Bruce Rosenbaum was born on February 4, 1962, in Boston, MA is an American artist and designer renowned for his contributions to Steampunk design. He has gained recognition for his work in both his home, known as The Steampunk House, and through his company, ModVic ( Shorten from "Modern Victorian"). The Wall Street Journal has dubbed him the "steampunk guru," while Wired Magazine has referred to him as a "steampunk evangelist."

Early life Rosenbaum grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and attended Marblehead High School, before earning his bachelor's degree in Business at UMASS Amherst. After graduating UMASS, Rosenbaum worked as a Department Manager for Lord and Taylor in Stamford, Connecticut where he met his wife Melanie. Later, Rosenbaum attended Duke University and received his MBA. After graduating Duke University, he worked for Sara Lee Direct in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and then worked for other direct marketing agencies. Rosenbaum, along with his wife, Melanie, started a direct-mail marketing business, N2N Direct, in the 1990s.

Design career Rosenbaum and his wife started ModVic (short for Modern Victorian), a Victorian-home restoration company, in 2007. Combining original Victorian design with modern functionality, the couple completed one major project before the economy's downturn. They then refocused the business on integrating new technologies and appliances into restored period objects.

Along with producing commissioned pieces for clients, Rosenbaum incorporates his design perspective into his family home in Sharon, Massachusetts, popularly known as the "Steampunk House". Their home is also noted as the only functional steampunk art home in the world and has been featured on MTV's Extreme Cribs.

Rosenbaum's projects include a personal computer workstation housed in a Victorian pump organ, a 6-foot mechanical whale for a hotel in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and a late 1800s bandsaw repurposed as a conference table and workstation.

Rosenbaum is also the Chairman of The Sharon Historic Commission, Sharon, MA, and a Trustee of the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Additionally, along with Dr. Ashleigh Hillier, an associate Psychology Professor at UMASS Lowell, Rosenbaum has created a 9-week program called Steampunkinetics: Building Art into Science for kids on the autism spectrum.Steampunkinetics: Building Art into Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 204 The program uses 'Janusian Thinking' and other creative problem-solving techniques to turn STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) into STEAM (adding art) into STEAMPUNK (adding history).

Events

2010 ModVic Steampunk Art Exhibition, Steampunk World's Fair, Piscataway NJ Steampunk @ Boston Antique & Design Show, Shriner's Auditorium, Wilmington, MASteampunk comes to the Boston Antiques Show Jan. 15-16, MetroWest Daily News, December 20, 2010 Steampunk @ Pier Show, Pier 94 – Chelsea, New York NY

2011 Nemo's Steampunk Art and Invention Gallery, 20,000 Leagues, 5-Wits Attraction, Foxboro MA, Dieselpunks.org, February 12, 2011 Back Home to Future Expo, Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, Oaks, PASteampunk Expo takes you 'Back Home to Future' , Mainline Media News, February 25, 2011 Mobilis in Mobili: An Exhibition of Art & Appliance, Wooster Street Social Club (NY Ink), New York, NYMobilis in Mobili Art Exhibit Gives Steampunks Some New Ink to Spill, Tor.com, December 2, 2011 ModVic's World of Steampunk Art & Design, Watch City Festival – Charles River Museum, Waltham MA Norman Rockwell Museum Goes Back to the Future with Steampunk Night, Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge MANorman Rockwell Museum Goes Back to the Future with Steampunk Night, The Rogovoy Report, August, 2011 Steampunk Bizarre Exhibition, Mark Twain Museum, Hartford CTSteampunk Bizarre Exhibit Opens at Mark Twain House & Museum, Real Hartford, October 1, 2011 Steampunk Form & Function Sh & Exhibition, Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, Waltham MASteampunk: Art, Science And A Little Bit Of Nemo, WBUR, December 17, 2010 ModVic with East Coast Paranormal Research Team, Benjamin Stanley Freeman House, 390 Mount Hope Street, North Attleboro MA

2012 How to Architect Steampunk into Your Design - Steampunk for Architects, ArchitectureBoston Expo (ABX), Boston MARestoration Resources Owner Bill Raymer to Speak at ArchitectureBoston Expo, Patch.com, November 15, 2012 Steampunkinetics Gallery Show, AFA Gallery – SOHO, New York, NYSteampunkinetics, AFA NYC, June 19, 2012 Living Steampunk, Boskone 49 – Regional Science Fiction Convention, Boston Westin Waterfront, Boston MA ModVic's World of Steampunk Art & Design, Watch City Festival – Charles River Museum, Waltham MA Living Steampunk, Dickens Festival, Salem MA Steampunk Dickens and his Villain Heads, Pollard Public Library, Lowell MA Steampunk @ CraftBoston, World Trade Center, Boston MAPhotos: A tour of the steampunk works of ModVic founder Bruce Rosenbaum , The Boston Phoenix, March 23, 2012 Steampunk @ Metro Show, New York NY ModVic's World of Steampunk Art & Design, Steampunk Industrial Revolution Festival, Nashua NH Living Steampunk, FaerieCon, Baltimore MD Steampunk Soiree Steamer and Exhibition, Revolving Museum, Lowell MASteampunk Soiree: Steamer at Revolving Museum, Revolving Museum, January 31, 2012 Steampunk Form & Function Show & Exhibition II, Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, Waltham MA Designing Steampunk, DESIGN East, Boston MA Steampunk @ Antique City, Schaut's Fun Fair, Bethlehem PA Steampunk @ Brimfield Antique Show, Brimfield MA Steampunk Historical House Tour, Sharon Historical Society, Sharon MA

2013 ModVic's World of Steampunk Art & Design, RiverFest – Assembly Row, Somerville MA Steampunk: Nature & Machine, Lockwood Mathews Mansion, Norwalk CT Designing Steampunk, CreativeMornings Boston, Boston MA Time Machines: Robots, Rockets and Steampunk, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne VT Victorian Extreme: American Fancywork and Steampunk, 1850 – Now, Bennington Museum, Bennington VT Steampunk Dickens and his Villain Heads, WaterFire Festival, Old Stone Bank, Providence RI Plasma Light Art and Steampunk Design, International Assn. of Lighting Designers, Charles River Museum, Waltham MA ModVic's World of Steampunk Art & Design, Watch City Festival – Charles River Museum, Waltham MA Steampunk @ Pier Show Pier 94 – Chelsea, New York NY Steampunkinetics Rube Goldberg Exhibition’, Northeast Arc, Danvers MA Steampunk House Tours, Groupon, Sharon MA 20,000 Leagues Steampunk Gala, 5 Wits, Foxboro MA

2014 Steampunk Springfield: Reimagining an Industrial City, March 21 through September 28, Citywide: Springfield Museums, Springfield Armory, UMASS Amherst, Central Library, City-Stage Theater and Springfield Symphony – Springfield, MA SteamAble: The Steampunk Wheelchair Project –Florence, MA

External links Bruce Rosenbaum, The Steampunk Museum

References