inspiration

Kokopelli /  by kelly heaton

Kokopelli, 2018. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 15" x 11"

Kokopelli, 2018. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 15" x 11"

I have a mysterious relationship with the spirit Kokopelli. Six years ago, I had a series of dreams in which I saw his iconic figure: a hunchbacked spirit playing the flute and tumbling around in somersaults. I also observed that he had rays of energy coming out of his back and head, sort of like a hedgehog or an armadillo reflecting sunlight. I didn't have any waking history with Kokopelli, so it was strange to "meet" him in a dream. From time to time, he pops up when I'm not expecting him -- this time, adopting the form of a circuit in the desert. This painting depicts two astable multivibrators and a 555 timer that are daisy-chained to generate sound through a piezo disk. Initially, I didn't have an overall form in mind for the circuit. I drew it organically, staying faithful to the electrical connections, because I enjoy the nerdy brain-teaser and the process of discovering shapes in artistic circuitry. Anyway, Kokopelli appeared ... and of course he did! Kokopelli is an electrical being who plays music, similar to my other sound-generating circuits. He also heralds the beginning of Spring, so maybe winter in Virginia is nearly over. What a sign of good luck all ways around.

Electricity is life /  by kelly heaton

Kelly Heaton circuit PCB frog

I have spent nearly twenty years exploring the world with the eyes of an artist and the curiosity of an electrical engineer. All living creatures are electronic devices. Are all electronic devices living creatures? The distinction between manmade and natural lifeforms is blurry, and growing blurrier every day, as human-made electricity vibrates the architecture of reality itself.

In this painting, a frog is merged with a printed circuit design for an astable multivibrator. This amazing little circuit has profound implications because it takes a static voltage and converts it into an alternating signal. This circuit is one of the ways that I make electricity vibrate -- and not only me; the astable multivibrator is a common element in circuit design. The reason that I like it is because it is simple, inexpensive to build, and easy to understand. I'll be talking more about multivibrators in the coming weeks.

Flashback 2013 /  by kelly heaton

I'm going through old designs and came across these circuits for Electrolier (Summer Night), 2013. These fictional moths are made from a flexible PCB material (backed with decorative velvet). I built analog electronic circuits to generate the sound of insects at night. One of the photos shows the leaves that I built with blinking fireflies.

Symmetry = anatomy /  by kelly heaton

A few more studies using photographs found on the Internet. I have applied symmetry to the photos, and suddenly the wires appear to have an anatomy.

Gray(ish) Tree Frog, 2018 /  by kelly heaton

Working on a tree frog. I've got my oscilloscope probe connected to its speaker wire so I can "see" the sound that he makes. (The creaking chair is me, not the frog...) The frog's call is entirely generated by the analog electronic circuit that you see on the front of the painting - like an electronic instrument. Below is the finished piece, "Gray(ish) Tree Frog," 2018. Watercolor and analog electronics on paper.

Kelly Heaton artist electronic painting

Above: different views of the frog's call using my oscilloscope. The differences that you see are consequent of the time and/or voltage interval that I used to adjust the display (like focusing in and out of sound). In other words, they're all the same signal, just different ways of looking at it.

The power of symmetry /  by kelly heaton

The power of symmetry as applied to wires in an Internet service provider's warehouse. Digital photo collage, 2018. Looks like a Grotjahn painting

The power of symmetry as applied to wires in an Internet service provider's warehouse. Digital photo collage, 2018. Looks like a Grotjahn painting

Several other games with photo collage symmetry, including intriguing comparisons to Pacific Northwest art and a self-portrait of Leigh Bowery