Concerned with the practical intent, I mean by choosing a width of a pen, or the softness of a pencil, or the shade and color of a pencil and how it reacts to a substrate. I set about doing a series of studies using the media that I am fond of at this moment. I stumbled into some articles discussing the intent of the artist. Yes, the intent of the artist is important, but… is it important to the audience. Does the work have to be explained by the artist?
I know why I am drawing and studying the various software that I am, but I am on a path… and as a great hike, I don’t know the adventures, disappointments, wonderful sights, and joys I will enjoy along the way. I know that in some way, it is a spiritual quest, one that will give me insights both in the conscious and unconscious realms.
Whether or not it is important, I have to reveal; I believe in something, maybe you can call it God, that is up to you. That belief and my current self combines and presents itself in my artwork. If you have followed my work, you know that I have studied and learned to question what reality is, and I know that we as humans only experience a minute fraction of that reality actually is. For the moment, I am focused on Creation, Chaos, and Order and letting that present itself in my work, as feeble as my efforts might be to let that occur, I hope you both enjoy and allow yourself to explore what I see.
It is enough to say that the Greeks thought it was Chaos who, with a massive heave, or a great shrug, or hiccup, vomit or cough, began the long chain of creation that has ended with pelicans and penicillin and toadstools and toads, sea-lions, lions, human beings and daffodils and murder and art and love and confusion and death and madness and biscuits.
At least that is how it feels at times. I am whittling down options and getting to know media. I am still drawn to Blender, Procreate, Affinity Photo, Second Life, drawing with Micron Pens, graphite, and Color Ease erasable pencils.
I have been reading Mythos, by Stephen Fry. I wanted to get to know Greek Mythology better. Stephen Fry does an excellent job, and it is written with humor I enjoy. The piece included in this post is called the Chaos Machine.
Continuing to work and play with both images and media, I find a path to prayer and meditation as I work. Prayer or mediation are words that I, as a Quaker, find a bit disingenuous. For me, I find in the silence, and I can open myself to my higher power.
This quote is meaningful to me because this reality that I experience is experienced to me through my brain’s filters. So the answers at times seem very clear… but it is the questions that are a mystery. In most Quaker meetings, there is an opportunity for individuals to ask for a clearness committee to help discern questions in their lives. I guess it is the art that I work with and enjoy that serves as my clearness committee. This committee provides questions to the answers and provides questions to explore to seek further clarity to the existing answers.
It has both the aspects that Alvalyn Lundgren’s article describes. It had no real purpose. It doesn’t need to depict anything like a person. There was no pressure to perform, but it is meaningful, and a drawing that does communicate. Not sure how well or not. It is merely a series of marks. They are playful, geometric, linear, shaded, or whatever. It is a question I am interested in considering.
I will go with automatic drawing with thoughtful consideration. Thus, art.
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.
