Creating for Myself
Shift showcase 2024
I’ve always been a creative person, but just not for myself. Instead I use art to express my love for others, such as a hand-painted card or personalized bracelet. For them it’s easy to carve out the time to make something I hope they will enjoy. However when I’m creating for myself, it suddenly becomes a chore.
Do I actually want a random painting? What is the purpose of this mini clay figure if it’s just going to sit on my shelf? If it’s not perfect, then I have wasted my time.
This year as I joined Shift, I had two goals. Stay creative consistently, and make something that I would enjoy.
Fall Semester: The Show that Never Was
A miniature theater that could tell an entire story through automaton-style mechanics operated by one person. That was my first (totally achievable) idea. Inspired by my years of experience working in backstage theater and love of miniature things, I had a vision for this theater that I just couldn’t quite bring to reality.
The story is about growing up and mourning the loss of passions one had as a child. I used the song “Childhood” by The Rose as a base and built up a story around it that felt true to my experiences. For the remainder of the semester I focused on sketching the mechanics that would bring this story to life. I plan to rely on pulleys, tracks, and magnets, but since I haven’t actually brought any of these ideas into the physical world I’m not sure if they will work.
I may return to this project in the future, but it simply became too much to handle and I couldn’t find the time to make it a reality.
Winter Semester: Wire Blooms
With showcase drawing closer, I switched my focus over to a smaller project that I could complete and (hopefully) be proud of. Inspired by a Pinterest photo of metal wire flowers, I tried to create my own.
There’s something beautiful about creating these delicate shapes out of an industrial material, and I think they would look great as a minimalist style decoration. But above all, I truly enjoyed making these. Hunched over in one of the plush grey chairs at the Shift house I just kept bending wire until my hands hurt. From there more ideas began to flow.
I decided to create another bouquet of wire flowers, this time with colored petals. Inspired by these simple drawings of flowers on watercolor, I wanted to preserve that blend of colors in 3-D. So after testing watercolors on a few different types of fabric I liked the appearance on satin the best, and set out making a lot of petals. Finally I wove the wire through the petals to actually form the shape of a flower, and then made a few butterflies for fun.
While I’m still not satisfied with this project, it was great to be working on something again. It’s not much, but it came purely from my own desires and ideas, and that’s something I’m learning to be proud of.
Bonus Pictures: Things I Made For Friends this Year Over Break
