And the Stars Look Very Different Today

I am a creative person. This seems like an obvious statement for any artist, but the truth is I can’t claim to have any particular allegiance to one art medium or form. I swing from painting, to graphic design, to photography, to stop motion film, to whatever next strikes my fancy, the unifying thread between them all being that they allow me to imagine and create things.

While the materials may vary, there are commonalities and patterns in my artwork. They are intricate and detailed, clean and controlled, simple and often with an element of whimsy. I draw inspiration from traveling and everyday minutiae, which I almost painstakingly observe for hiccups of oddity or flashes of notableness, sort of like finding the extraordinary within the ordinary. It is in these small details from moments within moments within moments that I find the spark for a new project.

One of my favorite mediums is paper. It can be cut, layered, and shaped, lending itself very easily to whatever I imagine it to be. Lately, I’ve been using it to create calligraphy cutouts. It started first with individual words, then gradually grew to phrases and quotations. I pick these words based on the imagery and sentiments they inspire, which I then express through the design of the lettering, and the context of the composition. For instance, I created my first calligraphy cutout when I was homesick, and it was the outline of a bear with “California” inside of it, in a curly cursive script that echoed a childhood of practicing penmanship over dotted lines.

I like the challenge of translating intangible things into something visual and tactile. And especially with words, which are read and spoken and heard, transforming them into something that can be touched and that has tangible characteristics gives them not only physical dimension, but another layer of meaning.