C. Ray Frigard

C. Ray Frigard is an inventor, designer, sculptor and author. As inventor he is named on a diverse range of patents: Rollerblades, cameras, recreational vehicles, computers, sailboats and toys. As a toy and game designer he has licensed concepts with many leading toy companies, most notable Crossbows and Catapults with Lakeside Games, and has won a number of creativity awards: Parents' Choice Foundation, iParenting Media, Creative Child Magazine and Hopkins Center for the Arts. As a sculptor he has clay modeled full sized vehicles in the design studios of Ford, Chrysler, BMW and Polaris Industries and done figure sculpting: Disney, Jim Henson, Jim Davis (Garfield) and McDonalds happy meals. Ray is a creativity workshop presenter and member of the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Creative Education Foundation, Art Educators of Minnesota and National Art Educators Association. Drawing on his diverse background and the latest research on creativity, he's written - FunThink:12 Tools for Creative Problem Solving, and - Arthink:Creativity Skills for 21st Century Careers; which is a hands-on methodology for teaching the creative process. Using this material he teaches child and adult creativity classes in the Minneapolis area. Drawing on time spent in NYC and his background in music and the arts he has launched the Opus Series of novels: The Girl in the Yellow Scarf, The Piano Man, and The Opus Cafe; that follows the turbulent career of musician/composer Michael Monroe in gritty 1980's New York.