Interview Summary
This person selected an artwork they created in their freshmen year of high school. It was a project done by them and their sewing group, where they couldn’t use fabric. So, they created a dress out of sheet music.
This dress was vivid to them because it was a stressful experience, and they chose flute sheet music specially because they played the flute. This artwork was one of their more memorable pieces, and they treasure the memories in their studio. This artwork was done between both their home and studio, with help from the teacher.
In the beginning, this person was excited, but it progressed into stress, and it became challenging for them. At the end, they felt relief, joy, and an excitement to show their teacher and classmates the final product. This person’s low point was deciding the material for the dress, but their high point was when they figured out the best choice. With this artwork, this person learned to open themselves to new ideas. The dress made them proud to show it to others, wanting to show everyone who helped them complete it.
This experience did not affect their understanding of others or “the world”. They learned that they may have been a little egotistical than they thought they were in the beginning of the project. They did not learn anything about ultimate meaning or perceived a reality beyond the physical or material world. They were 14 years old when they created their artwork and perceive it as fairly good for their age.
Interview Transcript
Interviewer: Okay. So, we'd like you to think about an artwork that you created, that's especially meaningful to you. The artwork would be from any of the following domains: painting, drawing, such as graphic design or illustration, sculpture, stained glass, installation, music, songs, dance, performance, art, film, literature, such as poetry or drama, theater, fashion, crafts, mixed media, furniture, design, architecture, interior design, plastic arts, or another artwork we have not mentioned. The artwork does not necessarily have to be the most important to you, but it should be meaningful and emotionally salient.
Participant: I was in my freshman year of high school or going into my freshman year of high school. I worked at an art studio where our teacher and the owner were a textile artist. So, in our group we would do a project runway every month. And so, for that month we decided to do a kind of avant-garde, and the theme was that you couldn't use fabric to create your piece. So, I chose to make a dress out of sheet music.
That was particularly vivid to me, because I remember I was like agonizing over what material I should use because she said, it doesn't have to be permanently wearable.
I went up to our local music store, and I said, “Hey? Do you guys have any books like old piano books, any kind of music that's for sale or that you're throwing out?” And I they were like. “Oh, yeah, sure!” They took me to the back, and I got too looked through all of these like piano pieces, and I play the flute so I thought it'd be really neat if I could make the dress out of flute music.
I tore every sheet out of the book, and stitched them together into fabric, so assembling pieces together, folding paper. Just to create all those details.
It was probably one of the more difficult pieces I've ever made for that group, but it was just super fun, and it was like crazy just to see what other what the other girls had made for the theme.
Interviewer: Great. Thank you. You already talked a little bit about this. But did you want to say anything more about why you chose this particular artwork? And if there's anything about the genre or medium that was especially meaningful or distinguishing.
Participant: Yeah, so I chose this artwork because I thought it was probably one of my more memorable pieces. I thought about choosing other outfits I designed, but I thought that this one might be the best fitting for the study, and just it was something that I could remember well.
I've been sewing for like quite a long time, and it's just something that I really enjoy the aesthetics of it, and looking for new inspiration, seeing what other people have designed.
I mean, I just feel like it's very blissful going into like a fabric store going to like a thrift store to look for pieces to upcycle or saying like, “oh, what could I do with this?”
It was nice having the teacher’s guidance, because really, she let us have free range over what our project would be. She would just say, you have to fit the theme. So, you know if it was the theme with cities, I'd go to a thrift store. I'd say, okay, New York. Let's go find urban pieces or let's go find pieces that have a certain color scheme.
And I just really treasure these memories with my studio and with the other students, teachers, and artists I worked with there.
Interviewer: Great. Now, could you please tell me about the experience and process of creating the artwork by answering the following series of questions.
So, what led up to its creation and what motivated you to create it?
Participant: Well, I mean, I was part of the sewing group, and every month we had a project that we had to create a piece fitting a theme, so the theme of course, was non-fabric materials. I looked at other pieces I had seen the project runway dresses in New York that were made out of candy, and I thought about that, and I was like I don't think I really want to go towards food or like perishable products that might take too long.
I kind of want to delve away from something that would require a lot of hot glue so I thought maybe that would be one messy and two not as cost-efficient. So, I was looking for something cost efficient at the time as well, since I was a student, and I didn't really have a ton of funding funds for this.
So, I looked at what are things that I like, or I enjoy, or something I'm already knowledgeable about that could possibly be used as a material.
And I was a youth orchestra as a flute flautist, so I was like, okay, let's try sheet music. That's papers similar to fabric we can. I've stitched paper together before because that's how you teach beginners how to sew on a machine.
Interviewer: Great! And you've also already touched on this. But I wanted to give you the chance to add anything else about when and where did the work happen? And who was involved besides you?
Participant: Yeah. So, my sewing teacher, Kelly Larson, was involved. We would meet twice a week at the studio, and she has like a range of sewing machines. But I also have a sewing machine at home, and equipment, and all that. So, I started at the studio, brainstormed, then went home, experimented with materials, went off to the music store, got the beat sheet music, and then it was between the studio of like designing, trying to figure out kind of how I was going to go about using the fabric or fabric sheet music. And then coming going back home, experimenting with my mannequin, and just kind of working through it. So, I think I’d say a lot of the like mental work happened at the studio, as well as some experimentation. But at home was where the brunt of the assembly, and the cutting.
Interviewer: Great, thank you. What were you thinking and feeling at different times throughout the process of creating the artwork? For example, beginning middle and end?
Participant: Yeah. So, in the beginning I was really excited because I thought this was going to be a really cool project, and then it kind of devolved a little bit into stress as the weeks and days went on, and I was like, oh, how am I going to? What material am I going to use?
I thought this could be super fun. This is kind of stressful. And then once I finally like found this material, after all those like brainstorming experiments.
It was really fun a little bit. It was challenging and frustrating definitely. If you know paper rips, or you know, you're trying to assemble all these pieces together, and it's they're not staying together like you know the papers it's tearing at the seam. So you have to find that nice balance between the stitching, making sure the stitching is not so tight that as the paper undergoes more stress, it just kind of frays, and but making sure that it stays together enough to hold itself as a garment, even if it's not going to be on a person, maybe just on a mannequin, and then at the end there was a lot of relief, a lot of ah joy, kind of excitement.
So, I was so excited to show my teacher this dress I had created, you know, pointing out all the details like, oh, it's like the bodice is made in this style, and the skirt. The frills here are made it out of full pleated pieces of paper
And then finally, just like plateau of relief.
Interviewer: Great, Thank you. Can you describe any particular high points, low points, or challenges, or turning points along the way?
Participant: Low point, I guess, was that I was definitely stressed to decide on the material. But then, once I got working, it was kind of a little overwhelming, because I couldn't decide if I was going to stitch every piece of paper together into form fabric, or, if I was going to like, stitch the piece of the paper, one by one, to form the different parts of the piece.
So instead of like making my own fabric, it's like I would make the skirt sheet by sheet by sheet. Um, and that was kind of. There's a little bit there a little. There are a couple of tiers there, as I decided, like as I was like agonizing over it now. Wasn't getting like maybe the shape of the silhouette I wanted. But then, like high point when I kind of figured out the best solution, which was time consuming, but well worth it in the end.
And then um just kind of deciding the details. So now it's like Oh, the main part is done. Now I can go on to do accents to make it feel more like a garment and less like a sculpture.
So that was really fun researching like the different kinds of flowers, or like what I could make with origami just to add those details to make it really like pop
Interviewer: Great. So, let's talk about the impact of the artwork on yourself and others.
What did you learn from the process of creating this artwork? Did you learn anything about yourself?
Participant: I think I definitely learned more about how I thought of things because I definitely went into this thinking it’s going to be similar to making another piece. I'm just like, oh, it's just not fabric like, but I can just make something similar to fabric. I definitely had, like a one-track viewpoint into how this was going to go.
But after some trials and tribulations I opened myself up to newer ideas. I had a kind of preconception of how this project was going to go, and it definitely went wildly away from where I thought how I thought it was going to happen. I thought it was going to be kind of a cut and paste, you know, pretty straightforward. With some difficulty assembling, but I definitely learned that I shouldn't go into a project thinking I know exactly how it's going to play out from start to finish. I should just keep myself open to changes in the workflow.
Interviewer: Okay, Great. So how did others receive the artwork? For example, what were their reactions? And did you intend that this work to affect others or the world in any particular way?
Participant: Um, I don't think I intended for it to affect the world in a particular way. But I was definitely very proud to show it off at our fashion show at the end of a six-month period, after we had each made a piece each month,
And I was definitely, very proud to show it to my teachers say like, oh, this is what I've accomplished. My mother also helped me, so she was used to work in like fashion marketing. So, she kind of helped me, you know, drove me around all these places I was looking,
So, I was very pleased to like finally, be like this is the finished product like It's finished like you've helped me through this, and then showing the other girls and my friends in the class. We were all pleased to show each other what we had made.
Another one of like my loves, my friend, who made it out of tea bags. I guess she was really into tea. I didn't know that about her, but she was like she was very gleeful, telling me about the different types of tea she had chosen for her dress.
Interviewer: Great. And did your experience affect your understanding of others or the world.
Participant: I don't think so.
I mean, I guess I learned more about some of the other girls in our group with their projects, but I don't think it really affected my understanding of the world.
Interviewer: Yeah, that's fine. So, when some people think about themselves, they see some parts of themselves as deeply true, real, or authentic. If this idea resonates with you. Did you learn anything about your true nature during the process? Did you have any insights about your own authentic or inauthentic self?
Participant: I thought I was a better seamstress than I actually was at the time. I was very confident. Going into the project. I came out proud, but a little bit draggled by the end of it,
It showed that I was a little bit more egotistical than I thought I was. At the beginning I was very confident this was going to be a easy, or it was going to be a fun, and I definitely learned that it was not, and that I overestimated my confidence and ability at the time.
Interviewer: Okay, Great. Thank you. So, some people believe in ultimate meaning. This is defined as deep underlying meaning that transcends subjective personal meeting.
It is about the nature of existence and identity, and it may include ideas about the significance of suffering as well as spirituality.
If this idea resonates with you. Did you learn anything about ultimate meaning during the process?
Participant: No, I'm sorry I did not. I did not feel like I learned anything about ultimate meaning.
Interviewer: Okay, Sure. Okay. Thank you. So, some people believe or perceive a reality beyond the physical or material world. This may include religious beliefs and experiences, such as perceived interactions with God, but also may include mystical or transcendent experiences or interaction with spirits.
Did you have any kind of these experiences during the creation of the artwork.
Participant: No.
Interviewer: Okay. So even if you did not have an experience like this, you may have felt some sort of inspiration, guidance, or encouragement from the non-physical or supernatural? Or you may have felt some sense of presence or connection. Did you have any kinds of these experiences during the creation of the artwork?
Participant: No.
Interviewer: Thank you. Just a few follow up questions. I think you may have already mentioned this, but how old were you when you created the artwork?
Participant: Um, let’s see I was going into my freshman year, so I would have been fourteen.
Interviewer: Okay. And then how do you perceive the quality of the work?
Participant: Um, nowadays I probably don't think it's that high quality, but as a fourteen-year-old seamstress I think it was uh fairly good, although some a little rough around the edges, I think it showed my ability.
Interviewer: Great. And then I just wanted to follow up really quick about if you wanted to mention anything else about what was going on in your life around the time that you created the artwork.
Participant: Nothing big was going around that time.
This person selected an artwork they created in their freshmen year of high school. It was a project done by them and their sewing group, where they couldn’t use fabric. So, they created a dress out of sheet music.
This dress was vivid to them because it was a stressful experience, and they chose flute sheet music specially because they played the flute. This artwork was one of their more memorable pieces, and they treasure the memories in their studio. This artwork was done between both their home and studio, with help from the teacher.
In the beginning, this person was excited, but it progressed into stress, and it became challenging for them. At the end, they felt relief, joy, and an excitement to show their teacher and classmates the final product. This person’s low point was deciding the material for the dress, but their high point was when they figured out the best choice. With this artwork, this person learned to open themselves to new ideas. The dress made them proud to show it to others, wanting to show everyone who helped them complete it.
This experience did not affect their understanding of others or “the world”. They learned that they may have been a little egotistical than they thought they were in the beginning of the project. They did not learn anything about ultimate meaning or perceived a reality beyond the physical or material world. They were 14 years old when they created their artwork and perceive it as fairly good for their age.
Interview Transcript
Interviewer: Okay. So, we'd like you to think about an artwork that you created, that's especially meaningful to you. The artwork would be from any of the following domains: painting, drawing, such as graphic design or illustration, sculpture, stained glass, installation, music, songs, dance, performance, art, film, literature, such as poetry or drama, theater, fashion, crafts, mixed media, furniture, design, architecture, interior design, plastic arts, or another artwork we have not mentioned. The artwork does not necessarily have to be the most important to you, but it should be meaningful and emotionally salient.
Participant: I was in my freshman year of high school or going into my freshman year of high school. I worked at an art studio where our teacher and the owner were a textile artist. So, in our group we would do a project runway every month. And so, for that month we decided to do a kind of avant-garde, and the theme was that you couldn't use fabric to create your piece. So, I chose to make a dress out of sheet music.
That was particularly vivid to me, because I remember I was like agonizing over what material I should use because she said, it doesn't have to be permanently wearable.
I went up to our local music store, and I said, “Hey? Do you guys have any books like old piano books, any kind of music that's for sale or that you're throwing out?” And I they were like. “Oh, yeah, sure!” They took me to the back, and I got too looked through all of these like piano pieces, and I play the flute so I thought it'd be really neat if I could make the dress out of flute music.
I tore every sheet out of the book, and stitched them together into fabric, so assembling pieces together, folding paper. Just to create all those details.
It was probably one of the more difficult pieces I've ever made for that group, but it was just super fun, and it was like crazy just to see what other what the other girls had made for the theme.
Interviewer: Great. Thank you. You already talked a little bit about this. But did you want to say anything more about why you chose this particular artwork? And if there's anything about the genre or medium that was especially meaningful or distinguishing.
Participant: Yeah, so I chose this artwork because I thought it was probably one of my more memorable pieces. I thought about choosing other outfits I designed, but I thought that this one might be the best fitting for the study, and just it was something that I could remember well.
I've been sewing for like quite a long time, and it's just something that I really enjoy the aesthetics of it, and looking for new inspiration, seeing what other people have designed.
I mean, I just feel like it's very blissful going into like a fabric store going to like a thrift store to look for pieces to upcycle or saying like, “oh, what could I do with this?”
It was nice having the teacher’s guidance, because really, she let us have free range over what our project would be. She would just say, you have to fit the theme. So, you know if it was the theme with cities, I'd go to a thrift store. I'd say, okay, New York. Let's go find urban pieces or let's go find pieces that have a certain color scheme.
And I just really treasure these memories with my studio and with the other students, teachers, and artists I worked with there.
Interviewer: Great. Now, could you please tell me about the experience and process of creating the artwork by answering the following series of questions.
So, what led up to its creation and what motivated you to create it?
Participant: Well, I mean, I was part of the sewing group, and every month we had a project that we had to create a piece fitting a theme, so the theme of course, was non-fabric materials. I looked at other pieces I had seen the project runway dresses in New York that were made out of candy, and I thought about that, and I was like I don't think I really want to go towards food or like perishable products that might take too long.
I kind of want to delve away from something that would require a lot of hot glue so I thought maybe that would be one messy and two not as cost-efficient. So, I was looking for something cost efficient at the time as well, since I was a student, and I didn't really have a ton of funding funds for this.
So, I looked at what are things that I like, or I enjoy, or something I'm already knowledgeable about that could possibly be used as a material.
And I was a youth orchestra as a flute flautist, so I was like, okay, let's try sheet music. That's papers similar to fabric we can. I've stitched paper together before because that's how you teach beginners how to sew on a machine.
Interviewer: Great! And you've also already touched on this. But I wanted to give you the chance to add anything else about when and where did the work happen? And who was involved besides you?
Participant: Yeah. So, my sewing teacher, Kelly Larson, was involved. We would meet twice a week at the studio, and she has like a range of sewing machines. But I also have a sewing machine at home, and equipment, and all that. So, I started at the studio, brainstormed, then went home, experimented with materials, went off to the music store, got the beat sheet music, and then it was between the studio of like designing, trying to figure out kind of how I was going to go about using the fabric or fabric sheet music. And then coming going back home, experimenting with my mannequin, and just kind of working through it. So, I think I’d say a lot of the like mental work happened at the studio, as well as some experimentation. But at home was where the brunt of the assembly, and the cutting.
Interviewer: Great, thank you. What were you thinking and feeling at different times throughout the process of creating the artwork? For example, beginning middle and end?
Participant: Yeah. So, in the beginning I was really excited because I thought this was going to be a really cool project, and then it kind of devolved a little bit into stress as the weeks and days went on, and I was like, oh, how am I going to? What material am I going to use?
I thought this could be super fun. This is kind of stressful. And then once I finally like found this material, after all those like brainstorming experiments.
It was really fun a little bit. It was challenging and frustrating definitely. If you know paper rips, or you know, you're trying to assemble all these pieces together, and it's they're not staying together like you know the papers it's tearing at the seam. So you have to find that nice balance between the stitching, making sure the stitching is not so tight that as the paper undergoes more stress, it just kind of frays, and but making sure that it stays together enough to hold itself as a garment, even if it's not going to be on a person, maybe just on a mannequin, and then at the end there was a lot of relief, a lot of ah joy, kind of excitement.
So, I was so excited to show my teacher this dress I had created, you know, pointing out all the details like, oh, it's like the bodice is made in this style, and the skirt. The frills here are made it out of full pleated pieces of paper
And then finally, just like plateau of relief.
Interviewer: Great, Thank you. Can you describe any particular high points, low points, or challenges, or turning points along the way?
Participant: Low point, I guess, was that I was definitely stressed to decide on the material. But then, once I got working, it was kind of a little overwhelming, because I couldn't decide if I was going to stitch every piece of paper together into form fabric, or, if I was going to like, stitch the piece of the paper, one by one, to form the different parts of the piece.
So instead of like making my own fabric, it's like I would make the skirt sheet by sheet by sheet. Um, and that was kind of. There's a little bit there a little. There are a couple of tiers there, as I decided, like as I was like agonizing over it now. Wasn't getting like maybe the shape of the silhouette I wanted. But then, like high point when I kind of figured out the best solution, which was time consuming, but well worth it in the end.
And then um just kind of deciding the details. So now it's like Oh, the main part is done. Now I can go on to do accents to make it feel more like a garment and less like a sculpture.
So that was really fun researching like the different kinds of flowers, or like what I could make with origami just to add those details to make it really like pop
Interviewer: Great. So, let's talk about the impact of the artwork on yourself and others.
What did you learn from the process of creating this artwork? Did you learn anything about yourself?
Participant: I think I definitely learned more about how I thought of things because I definitely went into this thinking it’s going to be similar to making another piece. I'm just like, oh, it's just not fabric like, but I can just make something similar to fabric. I definitely had, like a one-track viewpoint into how this was going to go.
But after some trials and tribulations I opened myself up to newer ideas. I had a kind of preconception of how this project was going to go, and it definitely went wildly away from where I thought how I thought it was going to happen. I thought it was going to be kind of a cut and paste, you know, pretty straightforward. With some difficulty assembling, but I definitely learned that I shouldn't go into a project thinking I know exactly how it's going to play out from start to finish. I should just keep myself open to changes in the workflow.
Interviewer: Okay, Great. So how did others receive the artwork? For example, what were their reactions? And did you intend that this work to affect others or the world in any particular way?
Participant: Um, I don't think I intended for it to affect the world in a particular way. But I was definitely very proud to show it off at our fashion show at the end of a six-month period, after we had each made a piece each month,
And I was definitely, very proud to show it to my teachers say like, oh, this is what I've accomplished. My mother also helped me, so she was used to work in like fashion marketing. So, she kind of helped me, you know, drove me around all these places I was looking,
So, I was very pleased to like finally, be like this is the finished product like It's finished like you've helped me through this, and then showing the other girls and my friends in the class. We were all pleased to show each other what we had made.
Another one of like my loves, my friend, who made it out of tea bags. I guess she was really into tea. I didn't know that about her, but she was like she was very gleeful, telling me about the different types of tea she had chosen for her dress.
Interviewer: Great. And did your experience affect your understanding of others or the world.
Participant: I don't think so.
I mean, I guess I learned more about some of the other girls in our group with their projects, but I don't think it really affected my understanding of the world.
Interviewer: Yeah, that's fine. So, when some people think about themselves, they see some parts of themselves as deeply true, real, or authentic. If this idea resonates with you. Did you learn anything about your true nature during the process? Did you have any insights about your own authentic or inauthentic self?
Participant: I thought I was a better seamstress than I actually was at the time. I was very confident. Going into the project. I came out proud, but a little bit draggled by the end of it,
It showed that I was a little bit more egotistical than I thought I was. At the beginning I was very confident this was going to be a easy, or it was going to be a fun, and I definitely learned that it was not, and that I overestimated my confidence and ability at the time.
Interviewer: Okay, Great. Thank you. So, some people believe in ultimate meaning. This is defined as deep underlying meaning that transcends subjective personal meeting.
It is about the nature of existence and identity, and it may include ideas about the significance of suffering as well as spirituality.
If this idea resonates with you. Did you learn anything about ultimate meaning during the process?
Participant: No, I'm sorry I did not. I did not feel like I learned anything about ultimate meaning.
Interviewer: Okay, Sure. Okay. Thank you. So, some people believe or perceive a reality beyond the physical or material world. This may include religious beliefs and experiences, such as perceived interactions with God, but also may include mystical or transcendent experiences or interaction with spirits.
Did you have any kind of these experiences during the creation of the artwork.
Participant: No.
Interviewer: Okay. So even if you did not have an experience like this, you may have felt some sort of inspiration, guidance, or encouragement from the non-physical or supernatural? Or you may have felt some sense of presence or connection. Did you have any kinds of these experiences during the creation of the artwork?
Participant: No.
Interviewer: Thank you. Just a few follow up questions. I think you may have already mentioned this, but how old were you when you created the artwork?
Participant: Um, let’s see I was going into my freshman year, so I would have been fourteen.
Interviewer: Okay. And then how do you perceive the quality of the work?
Participant: Um, nowadays I probably don't think it's that high quality, but as a fourteen-year-old seamstress I think it was uh fairly good, although some a little rough around the edges, I think it showed my ability.
Interviewer: Great. And then I just wanted to follow up really quick about if you wanted to mention anything else about what was going on in your life around the time that you created the artwork.
Participant: Nothing big was going around that time.
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