Artist of the Week: Rebecca Hsieh
Presenting our Kindred Artist of the Week series! We are big fans of all the artists we work with and we are so excited to share their stories!
This week we are featuring local artist and member of the KP crew, Rebecca Hsieh! I like to say that Rebecca is like Etsy but a real person; is there a craft or a cuteness she doesn't do?? Rebecca has been crocheting vegetables and fillings galore for an interactive ramen-inspired NOOD photo booth featuring you and all your friends, open tonight during First Friday from 4:30-7pm! Come through!
Who are you?
I am an educator, artist, aerialist, and dabbler of things.
What do you do?
I like to try new art mediums which is not great for my studio space since I have accumulated quite a bit of materials. My focus though is in fiber arts particularly in contemporary embroidery and crochet.
Who/what inspires you?
Like many millennials these days, I find inspiration in nature, traveling, plants, textures, food, and my pets. I will often stop walking on the trail to crouch down and look at what's growing - a patch of moss with tiny mushrooms starting to sprout and yet, it looks like a whole little world. Especially living in Juneau, it's hard not to be inspired by all the nature around me not only by how it looks but also by how it feels. I like to feel the surfaces of rocks, trees, and leaves; or how squishy the ground is beneath my feet. It's also really hard for me not to touch all the yarn walking down the aisle in a craft store. I also love food - cooking it, eating it, making crocheted replications of it - the possibilities are endless.
What’s your favorite moment in the process?
I'm very product oriented so my satisfaction usually comes at the end. When I'm crocheting, there comes a moment where I add the eyes and a mouth and all of a sudden, it becomes 10x cuter. When I'm embroidering, it's really gratifying when all these lines of thread becomes a picture.
What’s a trick of your trade, or a piece of advice for other artists in your medium?
The wonderful thing about crochet as an art form is that it is incredibly easy to restart and fix mistakes without wasting any materials. There's always a redo.
What’s next?
I have a plan to do a series of various social justice oriented embroidery pieces where a profit of each piece would go towards an organization that corresponds with the theme of the piece. I have also started making cards with hand carved stamps - so designing more to have a bigger collection to span the greeting card world.
See the complete ramen collection for sale and for props at Rebecca's NOODS photo booth tonight at Kindred Post from 4:30-7pm! Plus, more here!