He hasn’t been on vacation in years, but if he did, he’d miss what he does every day too much. There’s still so much to create.
Bruce Gray is a prolific artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide, has appeared in over 45 books and countless times on television, in movies, and in the press. And yes, that was his magnetic sculpture you saw in Doctor Evil’s lair from the movie, Austin Powers (One of my personal favorites). Being in his shop is like a trip down the rabbit hole with giant robots, metal paper planes, alligator tables and giant pieces of cheese. And that’s just the start.
Before he took the plunge and became the artist he is today, Bruce had some fascinating adventures such as a stint in the military serving in the isolated, hauntingly beautiful Aleutian Islands. Each step he took brought him closer to realizing that his true calling was to become that kid in shop class who gets to dream big, take chances and build amazing things with his hands.
Bruce works in a wide range of styles and mediums which include abstract painting, functional art, giant objects, abstract and figurative sculptures, found object assemblages, and various forms of kinetic art including mobiles, rolling ball machines, suspended magnet sculptures, and more. Hear his story and how he’s managed to create a life of play - every day.
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Kids love to play make-believe. When we talk about bringing back play as adults, this one seems like a stretch. Adults don’t play make believe, do we? Grownups don’t get together and announce that today we’re going to play Star Wars and you get to be Luke. Or do they? This week’s guest reminds us that the imaginative play that we engaged in as children gave us access to tools we can use throughout our entire lives. Imaginative play provides us with the opportunity to be agile and creative in our thinking – to see new paths, new scripts to follow when we start to feel stuck.
If you’re tired of carrying around that weight - of trying to meet everyone’s expectations and following the very serious grownup path we’re all supposed to, I invite you to meet Tony Perone, Ph.D., a lecturer at University of Washington, Tacoma. His incredibly lucky students have the opportunity to see what it’s like to peel back that layer of expectation and write new “scripts” for our usual mundane daily interactions. Even our conversation is playful and fun
Here’s an excerpt from Tony's profile on the University of Washington website:
“I examine the self-reported meanings, presence and developmental and educational benefits of life-span imaginative play in the lives of adults. I interview adults about their imaginative play: their meanings of the words “imagination” and “play,” their self-reported engagement in imaginative play in their early childhood, elementary school years, adolescence and adulthood, its relationship with community practices and beliefs and their stance on how their imaginative play has helped them learn and develop. In addition, their experiences with imaginative play in their formal learning environments are discussed as well as their suggestions for the inclusion of imaginative play in formal schooling.
“I am a part of a larger international performance movement that draws upon and creates scholarship in psychology and the arts to support the presence and importance of play and performance across the lifespan. Members of this movement include urban, suburban, and rural youth, academics and practitioners such as teaching artists, therapists and community organizers. We believe in the presence and potential of play and performance, broadly construed and create practical performance opportunities for development across the lifespan to effect more humane, just and inclusive environments.”
So get ready to start thinking in some new ways – throw out your expectations and get ready for some serious fun.
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We know that a playful approach to life can lead to better innovations, cooperation and even transform lives. But what about when disaster strikes? Does play still have a role? Desiree Matel-Anderson has proof that play is vitally important even when facing harrowing situations like floods, tornadoes and other types of crises.
In this interview, she shares how a Robot Petting Zoo helped the unaccompanied minors stranded in Texas border towns during the youth border crisis in 2013 – 2015. She talks about her team’s fascinating uses for drones and how they’re working with a town in Canada to gamify emergency prep – and it really IS a game. It sounds like these people are having an awful lot of fun. (Has anyone seen that mayor?)
Desiree (Desi) Matel-Anderson is the “Chief Wrangler” of the not-for-profit organization Field Innovation Team (FIT) and CEO of the Global Disaster Innovation Group, LLC. Ms. Matel-Anderson is the first and former Chief Innovation Advisor at FEMA and Think Tank Strategic Vision Coordinator. During her tenure at FEMA, she led the first innovation team down to Hurricane Sandy to provide real-time problem solving in disaster response and recovery. She also ran think tanks nation-wide to cultivate innovation in communities, which have historically trended globally on social media during the broadcasts. The Field Innovation Team has deployed to several disasters including, the Boston Marathon Bombings assisting at the scene with social media analysis, Moore, Oklahoma tornadoes for continued mobile registration and coding solutions, Philippines Typhoon Haiyan for cellular connectivity heat maps and the Oso, Washington Mudslides with unmanned aerial system flights and a 3d print of the topography for incident command. During the Nepal earthquakes, she led the team to work with Nepali women leaders in the earthquake relief efforts, which included rebuild, mobilizing survivors to assist in recovery efforts and empowerment trainings. Currently, her efforts are focused on the Syrian Refugee Crisis with team deployed to Beirut, Lebanon and virtual support in Turkey and Syria.
Desi began her emergency management experience by volunteering in Northern Illinois University’s Office of Emergency Planning followed by working with the Southeast Wisconsin Urban Area Security Initiative, and the City of Milwaukee Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office. In addition to her regional emergency management duties, she worked as an assessor of the Emergency Management Accreditation Program Assessor nation-wide, which included assessing the City of Boston’s emergency management services prior to the tragic Boston Marathon bombings. She has also worked on numerous innovative projects with agencies, communities, organizations and companies throughout her career. Desi also lectures on innovation at Harvard and various universities across the country and serves as consultant for agencies and governments, nationally and internationally, on innovative practices and infrastructure.
Desi attended the National Preparedness Leadership Institute at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and School of Public Health in 2011, advised on Harvard’s Executive Education on National Preparedness Leadership Institute Advisory Board in 2013 and obtained a Juris Doctorate from Northern Illinois University in 2009.
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