Who is the Crazy Squirrel?

The crazy squirrel is actually my son Warren, but we will get to that shortly.  My name is Brad Gray, and I am a lifelong resident of San Antonio.  I consider myself a part-time artist aspiring to be a full-time artist. I have no formal training, but I have always needed something with which to engage my creativity, photography, painting, whatever struck me at different times of my life.

A childhood friend of mine got me into welding and I quickly found a medium that allowed me to express my creativity in a way that I just did not get from photography. In the past I have created most of my work for myself and my family, and I never really considered putting myself out there to be judged, but there are only so many sculptures you can have before people start to talk.  In addition, it turns out it is a great replacement for therapy, again we will get to that shortly.  You may love it or hate it, but it is a lot of work, and it is rewarding work to pull something from a scrap heap and turn it into something you love and hopefully others appreciate as well.

So, back to Warren.  While in utero we nicknamed him the Squirrel.  My wife, Ashley, and I did not want to find out what we were having, and it was too impersonal to call it “it,” so we somehow, not sure how, landed on Squirrel.

Warren is all boy and completely fearless.  He hunts bugs, makes mud holes, can be covered head-to-toe in filth and never know it or care about it.  He builds rockets and spaceships and will bring you a doodle bug as though it were a prize.  Our back yard is a maze of ropes and bungy cords, for what we have no idea, but it is critically important to him that they are not removed.  He is in fact, wild and crazy

So, Crazy Squirrel Metal Works is born in his honor.  On to the need for therapy… A few years ago, Warren was diagnosed with a form of epilepsy called Landau-Kleffner Syndrome. His epilepsy is refractory, meaning it cannot be controlled with medication. It honestly has been a very long, tough road. It is hard on absolutely every aspect of your life, it effects every hour of every day, you think about it and talk about it constantly, it is all consuming and you need something to escape for a bit.

This is my therapy; it is something I enjoy doing and keeps me as close to centered as I can get.  When I work on a project it allows me to escape work, epilepsy, doctors and overall reality for a bit.  It allows me to just see what I can create.

I hope you enjoy the work.  Regardless, I hope you will consider a donation to Kinetic Kids here.