair-game. One kinetic art item I’ve developed is trademarked and called ChronoZen. It’s a piece of kinetic art that’s based around a clock and continually rotates once-per-minute to make liquid and mechanisms move in random ways. I have several prototypes of a small version but now I’m working on a larger one to give more space for the moving parts. I really like art that gives a random on-going performance so that’s what I’m pursuing with ChronoZen.
Finally I’ve been experimenting on the side with robot painting. It involves laying a canvas on the floor and letting floor cleaning robots create interesting patterns with paint. This type of art is much easier than my kinetic art but the video of the painting process lets the viewer see the motion of creating the painting and the results can be surprising! Plus the videos help to build a following on social media which has been harder than I expected as an older person just getting started on the platforms.
Working on my art and inventions gives me a mental balance that I need to be happy. I recently learned about my own neurodiversity and how I need these projects as a positive outlet for the way my brain wants to work. At this point in my life I have my share of mistakes and regrets as a result of that neurodiversity which can easily consume my thoughts unless I channel it all toward problem-solving and creativity. So far it’s been pretty fun but I’m just getting started.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

My approach to art tries to strike an equal balance between technology and beauty in the form of motion. And specifically the concept of a perpetual performance with randomness so each viewer gets a unique experience. I don’t think most people will get this concept at first and appreciate the difficulty to design something that’s a true balance between art and technology. My first piece in development is called ChronoZen and is a kinetic art platform based around a clock that’s always rotating, once-per-minute. I have other ideas as well but they all seem to have this common theme. I really appreciate the talent of traditional painters and sculptors to convey motion with static materials (I’m not that talented). Instead I have the technical background to actually show motion and hope those used to traditional art forms can come along for this journey.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

This one is quite clear: Continue my thirst for learning new things with the goal of retiring as an inventor/artist. As an older person with an established professional career I’ve found it’s easy to fall into the trap of being too focused on what pays your bills and to stop learning new things. Especially with all the challenges a modern life brings it’s hard to picture having the time and mental energy to do something “new”. I feel an urgency to make things that show everything I’ve learned in this life using cutting-edge methods and materials. That urgency is driven by the finite nature of our lives and being reminded on a daily basis how our bodies have an expiration date. I love learning new techniques and spend hours on YouTube seeing what everyone else is doing. As I master new methods I have an eye on letting machines do the making for me so I can continue creating long into retirement.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gadgetfantastic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arbrown99/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Gadget-Fantastic/61567664211928/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GadgetFantasticLLC