circuit boarding
at the intersection of electronics + skateboards
my interest in electronics coincided with my interest in skateboarding, and the two have grown along side each other. When I started skating around my neighborhood, I would often notice that people would place all sorts of e-waste out by the curb. Every now and then my friends and I would pull out an old TV to jump over, or smash some VCRs for b-roll footage. But the more I broke open the electronics the more I was interested in the magic of how they actually worked.
Demo of my circuit board in Minneapolis 2015 - Photo: Hans Bremhorst
I started experimenting with circuits, and was able to develop and understanding of the basic components of a circuit, the flow of electricity, and how it interacts with materials. One of my first projects was actually creating a working circuit on the deck of my skateboard, using a handful of LED’s, some tinfoil, an old drink coozie, and a drill.
Check out the video tutorial below:
My experiments did not end there. The explorations of electronics continued under the influence of artist and mentor Diane Willow, who encouraged me to explore the circuitry of sound. I hacked together a simple audio>video circuit using James Connollys’s RGB.VGA.VOLT schematics along with my skateboarding/guitar playing friend Nate Ritchartz. After learning to solder pretty well and creating a simple contact microphone out of a piezo element, I began developing an amplified skateboard. I experimented with broadcasting the sound both through Radio (RF) and a wired sound system. I used this board to perform with, and continue to use it as a teaching and developing tool to this day. (see old Skatehack.org website)
sound board - created in 2017 photographed in 2020.
Sonic fingerboard, a miniature version of the amplified skateboard. 2018.
At this point in my studies I had developed a solid foundation in circuit design, signal processing, and electronics, and pushed myself into more complex projects using embedded microcontrollers like Arduinos or computers like the raspberry pi, resulting in projects like my handmade camcorder, pictured below!
click the image to learn more
Wanna see more
circuit-boards?
One of my personal favorites the Streettexter is highlighted below:
