The Kevin Workman Foundation (KWF) uplifts and inspires communities and individuals by cultivating appreciation for and talent in the fields of popular arts, videography, photography, game design, writing, and social media. We seek to discover, develop, share, and educate with Kevin Workman's enthusiastic words of discovery:
"You’ve got to check this out!"
"You’ve got to check this out!"
Team
Email: rene (@) kevinworkmanfoundation.org
|
René Lafargue
A Southern Californian native of European descent, life long nerd and purveyor of all things cool, René has been a fan of pop culture, especially of the Sci Fi and Fantasy nature for most of his life. As an attendee and exhibitor of San Diego Comic Con for over 27 years, he’s watched one of his passions grow from a hole in the wall industry to the global power house it’s become today. Remembering the days fondly of chatting with Stan Lee or The Ramones in a sparse hall at the old San Diego Civic Center, to rubbing elbows with the cast and crew of the Lord of the Rings films at the some the infamous above ground/underground X-Sanguin Comic Con parties, René has been boots on the ground on the Nerd battlefield for most of his adult life, always striving to meet new and exciting people that share the same passions that he does.
A man just trying to make his way in the universe, his day job involves the manufacturing industry for RF design in Aerospace, Defense, Research and Communications. Included are countless extraterrestrial missions within our solar system where some units he’s held in his hands are now exploring space and other planets. In his free time, René can be found enjoying the Tiki subculture, spaghetti western/horror/post apoc films, historical miniature wargaming or listening to his favorite band, The Damned. |
Brian VogelsangBrian has a love for technology, the visual arts, music, and film. As a teenager his grandmother gifted him a 1200 baud modem transforming his Apple II from a word processing and gaming device in to a portal to the online world. It was there he found Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's), which quickly became his passion. It was through a BBS that Brian met Kevin, where they developed a fast friendship fueled by common interests in technology, community, gaming, chat BBS's, computers, Comic-Con, and Halloween parties. Teenage Brian started his own "chat" BBS with 2 friends that rapidly grew to be one of San Diego's largest and most popular online social communities, and one of the first Internet connected BBS's in the United States.
Brian loves the visual arts. He is an amateur photog and camera geek who loves concert photography and taking portraits of his kids and pets. Brian's favorite band is Marillion and he's travelled over 40K miles to see and photograph their live shows. He has a growing fine art collection mostly comprised of Art Nouveau, Surrealist, and Expressionist pieces. Brian has always had a love for comic books and comic art, his favorite artists are Barry Windsor-Smith, Charles Vess, and Bernie Wrightson. 2015 will be his 30th San Diego comic-con, where he will be proudly representing the KWF. Brian has a degree in Business, and has spent the last 24 years in high tech, with the last decade in mobile software product management at QUALCOMM. He loves Android and iOS equally, is enamored with drones, quantified self, and his connected home. Much of his time is now spent working on the rapidly emerging Internet of Things. |
|
|
Brian Weck
"The other Brian" is not quite a San Diego native, but close enough. Growing up in San Diego presented plenty of hobbies and pastimes, but it wasn't until late high school when he stumbled onto San Diego Comic Con.
Like nowhere else, his exposure to comics, gaming (video and tabletop), fantasy, sci-fi, manga, and anime, was rewarded with a plethora of new things to discover and new people to meet. It wasn't for another few years that he ended up working with a number of extremely influential friends that included Kevin, Brian, and too many others to name. This group threw costume parties and events and expanded his enjoyment of all things movies, music, popular arts, and the deep fandoms therein. Brian has spent the last 27 years working at a couple of the largest tech companies in San Diego. These companies have continued to drive his interest in everything high tech and the bleeding edge. He's always looking out for people building things that Arthur C. Clarke referred to when he said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." |
Chris Herzog
From his secret lair somewhere in downtown San Diego (we think), Chris brings 27 years of professional eCommerce, branding, digital marketing, and communications experience to the table.
A San Diego native and early "dot-com" pioneer, he has always had a love for science fiction and fantasy: as a boy, he read lots of Asimov, and scoured local city and college libraries for any information he could find on robotics. At age seven, his One Goal In Life was to be a comic book artist, drawing The Batman. In later years, McCaffrey, L'Engle, LeGuin, and of course Tolkien would become important, as well as an increasing fascination with magic(k) of all types: he was at one point a practicing magician and an expert on Harry Houdini, as well as a huge Dungeons & Dragons nerd. A fan of just about any movie or TV show with the word "Star" in the title, he skews about 70% "Trek" over "Wars". Inspired by Wargames, the 1986 purchase of a 300bps modem from the back of The Byte Buyer magazine would lead to virtual and then real-world friendships with the Foundation's namesake, Kevin Workman, and eventually the rest of the Foundation's founders and members. |
|
About Kevin Michael Workman
1970 - 2011
Continuing His Legacy of Passion for Art and Technology
Kevin was a Renaissance man in the truest sense.
At a young age, he developed an interest in and tremendous aptitude for technology. This would become the focus of his professional career, most of which he pursued at Qualcomm, where he continually innovated not only the technology but its practical application.
Kevin was awarded a US/WIPO patent for his co-development of the “Replicant” data backup process, sat on the IBM/Lenovo Advisory Council, and influenced the development of numerous products and features in the information technology field.
Kevin enjoyed technology, but above that, he cared about and loved community, art, and the creative experience.
He actively pursued interests in music, movies, art, classic literature, high-fantasy and adventure, videography, photography, web development, podcasting, physics, philosophy, metaphysics, the paranormal, popular culture, and most recently, tea - to name only a few.
Kevin loved to make people laugh and had an intense joi de vivre - a love of living that involves one’s whole being.
Kevin understood that life was a precious gift, and that it was too short to be lived without appreciating creativity: He understood the power of art and the deep wells of insight, wonder, and humor it lent to a life well-lived. Kevin wanted everyone to enjoy the art, writing, movies, or nuggets of popular culture he discovered. He’d very often take us by the hand and lead us to that enjoyment personally.
It would start as a phone call in the middle of the night, a cryptic email or text, or our favorite, a conspiring tilt of the head in a conversation with a gleam in his eye. And the invitation:
“Hey, You’ve got to check this out.”
He was a muse, grass-roots publicist, sponsor, and patron to numerous artists, writers, bloggers, and podcasters. His support for popular arts culminated in the “X-Sanguin” Comic-Con booth, which hosted up-and-coming and established artists on the convention dealer’s room floor for several years running. Kevin’s X-Sanguin crew also threw what was arguably the biggest, best, most (in)famous Comic-Con costume party. For a decade, Kevin was the driving force behind a Comic-Con after-hours event that brought together fans, artists, writers, actors, special-effects wizards, industry luminaries, elves, hobbits, vampires, and all sorts of creatures from across the world, Hollywood, distant galaxies, the nether planes, the swanky Cold War past, the Zombie-infested future, and all time periods in between.
Kevin was a larger-than-life supporter of the popular arts, but at the same time, he was the most friendly, down-to-earth, approachable person you could meet.
Kevin brought people of all interests, beliefs, and walks of life together, and he built communities that lasted. He welcomed anyone and everyone as they were, and encouraged them to be their best, most interesting, most creative selves. His enthusiasm and passion were more than just words-- Kevin usually offered his skills and expertise with media hardware and software tools to help bootstrap a creative idea.
While we will never stop missing Kevin, we will remember the way that his joyous support of community and art uplifted the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. We feel that the best way to commemorate our dear friend is to continue his support for aspiring and established creative professionals, his passion for creative technology, and his charismatic nurturing of creative communities. If we can do it with half the style, wit, and charm that Kevin brought, we’ll consider the Foundation a success.
We hope you’ll help support us, and in doing so, find a new spark of fandom or creative passion of your own.
At a young age, he developed an interest in and tremendous aptitude for technology. This would become the focus of his professional career, most of which he pursued at Qualcomm, where he continually innovated not only the technology but its practical application.
Kevin was awarded a US/WIPO patent for his co-development of the “Replicant” data backup process, sat on the IBM/Lenovo Advisory Council, and influenced the development of numerous products and features in the information technology field.
Kevin enjoyed technology, but above that, he cared about and loved community, art, and the creative experience.
He actively pursued interests in music, movies, art, classic literature, high-fantasy and adventure, videography, photography, web development, podcasting, physics, philosophy, metaphysics, the paranormal, popular culture, and most recently, tea - to name only a few.
Kevin loved to make people laugh and had an intense joi de vivre - a love of living that involves one’s whole being.
Kevin understood that life was a precious gift, and that it was too short to be lived without appreciating creativity: He understood the power of art and the deep wells of insight, wonder, and humor it lent to a life well-lived. Kevin wanted everyone to enjoy the art, writing, movies, or nuggets of popular culture he discovered. He’d very often take us by the hand and lead us to that enjoyment personally.
It would start as a phone call in the middle of the night, a cryptic email or text, or our favorite, a conspiring tilt of the head in a conversation with a gleam in his eye. And the invitation:
“Hey, You’ve got to check this out.”
He was a muse, grass-roots publicist, sponsor, and patron to numerous artists, writers, bloggers, and podcasters. His support for popular arts culminated in the “X-Sanguin” Comic-Con booth, which hosted up-and-coming and established artists on the convention dealer’s room floor for several years running. Kevin’s X-Sanguin crew also threw what was arguably the biggest, best, most (in)famous Comic-Con costume party. For a decade, Kevin was the driving force behind a Comic-Con after-hours event that brought together fans, artists, writers, actors, special-effects wizards, industry luminaries, elves, hobbits, vampires, and all sorts of creatures from across the world, Hollywood, distant galaxies, the nether planes, the swanky Cold War past, the Zombie-infested future, and all time periods in between.
Kevin was a larger-than-life supporter of the popular arts, but at the same time, he was the most friendly, down-to-earth, approachable person you could meet.
Kevin brought people of all interests, beliefs, and walks of life together, and he built communities that lasted. He welcomed anyone and everyone as they were, and encouraged them to be their best, most interesting, most creative selves. His enthusiasm and passion were more than just words-- Kevin usually offered his skills and expertise with media hardware and software tools to help bootstrap a creative idea.
While we will never stop missing Kevin, we will remember the way that his joyous support of community and art uplifted the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. We feel that the best way to commemorate our dear friend is to continue his support for aspiring and established creative professionals, his passion for creative technology, and his charismatic nurturing of creative communities. If we can do it with half the style, wit, and charm that Kevin brought, we’ll consider the Foundation a success.
We hope you’ll help support us, and in doing so, find a new spark of fandom or creative passion of your own.
