How I Got an Artist Residency at Rocky Mountain National Park

What I Learned About AIR Applications and Building a Stronger Proposal

Artist in Residence programs can be difficult to understand from the outside. Opportunities vary widely, application requirements can be confusing, and artists often make assumptions about what residency programs are looking for before they ever begin an application. I certainly did.

During this presentation, I share how I approached the Rocky Mountain National Park opportunity, some of the misconceptions I had going into the process, and how that experience changed the way I now look at Artist in Residence applications.

This is not a formula for guaranteeing selection. There isn’t one.

I offer a firsthand look at the process I used and practical information photographers and artists can use when considering residencies and developing stronger applications of their own.

The presentation also looks beyond the acceptance letter. I talk about what it was actually like to complete a two-week residency inside Rocky Mountain National Park, create new work, live in the park, interact with visitors, and prepare and deliver the public programs required of participating artists.

Audiences leave with:

• A clearer understanding of what Artist in Residence opportunities can involve
• A more realistic view of the application and selection process
• Common assumptions about AIR programs that deserve a second look
• Practical ways to approach an AIR application more intentionally

This presentation is particularly well suited for camera clubs, photography organizations, art guilds, arts organizations, universities, and groups of working or emerging artists.

Making Visual Art Accessible: Opening Your Work to a New Audience

Visual art are usually created with one assumption built into them: the audience can see the work.

What happens when they cannot?

As a blind photographer and tactile artist, I have spent years exploring that question through my own work. My Tactile Photos project combines photography, three-dimensional tactile interpretation, audio description, and sound to create another way of experiencing visual art.

This presentation is not about asking photographers and artists to stop making visual work or fundamentally change what they create. It is about expanding the ways people can experience that work.

Using examples from my own photography, tactile artwork, exhibitions, and public programs, I explore ways artists can begin thinking about accessibility as part of the presentation of their work rather than something added as an afterthought.

You do not need a 3D printer, a museum budget, or an entirely new artistic practice to start, the first useful change can happen with something you do every day.

Audiences leave with:

• A better understanding of how blind and low-vision people encounter visual art
• Practical ways photographers and artists can begin making their work more accessible
• A different way of thinking about audience and participation
• Examples of tactile, descriptive, and multisensory approaches to visual art
• Simple accessibility practices that can be used immediately

This presentation can be adapted for camera clubs, art guilds, galleries, museums, universities, cultural organizations, and working artists.

Accessible Travel Is a Service Design Problem

Accessibility problems in travel are often treated as isolated disability issues. In practice, many of them are failures of information, communication, training, and service design.

I have spent more than a decade documenting travel from the perspective of a blind traveler through BlindTravels.com. I travel with a guide dog, work with destinations and travel providers, evaluate accessibility firsthand, and write about what succeeds and what fails once a traveler actually arrives.

This presentation looks at accessibility through the full travel experience, from airports and hotels to attractions, cruise ships, restaurants, transportation, and customer service.

Rather than focusing only on compliance, I look at the small decisions that determine whether someone can confidently use a service.

Often the solution is not expensive technology. It is better information, clearer communication, thoughtful training, and understanding where the experience breaks down.

Audiences leave with:

• A better understanding of travel from the perspective of blind and low-vision guests
• Examples of common accessibility failures that are easy to overlook
• Practical ways staff training and communication can improve the guest experience
• A broader way of thinking about accessibility beyond physical access
• Ideas for building services that work better for everyone

This presentation is suited for tourism organizations, hospitality professionals, destination marketing organizations, travel conferences, accessibility teams, universities, and organizations working in visitor experience and service design.

From Tempest to Kasumi: Real Stories from the Early Game Industry

Real Stories from the Early Game Industry

Before modern engines, massive teams, and off-the-shelf pipelines, game development was smaller, messier, and far more hands-on. I worked in the video game industry during that era, when teams were small enough that you knew exactly who broke what, and fixes often involved equal parts creativity and compromise.

I worked on games for Atari, Accolade, and Mattel, contributing to titles people still talk about today, including Tempest 2000, Test Drive Off-Road, and yes, the perpetually discussed Kasumi Ninja.

This isn’t a nostalgia talk or a victory lap. It’s an honest look at what it was actually like to build games when documentation was thin, tools were limited, and decisions made early could ship forever. Some projects became hits. Some became cult classics. Some became cautionary tales. All of them taught lessons that still apply to creative and technical work today.

Audiences leave with:

• Insight into how technical constraints shaped design decisions
• A better understanding of why failure cases matter as much as success stories
• Lessons from early development that still apply to modern creative work
• A grounded look at production realities rather than mythology

This talk is especially well suited for retro gaming conferences, game development events, university game design programs, and industry discussions focused on production, history, and creative problem-solving.

I’m a member of Retro Game Gurus, you can find more about me and my full credits list there https://retrogamegurus.com/ 

Who I Speak For

I speak for groups ranging from small camera clubs and art guilds to universities, galleries, cultural organizations, accessibility groups, travel professionals, conferences, and retro gaming audiences.

Some groups want an evening centered on photography.

Some want to talk about accessible art.

Others want to understand disability and travel, Artist in Residence programs, or what it was really like to make video games when a handful of people could still create most of what ended up in the box.

The audience changes. My approach does not.

I try to make presentations useful, conversational, visually interesting, and grounded in the experience of actually doing the work.