Monday, September 16, 2024

Critiquing Art from My Childhood: Age 3, The Butterfly

 


One of my earliest artworks, from approximately age 3.

I am fortunate to have quite a few artworks from my childhood that have survived, either through my mom's careful curation or my tendency to save things. The Butterfly project, which consists of a plastic surface, threaded with yarn, and accompanying plastic frame, is one of the earliest pieces I have. I keep it in a beautiful display cabinet built by my great-great-grandfather because it is precious to me, and I can still quite clearly see my thought process in its completion.

Artist Kim Testone, a.k.a. Kimmy, nearing age 3


An imaginary conversation with my 3-year-old self:

Me, today: Tell me your motivation in creating The Butterfly.

Kimmy: Mumble mumble mumble

Me, today: Sorry, can you repeat that?

Kimmy: It needed to get made so I made it.

Me, today: I see. And did you follow directions?

Kimmy: No, I just made it. 

Me, today: How did you know what to do?

Kimmy: I just made it the way I wanted to. 

Me, today: What about this area right here to the right? It looks a bit different than the left, with some longer loops.

Kimmy: Um, I wanted to make it look like it was flying.

Me, today: Ah, so the loops represent movement.

Kimmy: Yes.

Me, today: And what about your color choices. Tell me about those.

Kimmy: I wanted the butterfly to be pretty, so I made it pretty. 

Me, today: Excellent. Well, I can see you have a lot of projects you are working on now. I'll let you get to it. Thank you for your time!

Kimmy: Okay, bye!

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