Multi-media artist Stacey Chinn uses a variety of material to compose art on an even wider variety of topics
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Stacey Chinn got an initial whiff of her future vocation when her first grade teacher told her she was going to be an artist.
“I guess I was fairly impressionable at the age of 6,” said the multi-media artist, who served as the head of Georgetown College’s sculpture department for three years, and has served as adjunct faculty in the University of Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky art departments.
Chinn is one of over 30 regional female artists who will be presenting work at the upcoming “Femme-A-Nest” group art show, a Gallery Hop event and benefit for The Nest Center for Women, Children and Families, with a general “nesting” theme. Chinn will feature several photographs; an installation representing a dozen “nests” or egg-like forms hanging from clothespins; and A knitted piece that incorporates man-made yarn as well as rubber bands, metal wire, grocery bags and other materials.
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Known for incorporating a variety of unusual materials into her pieces – synthetic hair, fibers, found objects, metal, wool, wood – Chinn says her attention span is much like that of her 5-year-old daughter. “I’ll be working on something and I’ll literally stumble upon something else,” she said.
This was the case with the photographs that she’s including in the Gallery Hop show – she had been traipsing around in a field, looking for a large stick to incorporate into another piece, when she came across a large pile of scrap metal resembling a nest. She took some photos, thinking the images could inspire a “nesting” piece for the show, and then it occurred to her that the photographs themselves were nest-themed works of art.
“When I think about nesting, you take what’s around your environment and make it into something,” she said.
Chinn took some time away from nesting to answer some questions about her art and other interests. For more images and information about Chinn’s art – including a link to her newest line of wearable art, “alter-knit-ive,” visit her website, www.staceyrchinn.com.
What’s currently on your iPod/ CD player/ record table?
Adele, Billie Holiday, Dolly Parton, Mamas and the Papas, Missy Higgins, Pink, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Rufus Wainwright, Vanessa Carlton, Yann Tiersen, and everything in between.
Favorite TV show?
“Project Runway” – hands down.
What are some of your favorite local haunts?
I think downtown, with its assortment of hot spots, has an eclectic vibe. On any given Friday night, however, you’re most likely to find me curled up on my couch, knitting.
You have used lots of different media in your art: sculpture, photography, paintings, textiles. Do you have a favorite medium? Is there one you’d like to pursue but haven’t yet?
I tend to approach making each work by having the thought first, then applying whatever processes or materials best suit the idea. I guess that makes me more of a “Jill of all trades...” The exploratory nature of my work and my interest in experimentation, problem solving, and learning with each new piece leaves little room for mastery, I suppose.
I’d say I am more drawn to three-dimensional works and often try to mingle various media in a singular piece (for example, paintings that have wooden legs, paper that is woven or sewn, or sculptures made completely from knitting). I have yet to create a large‐scale fiber-textile installation, which interests me greatly. Ideas for that are currently gathering force.
Talk a bit about the materials you use – where do you find them? How do you decide which materials to use?
I admit that I have hoarding tendencies, but favor calling myself a “collector.” I will pick up anything that I think may have the potential to be incorporated into a piece. On more than one occasion, I have made a work directly in response to what I have found lying on the sidewalk or that I have climbed over or quite literally stumbled upon in the woods (I also have a thing for nature).
I enjoy using found items and aged things, and choose objects and materials that resonate with me, both man-made and not – things that have a past or connotations of a history, be they prescribed or otherwise. I also use materials and processes that reference tradition and personal narratives – both mine and others’ – and those that engender a more quiet response, as in “It’s What’s for Dinner” (2010), where knitted sausage links protrude from an old meat grinder given to me by my grandmother.
Are there specific themes you tend to explore with your art?
Identity, domesticity, industry, memory, regeneration, relationships, the collective conscience, the human condition, familiarity, repetition, challenging and reassigning traditional materials and methods of production.
Do you employ any sort of rituals or routines to get your creative juices flowing?
Many people have addictions; mine is making art. I think about creating things all the time. I am forever on the lookout for inspiration and consider just about everything around me as fodder for my craving – a good find, a particular conversation, or something I see in a magazine. I especially like it when a revelation about making a work comes from out of the blue, as it often does.
Femme a Nest - a group show of women artists benefiting The Nest
5 - 8 p.m. April 19, during Gallery Hop
Bread Box Studio Artists gallery, 501 W. 6th St.