Have you ever wondered how I make my printed circuit boards? This video is for you. I design all of my own circuits, artwork, and production files, but I rely on a factory to produce my boards to a high-level of precision. (Soon, I will post video about etching my own boards, and you will see the difference! Mine are poetic and beautiful as works of art, but they are not “perfect” like a professionally manufactured PCB). For the past four years, I have been working with Spring at King Credie Technology Ltd in Shenzhen, China. They have been incredibly patient with my experimental art practice. I am grateful for their support and expert technical ability. Just because they are a factory, doesn’t take away from the incredible skill and knowledge required to produce a circuit to this level of quality. Truly, this is electronic printmaking at a high level. The video shows you how it’s done from start to finish. Enjoy!
electronic
Mind is analog electronic (so says Crow) /
Prototype for an analog electronic crow product coming soon! Stay tuned for launch announcement.
Analog Electronic Crow /
The universe is made of energy, frequency, and vibration. Electricity is the Qi of life flowing through humans, birds, and circuits alike. My new "Analog Electronic Crow" (2022) is an evolution of Deep Fake Birdsong from 2020 in which I explore the power of electrically oscillating circuits to manifest intelligent behaviors. This circuit has only six oscillators: five astable multivibrators and one modified Hartley. It's battery operated so you can carry it around. Stay tuned for a product launch this Fall!
Moth Electrolier /
New footage of my Moth Electrolier from 2019
In this sculpture, analog electronic circuits generate patterns of animated light that mimic the flight trails of moths around a bulb. The circuits are made with a series of oscillators connected together to form pseudorandom patterns, and these patterns are used to clock shift registers. This is why the animation occasionally "flutters" before continuing along the sequential trail. The wings of the moths are dyed velvet that were embroidered with an old industrial machine according custom CAD files. The translucent plastic sphere is laser cut acrylic that was heated and shaped into spiral patterns. The sculpture attempts to depict living nature in all of its magical, electrical movement as well as its delicate fragility. As electronic technology increasingly shapes our built environment, it is harder to distinguish between biological and machine intelligence. The construction of circuits that mimic life-like behaviors is part of my "electronic naturalism" practice to demonstrate just how similar circuits and living organisms can be -- without any code or recording to inform the behavior, just the physical assembly of electronic devices that vibrate when exposed to voltage. This and several other sculptures from the same time period (Birds at My Feeder and Electrolier (Summer Night)) were created during the same time as I published my Hackaday project, "Hacking Nature's Musicians." A diary with process images and associated schematics can be found on the following pages:
hackaday.io/project/161443-hacking-natures-musicians
hackaday.io/project/163201-electronic-sculpture
Moth Electrolier and Birds at My Feeder are a celebration (and demonstration) of the open source hardware and Makerspace movements that were happening around this time in history. I used various unusual techniques to create these works, including an old embroidery machine, laser cutter, thermoformer, Blender (open source 3D modeling software), and a bricolage of electronic hardware techniques from my earliest foray into printed circuit board design. I would like to thank NovaLabs Makerspace (formerly in Reston, VA) for the various equipment and education that I used to make sculptures during this time.
circuit garden /
Printed Circuit Bird (Bluejay), 2022 /
Know your parts /
For those of you who don’t recognize electronic components, this guide is for you ⚡️ My installation, “Circuit Garden,” is planted with oversized sculptures of common electronic parts used in nearly every circuit ever made. Hardware components are the media fundamentals of electrical engineering and electronic art — without which we would not have computers or software. They comprise the physical anatomy of machine intelligence. These are: capacitors (electrolytic and ceramic types), transistors, resistors, LEDs, wires, and ICs (integrated circuits, aka chips). Yes, there are other important types of hardware not included in Circuit Garden (or mentioned here), but I’ll sculpt those another time 😉
Circuit Garden /
I am pleased to announce the premiere of “Circuit Garden.” This electronic and sculptural work will be on view February 28 through April 8, 2022 in the lobby of 5 Manhattan West (450 West 33rd Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan) NYC. I am deeply grateful for Brookfield Arts (Brookfield Properties) and Kendra Roberts (Common Ground Arts) for her curatorial vision. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity! Thank you also to King Credie, PCBWay, and Advanced Circuits for your outstanding manufacturing of my artistic circuit boards.
https://www.manhattanwestnyc.com/events/circuit-garden-art-installation-by-kelly-heaton/