We’re looking forward to introducing you to Joseph O’Connell. Check out our conversation below.
Joseph, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What is a normal day like for you right now?
We always have 6-10 projects going and we have international projects among them. I start my day by corresponding with people overseas, where it may be their afternoon or evening. Then I check in with my project teams. I find myself switching between roles of Artistic Director, CEO, and finally Artist. The first two are easy because I’m reacting to the work that others are doing, offering guidance and generally have a structure to lean on. The challenge (for all of us really) is to stop reacting and start acting. I always make room in the day to be an artist – a bit more free, a bit less tied to what will sell immediately, but still with a set of emotional and aesthetic goals. I’ve developed a growing prototype area within Creative Machines where I experiment with new techniques and artwork that may evolve into projects that we do commercially in the future. I love to spend time there.
Creative Machines is 30 years old so it has achieved some stability, meaning my role as CEO has some history and precedent to fall back upon. But our new non-profit Second Sky is just one year old and the board, staff and I are figuring things out every day. Second Sky takes a lot of my energy right now and a lot of that is figuring out what we do today, what we do next month, and what goals we put off for a few more months.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am the founder and artistic director of Creative Machines, one of the world’s largest and most capable art production studios led by a single artist. We create monumental sculptures, audio kinetic rolling ball sculptures, interactive museum exhibits and special projects for clients around the world. In fact we have projects on all seven continents.
I am also a founder, acting director and board member for Second Sky, a nonprofit adventure playground and community center. Second Sky is “creating a safe space for risky behavior” – and by risk we don’t mean hazardous conditions as much as we mean the risk of trying something new, making a new friend, creating projects in public, pushing your limits, etc.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was a maker and I grew up in a family of makers. My grandfather had been friends with Edison’s youngest son and our house was filled with motors, gadgets, lab notebooks and other things from Edison’s West Caldwell laboratory which was nearby. It was also filled with laughter, books, music, plants, sewing, woodworking, painting, ceramics, cooking and every kind of making imaginable. My parents made little workbenches for my two sisters and I and encouraged us to make our own toys and tell our own stories. From the moment we woke up, our hands were filled with tools, paintbrushes, clay, scissors, dirt and books. We had three encyclopedias so we had an early introduction to different points of view and we read a lot. These twin strands of making and story-telling made me and my sisters who we are today.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There were several times when Creative Machines narrowly escaped financial disaster. In each of those times I reflected on what is important and kept going. I remember telling someone I was working with “I’m a maker and will always be addicted to making and sharing new things, regardless of whether fortune smiles on us or not. I could be in prison, with no hope for parole, completely in debt and I’d be one of those guys who draws on the walls or meticulously carves matchsticks. I will always be a maker and a sharer.” Once you know what you have to do in life, it makes it easy to get through the times when it is tempting to give up. You realize you really don’t have a choice but to go on.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I’m committed to Second Sky, our nonprofit adventure playground and community center. It’s not that creative an idea; it’s simply the idea that mixed ages can enjoy making, experimenting, eating and drinking, playing and learning in the same space. Everyone says “pick your lane and double down on that” but I think that a mix of fairly ordinary activities in a beautiful enriching space is all we really need to develop community resilience, individual creativity and to make friends with each other. When asked “what are you doing for job creation” I answer that risky play in a rich environment with only loose guidelines will lead to resilience and problem solving that in 10 years will create people who are better at their job. When asked “what are you doing to fight homelessness” I answer that it is enormously expensive to lift people from out of the lowest decile (1/10 of the population) where there is homelessness, addiction and other ills. Our target audience is the people in the 10% to 80% of the spectrum in terms of access to resources, who but for one or two hard knocks could find themselves in that bottom decile. I am inspired by the social science research on economic and social mobility pioneered by Raj Chetty and his colleagues at Harvard that argue that social mixing beyond socioeconomic silos is the best driver of permanent upward mobility. That’s what we’re trying to do with Second Sky and it may take awhile.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
Most people go through stages in their life where their awareness is first centered on their immediate caregivers, then they discover their fingers, toes and themselves. Then they make friends, possibly find a life companion, possibly build a circle of friends and their area of concern grows beyond themselves. Later in life, they take pleasure in the advancement of society in general and those around them. I’m no different. I spent my 20’s exploring lots of things, my 30’s discovering what I wanted to do, my 40’s getting good at it, my 50’s building solid institutions, and hope to spend my 60’s and 70’s giving to the world. If people notice this, I hope they’ll say simply that I followed the script, that I knew what each stage of life was for and did it without hesitation. I’m always joking to my 21-year-old son when he has mishaps that “at least you’re having your 20’s in your 20’s. Get it out of your system. There’s nothing worse than a guy in his 40’s or 50’s still having his 20’s.” I hope people say of me “he genuinely cared for other people, for the wider world, and took pleasure in the success of others – and then he was ‘selfish’ meaning he advanced the good of others.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.creativemachines.com. www.secondsky.org. www.josephoconnell.art
- Instagram: @creativemachines. @secondskyorg. @josephoconnellart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/creative-machines https://www.linkedin.com/company/secondskyorg
Image Credits
Creative Machines
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