The ArtChangesLives(Dot)Com logo — a magenta high heel on cyan, representing who I am, the work I do, and the life I claim.
This stiletto mark represents ArtChangesLives(Dot)Com, but it also represents me. Its stiletto symbol meaning is deeply personal.
Growing Up Different
As a child, I loved crayons, paper, toy service stations, record players, cameras, and yes, even dolls. I was drawn to making, imagining, and worlds that did not always fit neatly into what was expected.
As I grew older, especially in my pre-teen years, I recognized more and more that I was the other, and I learned quickly that fitting in seemed safer than standing out.
But coming out changed that.
When the Stiletto Appeared
Years later, in graduate school, while working on a project about how shadows may have shaped my life, the image of a stiletto presented itself to me.
The original photograph — a shadow study from graduate school where the stiletto first appeared in my work.
What This Mark Means
The high heel is power, presence, and confidence. Sharp. Elegant. Strong. It takes up space without apology.
Cyan and magenta speak to identity, fluidity, courage, and becoming. They also carry the language of design, color, and creative life.
I am a gay man, and I have always known there is both masculine and feminine within me. I do not see that as conflict.
What I most admire is the strength of women—their resilience, grit, and what they endure. That strength shaped how I understand beauty, power, and identity.
So this mark is both banner and mirror.
It stands for the work.
And it stands for who I am.
Be who you are. Stand in it. Without apology.
For me, the stiletto symbol meaning is about identity, strength, and standing fully in who I am.
Sometimes a symbol chooses us before we understand why. Has that happened to you?
I termed the first party or opening a quiet opening the first hour of silence… Voice and music were turned off for the parcel; the only sounds were the chimes of Tibet chimes being rung as avatars walked through the hallways. During the second hour, DJ Sheperd played music that was both peaceful and still provided the installation’s visitors with a musical journey in the center dome. It attracted a small crowd. Quiet is not one of Second Life’s suits. I did enjoy sharing it with my visitors and friends.
The Invitation to the Labyrinthine, November 15, 2023
The Labyrinthine/Labyrinth second opening party was held on November 22, 2023
Exile on Exile—> to SLEA (4SW), the Labyrinth
This was a well-attended party and celebration DJ Tomtom, from Köln, Germany. Second Life is a global community. The music was great and everyone had fun.
I am planning a Zoom tour soon. I will be announcing soon.
Yesterday was my seventieth birthday, and I am beginning my third year of retirement, I have one bold request.
As a gift to me, could you subscribe to this blog?
ArtChangesLives(Dot)Com is owned by me and started in grad school almost two decades ago. Subscribing to my blog will help the blog’s rank on Google and other search engines. I hope it will become a place for people to share their thoughts while creating artwork … Meaning any of the arts.
I don’t know if I intend to show or sell my work commercially, but I am heading that way.
Thank you to the artists who agreed to let me link their sites to this site. Most of these individuals are friends.
Art has a vital power to promote understanding of one’s self and the world and provides a path for an artist to self-realize and connect with the known unknown.
It is a big ask, but could you subscribe to this site? I’d appreciate it.
BTW, my 70th birthday was fabulous, hearing from friends and family and spending it with family.
My name is William John Hendricks, and I work professionally as Bill Hendricks. I am a Minneapolis-based artist and retired art and design educator. My work moves between drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, digital media, 3D modeling, interactive installations, and virtual environments.
Bill Hendricks, 2021, in my office at Minneapolis College.
I have also created and exhibited digital work under two established identities:
Shadowmason is my longtime online and digital-art identity, including my work on ArtChangesLives.com.
Tap Quentin is the name I use for my artwork and exhibitions in the virtual world Second Life.
These names represent different periods and settings within one artistic life. Shadowmason and Tap Quentin are both parts of my history as William “Bill” Hendricks.
Artistic Practice
My work moves between tactile and virtual forms. I am interested in what happens when the handmade and the digital meet—when systems and structures become containers for emotion, imagination, and spirit.
After retiring from teaching, I returned fully to my studio practice. My recent work includes watercolor, gouache, ink drawing, photography, mixed media, and digital modeling. Across these forms, my work moves between observation, memory, and imagination.
Memory has become increasingly important in my recent work. I lived in New York City during the 1980s and into the 1990s, where I worked at All State Art, Circle’s TR Gallery, and Desired Printing. I was part of the gay community during the AIDS epidemic. My memories of Christopher Street—of friendship, loss, survival, and the extraordinary creativity and joy of that period—continue to enter my work today.
Exhibitions and Collections
My work has been exhibited in Minneapolis and New York and is held in private collections throughout the United States.
My exhibitions include The Intimate Gallery at Gallery 148 in Minneapolis, a group exhibition exploring collective consciousness, and Postcards From the Edge, presented by Visual AIDS at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York City.
In 2026, my work returned to New York through Collective Z Gallery. Marsha P., a work rooted in my memories of Christopher Street and Marsha P. Johnson, was exhibited during Pride Month on the Lower East Side. My work is also represented through Collective Z Gallery on Artsy.
My interactive digital work Interpreted, Obscured and Sought (2005) is archived by Rhizome ArtBase, whose collection documents significant works in the history of internet-based art.
Teaching and Education
I earned my MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD). For more than two decades, I taught Graphic Design, Web Design, and Fine Art at Minneapolis College, formerly Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC). I also taught at MCAD.
Teaching shaped my understanding of art as a continuing conversation among thought, feeling, experimentation, and craft.
Virtual and Digital Work
In Second Life, I exhibit as Tap Quentin. My virtual projects include digital prints, drawings, constructed environments, and work presented through Ephemeral Traces.
The name Shadowmason connects my earlier internet-based work, my digital practice, and the history of ArtChangesLives.com. Shadowmason and Tap Quentin are not separate people or disconnected identities; they are parts of my broader artistic history.
Current Work
I continue to make art and write from Minneapolis. ArtChangesLives.com brings together my studio work, photographs, digital experiments, reflections, and observations about how art shapes the way we understand our lives, relationships, and communities.
