Artists Share Thoughts On Their Work At 1st Friday
Artists Share Thoughts On Their Work At 1st Friday
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Artists Share Thoughts On Their Work At 1st FridayTwo of the three artists whose work is displayed around downtown Warsaw were happy - but nervous - to talk to the public about their art during First Friday.
Hanging out at the Warsaw Public Arts Commission tent gave Abigail Smith and Chelsea Waltermire an opportunity to meet for the first time, too. The third artist, Sunday Mahaja, was unable to participate in the meet-and-greet.
Waltermire, 22, recently graduated from Manchester University as a studio art major. Her piece in downtown Warsaw is “Vigorous Beauty” made of ceramic, metal and wood.
Talking about the piece, she said, “This is outside of what I’m used to. I don’t usually build full structures like this.”
Her art professor from Manchester University told her about the opportunity to do public art and came up with the ceramic tile idea since Waltermire was in ceramics at the time.
“I did a whole bunch of designs and then - I’ve never actually worked with metal before but I wanted to try it - so my boyfriend’s father, he actually owns a fabrication business. He works with metal all the time. So we sat down and I showed him my designs and he was like, ‘We’ll do that,” Waltermire said.
She put all her designs on his computer program and then he used a plasma cutter to cut them out for her. She then built and stained the wood, screwed it all together and made all the tiles. She also made the roses, though her boyfriend’s father welded the leaves on for her.
“I loved it. It was actually really fun and it’s not what I’m used to at all. I’m used to just drawing and painting,” Waltermire said.
She decided to go with a garden theme because the call to artists from the Warsaw Public Arts Commission said the art would be along or in flower beds.
The “Warsaw” and “Indiana” parts of the piece actually can be replaced if someone wants to buy her art and have other words put in.
“It took me a month and two weeks. That was also including driving back and forth to Manchester to do the ceramic tiles because I don’t have a kiln at home, so I had to drive to school to use the ceramic studio,” Waltermire, who lives in Muncie, said.
While working on the piece was fun, Waltermire said she was more comfortable with painting and drawing.
The Warsaw art installation was the first time her art was displayed publicly.
“Everyone seems to like it so I guess I did OK,” she said.
Smith, who turns 24 in September, has four murals and a sculpture titled “Fractured” downtown.
A 2017 Warsaw Community High School graduate, she attended a year at Butler University, a year at Purdue Fort Wane and is now a student at Purdue in West Lafayette. She is a visual communications design major and just completed her sophomore portfolio review where she had to show all the work she has done to get into the program.
“I am a graphic designer and artist. I kind of pick up whatever I learn and if I like it I try to do more of it,” she said. “I do graphic design but I do have a little bit of metal work as well. I just took a metal-working class and I had so much fun, so I decided to continue that.”
On the murals, Smith said, “One of the stipulations in the proposal was that your artwork had to be interactive with the community. And I thought, ‘Well, how can people interact with digital art?’ So I thought you can print it and make it really big, have people stand in front of it as a backdrop for some pictures or even just to look at it. And even more to interact with it is to have it be a scene that people recognize around the community.”
She really liked a series of posters from the 1920s to promote the London Underground that were in art deco style. They depicted nature scenes and city streets and places that people could visit through transportation.
“I thought I could places that people recognize and that they would like to visit and just be transported through looking at my art and then be encouraged to travel around and find some hidden gems in the city,” Smith said.
Originally, her plan was to just do one mural but she was encouraged to do four. Smith said she was happy that her murals became a series and she developed a style throughout it.
“I’m really happy with how it turned out. I’m really proud of myself,” Smith said.
She always wants to ask people that she talks to which one is their favorite and why.
“And everybody has chosen a different one for different reasons and that’s just even better,” Smith said.
When asked what is her favorite mural, she said that even though orange isn’t one of her favorite colors, she loves how the orange and blue plays out in the Central Park mural with all the shadows.
“I go back and forth. I’m a huge color person so I usually pick off the color, but right now it’s Central Park,” she said.
“Fractured” came about because she just finished a metal-working class and she likes geometric shapes.
The piece has a bird that has just flown through an arch, leaving little pieces of geometric fractures behind it.
“Really, when I think of it, I just imagine going through a hard time so the bird just went through the arch but it leaves beauty behind it. Sometimes you don’t look back at the hard times and see how you grew from it. Everybody can relate to going through hard times, but trying to find the silver lining,” she said.
Viewing the piece, she said you’re supposed to look through the arch and kaleidoscope and see even more fractures of life.
The whole art installation process has made Smith think about whether she wants to be an artist for herself or for other people and trying to find the line between business and passion.
“I always worry that my art isn’t good enough, but nobody else can do what I do and nobody else - everybody is unique and they have their own unique perspective so I hope I continue to learn from that and stay true to myself,” she said.
