Finding Beauty in Bad Things: Porcelain Vine
Carved Wood
Venue: Devos Place
Artist: Fraser Smith
Age: 54
Home City: Sandy Beach, Florida
What was your inspiration for the piece?
“I did this quilt design based on the porcelain vine plant, which I saw in my host’s backyard when I was at ArtPrize last year. I saw it and it’s got these great berries on it, like all different colors… Then I went and found out that it’s invasive, it covers other plants and kills them, it is not a nice plant to have around because of the way it propagates itself. It’s dangerous to other plants…It’s a beautiful plant, but it’s a bad plant, too. And that’s the inspiration.”
How long did it take to create your entry?
“It took about 1100 hours, and it was over the course of about 7 months…”
What was the hardest part about creating your entry?
“The challenging part is the tedium of sanding it. That is what really kinda drives you crazy, is how am I going to sand this thing to look like a cloth, or a bunch of cloth, when it’s really just a big block of wood?”
How are people reacting to your entry?
“Everybody that sees it says it’s amazing, they love it.”
What would you do with the money if you won?
“I would probably take a break from doing this and work on a couple of other ideas that I’ve had in my head for a long time that have nothing to do with this…and I’ve got those things there that I want to do. It would give me a chance to sort of take a break and do that…”
By Jacquelyn Zeman
