FreekiTiki Keepin' it Freeki

Keepin’ it Freeki

Interview by ChrisRWK (Robots Will Kill) Photos by FreekiTiki

When you speak to someone about their day job you sometimes don’t understand what they do. When you talk to them about their side gig you usually understand what they do. Is this because they have more passion for it? With Bobby I think it was that

but it was also that he has a crazy daytime job. Sit back and read a little bit about both.

Can you tell me a little about what your day job is? I am a Roboticist and Computer Engineer for the Navy. I work with unmanned vehicles aka Robots! I know those are dear to your heart,

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as they are mine. I do a lot of different things from managing teams of software developers to the technical design of computing systems which are used to run the robots. An area of interest for me is in the development of autonomy of robots, meaning helping to design the “brains” or “artificial intelligence” which helps the robot to make decisions when it can’t get instructions from a human operator.

I guess it’s funny that I’m the one interviewing you since we have a robot kinship. So these robotics are meant to help? The robots I generally work with are largely used on the surface or under the water, it is the Navy after all. Much of what we do is to use them for surveying the bottom of the sea, or to look for things. So yes, these robots are meant to help, recently large Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV’s for short) have been used to look for lost airplanes in very deep water. UUV’s are used to survey pipelines and other things where it is tedious or dangerous for people to perform the work for

themselves. We generally say Robots are best used for things that are one of the three “D’s”, Dirty, Dangerous, or Dull.

What’s your side project? I have been doing art using my Instagram handle “FreekiTiki” for several years now. I was inspired to start being creative again, as I was going through the process of getting divorced, and I looked back upon who I had become, and frankly I was saddened. I had given up much of the creative endeavors which I had enjoyed when I was much younger. While on a work trip to Austin, TX, I happened upon Hope Outdoor Gallery. It was here that my desire to become an artist again was fully awakened. Inspired by the incredible work of Austin artists like @DaddyOtis, @400mlbakery, and @HappyRobots, I decided that I was going to start practicing painting and start to create for myself. I setup a backyard “practice” area to paint with spray cans. This was a lot of fun for me, and spray paint is one of my favorite mediums to work

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with. I have a condition called Benign Essential Tremor, which causes my hands to shake, sometimes quite uncontrollably, and it always seems to get worse when I am trying to paint fine details, and having a clean handstyle like yours is just never going to happen for me. Due to the tremor, I started making stickers using Adobe Illustrator on the computer. I have always loved stickers and once I realized I could easily get stickers printed my whole world expanded with possibilities. My first sticker was the “Beware of Fluffy” and since then I have had many different designs of stickers. I absolutely love giving away my stickers, it’s so funny almost everyone loves stickers, and when they find out the designs are your own, they are even more grateful to receive them.

Where’d the name come from? Both the Beware of Fluffy and FreekiTiki? The FreekiTiki handle, came out of my youth. As a kid I always loved the Tiki mugs and exotic drinks that would be on the backs of menus at Chinese restaurants, and I always wanted my parents to order them so I could see the cool mugs. Tiki was then solidified into my DNA when I was living in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and my parents would take us to a restaurant called the Mai Kai. They had a floor show with Hula dancers, Fire jugglers and all kinds of cool stuff, the restaurant had these amazing tiki drinks, some of which were on fire, and they had an outdoor garden with Huge Tiki statues. I loved going there, and I think my parents liked taking my sister

and I, as we could run around the garden, and leave them in peace to eat and drink, and then we would come back to watch the floor show. I have a modest tiki mug collection, and I really do enjoy making Tiki cocktails, so FreekiTiki seemed like as good a name as any. Since then it has stuck, and I am proud when people recognize my work or call me “FreekiTiki” it makes me feel like I have accomplished something, however small. Beware of Fluffy was my first sticker. As a Floridian, and surfer, I have spent a lot of my time in the water. The sticker is really a reference to the practice some surfers have of minimizing the fear that sharks often inspire, by giving them a different name. Sharks are sometimes referred to as “Fluffy” or “the man in the grey suit” in an attempt to diffuse the fear, and allow the surfer to keep doing the

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I think we as a society need to be more about giving and less about receiving, I think learning to find joy, in other peoples joy, would go a long way to improving everyones lives.

activity that they love. I have been in the water, all alone on a foggy morning, paddled out waiting to catch a wave and had a very uneasy feeling before, this “sharky feeling” leads to one of two reactions typically, you can call it a day and head into the beach, or you can push that fear to the back of your mind and keep going. My Psychology professor friend, Emily, would call this Cognitive flexibility. I find that sometimes a person, just needs to put their fears aside and get on with life, and this sticker represents that, to me.

What’s your main driving force for doing your side project? Really my main purposes in doing art are twofold. First I really like to spread a positive message and bring people joy. The second is that I am always wanting to try new things, try new techniques, learn new skills. Recently I have taught myself how to sew with a machine. The original goal is that I wanted to make myself a messenger bag, one that can hold a dozen paint cans, and use it when I am painting. That has expanded into the desire to create clothing with my artwork incorporated into the fabric. Using a website called Spoonflower, I have had several different fabrics printed up, using my artwork as the main theme. Right now I am working on making a bikini featuring a red polka dot lycra fabric which has my original “Beware of Fluffy” design in it. I have done a lot of work with Copper, making sculptures and jewelry. I also like to make things out of Cork fabric. Cork is just an amazing material, and has a great feel, and the pieces I have created with it often get a lot of compliments. I am inspired by the Free Art Movements of Atlanta and Austin, and as such, I give away almost all of the things I create. I really love to see how peoples eyes light up when they are given something unique and handmade. I think we as a society need to be more about giving and less about receiving, I think learning to find joy, in other peoples joy, would go a long way

to improving everyones lives.

How much of your day job crossed over into your side project? Unfortunately, they do not cross at all. While I would absolutely love to give one of the systems I work with a spray paint makeover, the reality is that I would get arrested for doing that. The military isn’t known for having a sense of humor about things like that. I guess I should mention all my art is my own, and doesn’t represent the attitudes of the US Government, no big surprise there!

Would you quit your day job to do your side project full time? Is so why or why not? In a heartbeat, if it could pay the bills, but there is that whole giving it all away thing that would make that difficult. So for right now I am content to let my day job, pay the sticker printing bills, art supplies bills, and send me to cool places where I can meet other artists and appreciate the local art scenes.

How can people contact you? I am always open to collaboration or just talking about the creative process. It is probably best to just reach out to me via Instagram or Twitter using @FreekiTiki.

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