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Friends, Allies, Conspirators

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Brandon Heinley

Founder, Arts Director

Artist and designer BJ Heinley studied at UT in Austin before jumping into his career as a designer in Silicon Valley. He's had in the art game for 30 years creating his own work, serving on boards, and notably founding and curating Base Art Gallery in San Francisco. Continuing his own work, and having a strong desire to work collaboratively with others led him to create shared maker studio Secret Base in 2018. BJ oversees initiatives at Secret Base and directs its commissioned work for artists, cultural institutions and brands. 

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Craig Burke

Administration & Tech

Craig Burke works as an enterprise infrastructure architect at a non-profit in Austin, Texas. He was a lead organizers of Maker Faire Austin, currently creating work in traditional media as well as with Arduino and Raspberry Pi. Craig has worked with and consulted with Vision Gland art collective over 4 different projects. Excellent taste in queso. 

John Paul Piggy Garrigues

John-Paul Garrigues

Sound and Video

Focusing on cinematography, photography, and sound. JP (street name) works in a variety of capacities and some super interesting projects ranging from festivals, legendary Texas beer brands, iconic band videos, and so much more. He has been a creative force working with Guerilla Suit Agency for years. Epic wit that matches his beard. 

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Ian Steyaert

Tech & Project Leadership

"A real aert-ist" with both a Robotics degree and an MBA, Ian has worked as a development engineer, project manager, and director at companies including frog design, Emerson Process Management, and Whole Foods Market.

His career spans more than 25 years driving user experience research and product optimization in industries such as retail, finance, technology, and manufacturing. Excellent Belgian beer making skills. 

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Alan Watts

Gadget & Tech Strategy

Alan is a hardware and software engineer interested in blending low-tech and high-tech into strange things. He is 1/2 of the dynamic duo that makes up CLAW responsible for the infamous Eye of the Pyramid and WAM experiences. Alan has participated in the Vision Gland collective or many years, and when he's not hiking around the mountains o New Mexico, is noodling around on projects for Netflix and Meow Wolf.