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EAST Interview: Christine Terrell of Adaptive reUse
Adaptive reUse will be a guest at Studio 1480, 1408 Cloverleaf Drive during the East Austin Studio Tour on Saturday, November 22 and Sunday, November 23..
Tell us a little about your background and training?
Christine: I have a graphic design degree from RIT in Rochester, New York. I worked as a designer for a decade in New York City and Austin. Toward the end of that period I was getting restless with corporate work and started to take welding and blacksmithing classes at Austin Community College (which I highly recommend to anyone). I've always been a maker and avid reader/collector of art/craft/design books and magazines. I'm kind of a technique junkie, so when I find a new one, I have to try it out.
What got you started with making jewelry?
Christine: The metals classes at ACC really struck a chord with me. Strangely enough, I was totally focused on the welding and never even considered taking any jewelry classes there. However, the process of transforming metal from it's raw(ish) state into something that is functional, and even possibly beautiful, is the same. I was hooked from day one.
Where do you find or recover the materials you use to make your pieces?
Christine: Every now and then I score one or two out of the steel bins at Ecology Action, but mostly I find all my tins at thrift stores. Now that I have been doing this a while, friends and family save them for me or pick them up if they find a cool one. I also have a thrift store buddy that uses them to collect his own treasures in as he's digging through bins and then he hands the tins off to me.
My absolute favorite tins originally housed Fossil watches. It's kind of a big cheat to use them in my work because they are already so well designed, but I'm learning to get over that and just be thankful.
I have been really amazed to discover just how many things are packaged in steel containers. The most surprising one to me is board games. Of course, for my work it's a total score to find a Simpsons tin covered with practically every character that's ever been on the show. From an environmental perspective it's disheartening to think we're using resources in such a callow way.
Did you set out with a purpose to reuse and upcycle or is it a happy result of working with a unique medium?
Christine: Before adaptive reUse was about all things metal, it was about all things paint sample cards. I made wallets and belts and such from woven paint swatch cards for a couple of years. So, I'm not sure I've always been about reuse, but certainly it's been a personal theme within this past decade. Plus, I grew up in Maine so I'm a certified Yankee which means I come from a long line of proudly cheap people. It's somewhat serendipitous that my inclination to repurpose is dovetailing into that of the collective psyche.
Circles seem to be a theme in your work. Can you explain why?
Christine: The simple answer is that I have a bad-ass circle punch. The more complete answer is that I've always been interested in regularity, pattern and geometric forms. I recently read a book called "Decoding Design" by Maggie Mcnab that clued me into the fact that I actually like and appreciate math. For some reason, I had never figured that out. Anyway, the circle is just so basic that it's strangely flexible. It's a point. It's a circle. It's a dot. It's a loop. Combine them all endlessly.
East Austin Studio Tour
November 22 and 23, 10 AM - 5 PM both days, Free!
Tour Information and Map found at www.eastaustinstudiotour.com
