Support SmartHome Artists And Authors

Imagine! provides many services to people with disabilities in our community. One of the services we provide is the opportunity for individuals to learn to express oneself through arts of different mediums.

We also believe in supporting those artists who wish to take their art to a professional level.

Today we’d like to share a couple of examples of how we are doing that, and encourage you to support these artists as well.

Imagine! CORE/Labor Source Art Instructor Bridget Carroll developed a class, 'Art at Work,' where advanced artists, including Rebecca, a resident of the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome, are encourage to create, market, and sell their art to their community and beyond. The Imagine! artists have shown their art in local coffee shops and galleries and have seen great success, but they wanted to expand their audience. Like many professional artists, the Imagine! artists asked for support in selling their art through an online venue. Their art is now for sale online through an Etsy account (click here to check it out). You can search by specific artists on the top left section of the website or just skim through the page. The artists are extremely proud and they encourage you to check out their new website! Check out two of the many works available on the site below.

The artists are offering a 20% discount when you use the coupon code 'iloveimagineart' at check out to celebrate the grand opening of their online shop.

And Mandy, who lives in Imagine!’s Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder, has been self-publishing books for some time now. Many of her books are holiday themed. Click on the images below to learn more about the books (and please consider making a purchase if you are so inclined).

Check Out The Latest SmartHomes Newsletter

Imagine!’s latest SmartHomes newsletter is available online.

Check it out here.

Technology Tuesday

For more than five years, Imagine! has collaborated with the University of Colorado to create assistive technology for individuals we serve. Each spring and fall, students in Professor Melinda Piket-May's freshman engineering class work on adaptive equipment projects to meet the needs of a specific individual or individuals.

The latest batch of projects is complete, and we will be sharing some of them with you over the next few weeks. Check out this project made by the students, a “Feel the Beat” Sound Vest, designed so individuals who are hard of hearing can experience music through a vibrating sound vest.

Can’t see the video? Click here. 

You can learn more about this collaboration by reading this article, which appeared in Saturday’s Daily Camera. 

SmartHomes In The News

Did you catch the story in Saturday's Daily Camera about Imagine!’s ongoing collaboration with a CU Boulder freshman engineering class taught by Professor Melinda Picket-May? The students create assistive technology for SmartHome residents and other individuals served by Imagine!.

If you missed it, you can read the story by clicking here.

Save The Date – Coleman Institute Tech Conference Oct. 15

Save the date! 

October 15: The Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities Conference on Cognitive Disability and Technology. 

The keynote speaker will be Timothy P. Shriver, Ph.D., Chairman of Special Olympics, co-founder and chair of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and best-selling author of “Fully Alive: Discovering What Matters Most.”

WHEN: October 15, 2015

WHERE: Omni Interlocken Hotel, 500 Interlocken Blvd. Broomfield, CO 8002

Registration opens May 22.

You Go, Shelly!

Great picture of Charles Family SmartHome resident Shelly looking fierce as she exercises at an Imagine! CORE/Labor Source class. You go, girl!

Sharing Our Knowledge

Organizations serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the country continue to look to Imagine! for advice and input on how to incorporate technology into their services. Case in point: last week, Imagine! SmartHomes guru Greg Wellems had a lengthy phone chat with Stephanie Nelson of North Dakota’s Anne Carlsen Center. The good folks there are interested in building their own SmartHome, and sought out Greg for tips and encouragement.