(mellow music) (metal clattering) - My interests are vast and I like to figure out how things work.

(grinder whirring) (mellow music continues) I like meeting different people and solving their problems with creativity and art, and I like to be doing something different every day.

I do design, murals, sculpture.

I think it's still underpinned by the same concept.

You know, the idea that things aren't ever enough or that we're constantly pushing for something more or seeking more.

(saw whines) There is something I say often and it does ring true: nothing interesting happens when you say no.

(mellow music continues) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) I just think there's something really interesting about gears and engines and things that are spinning and it really kind of talks about our evolution and our thinking in the way that we've come from rolling a stone to making a machine that can lift millions of pounds, you know?

(drill whirring) So it's interesting to see, you know, the history behind that and then also put it in work and sort of highlight that in a way where it brings attention to it that you wouldn't normally necessarily pay attention to.

(ethereal music) I sort of ran with this thing called the vintage future for a while, and I really kind of liked how that sort of explained a lot of things and not saying steampunk.

So a lot of times you'll see machinery, gears, rusty things.

Like this, these are all out of Milwaukee angle grinders and drills and things like that, but they make great like space junk, you know?

(laughs) I'm using reclaimed and found objects, but I'm also making 'em brand new and making 'em look like they could function or that they're sort of otherworldly.

It's really about having those first few initial concepts and then sort of turning it on its head and being like, "Well, what if we add lights?

What if it's solar powered?

What if there's a water feature?

What if, you know, like what if the budget would allow this to be twice the size?"

You know, or things like that.

Or we take risks that sometimes we don't know how to do something and we propose it and we're like, "This could be cool," (laughs) you know?

(upbeat music) The House of RAD was built on this idea of for artists, by artists.

We've got 60 plus artists right now.

I believe the exact number is 63.

We have a range in diversity and age, which is great.

So we have emerging artists, we have students, all the way up to veterans in their field.

Tony Macias is one of our newer artists that have joined us and is gonna head up our mud club, so it's our ceramics department.

- I just fired these.

The thing that I love about the House of RAD is that, you know, Brandon's vision about how he wants to structure this is not like anything else that's out there.

We've got a community.

Like, I'll give you an example.

Right now I'm out building, working on this container for firing and I don't know how to weld, so guess what I get to learn in these next couple of days?

How to weld from Brandon.

He's like, "Oh dude, I'll teach you.

You'll get it in no time."

I wouldn't have that anywhere else.

- It's kind of one of those things where like you start talking about a problem you have or a thing you're missing in this environment.

It's very natural for someone to supply whatever you need.

I think there's too many times where an organization comes together and develops a board and gets funding and things like that happen, and then they forget who they're serving.

With all of this being driven by artists and artists alone, you know, there's a lot more community that happens.

There's a lot more trust.

(mellow music) (gentle music) - [Sandy] Thanks for watching "The Arts Page."

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