Pivots
Posted on March 09 2023
Eight months ago I made a gut-wrenching decision. I decided to give up papercutting, the art form I had dedicated over ten years of my life. Years of being hunched over making tiny cuts with my xacto knife began causing me agonizing chronic pain. But what comes next? I am an artist, and artists must make art. So, what do you do when you can’t create what you’ve always made and loved?
That question gave me nights of insomnia as anxiety overtook me. My family and friends suggested laser cutting, which would yield the same result but the process would be completely different. And I’m a process-girl. I love working with my hands doing something others would consider tedious. Working all day on the computer preparing files to be laser cut was not the answer.
After weeks of terrible confusion, I was in the shower when I suddenly thought about a dried fern leaf we had displayed in a glass frame in our living room. Already incorporating the shapes of leaves and flowers in my papercuts, I had the thought, “What if I just made my art with plants?” It seemed a little crazy, but something about it felt right. Trying to figure out how I could make archival art out of the greenery in my backyard, I did months of research. And then I did the scariest thing of all. I started something new.
And here it is. My first concept is finished, and it has already given birth to a million new ideas and directions. I think that’s a good sign. There’s still a lot to explore, but I have completed that first, gigantic step of making something new.
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