Everyday Invention Lab
For 25 years I’ve filled sketchbooks with stick figures and hundreds of cut-out characters, metaphors for problems that never seem to get fixed: making friends, finding love, understanding death, breaking bad habits.
I imagined it as Sesame Street for grown-ups. Drawing became a crockpot: advice from experts, family and friends, failed dreams, new questions. Art is what made it all come together.
Some sketches became real objects, like a needle-felted lion worn inside a business sweater for courage, and a kitten-paw hat for the third eye. Others became films, 2D animations, installations, and methods for other people to test. The journal is still where every project starts.
Kitten Paw Meditation Cap. Places a kitten paw over the third eye and turns the heart into a kitten.
Rodrigo, owner of ADAS Auto Repair, tests the cap. Rome, GA
Snuggle Sweater. Hides a favorite stuffed animal beneath business attire, bringing comfort and courage into adult life.
Elena at A-1 Alterations fits a bear for the sweater. Rome, GA
Drool Pen. Softens the pain of bureaucracy, from tax returns to insurance forms, by letting adults eat candy as they write.
Tobi tests the Drool Pen in the lab. Atlanta, GA