Steffany Ng

Making ___________?

Oh, the wonders of being able to create but what should I make today?

That is a daily s t r u g g l e (struggle) but also one of the daily tasks that keeps my mind going. One of my main drives, in order to figure out what to make, is by looking and consuming different media or not doing anything at all. Besides, not everything I make is art(in my opinion) but making it makes me happy. Enjoying the process of learning and the outcome is my main focus and I want others to enjoy my work as much as I do or at least a little. Let me show you a peek into my making process.

Here are some photos of the ceiling light in my room.

The ceiling is nice 🙂

Edit(11/05/2020): Revisiting an idea is always nice. I made work out of it!

Colors…COLORS! I love colors and my work relies heavily on them. _{I would like to recommend you this twitter thread if you want to know how interesting colors are!}

Below is a sample of my work POV 2020 that explores the contrast between dark colors and really bright saturated ones. Not only do I work with colors but I also like exploring different ways to present my work. 

Left?

Center?

Right?

Maybe you have to walk(highlight to see the answer) to see?

                                                                            Yes                                                                           

_{I’ll make you work to see art because that way is more fun}

Why? Because reality gets boring sometimes.

Now that you’ve seen a bit of my work, here is another interesting theme that I was made aware of recently thanks to my peers(it’s good to hear someone else other than yourself).

Built environments! Yes, structures and places made by humans for humans. I come from a small city called Ambato, which is located in Ecuador, and we don’t see many skyscrapers or actually none at all.

Can you believe how amazed I am every time I see Downtown Seattle?

I enjoy looking up and appreciating the structures but more than that is the colors that the buildings reflect and how they interact with one another and the environment.

Can’t picture what I mean?

Here are some Google Maps’ screenshots to explain it

               |                                                           sitting                                                        |

               |            thinking                                                                                                   |

               |                                                                              stop thinking about it         |

               |                     come back some other time                                                        |

               |                                                                     do something not related to art |

               |                                                have a spark                                                        |

               |                                                                                                  write it down    |

               |               think about it(probably when walking or in bed)                        |

               |                                                                                   try the idea                      |

               |                leave it aside                                                                                      |

               |                                                                       think about a new idea             |

               |                                     go back to some other project                                   |

               |         do things to sustain yourself                                                                 |

rinse and repeat in any order

——————————————————————————————————–

Was that hard to read?

Congrats! That’s also how hard it is to create.

You thought I was going to give you a bullet list of how I make my work?

Nope, but I’ll give you a bullet list of how I approach my works!

• I myself don’t have a specific follow to a T kind of routine.
• I think about projects anytime while doing something else, you know.
• Take a break from art and it will come back at you better sometimes.
• Or not.
• Just try it and if it works GOOD if it doesn’t, GOOD TOO.
• Maybe your skills/materials are not the best for that idea.
• You tried it and now you know.
• BUT don’t worry, you can always come back to that idea.
• I do that a lot.
• There are so many tiny ideas that pop into my mind and some of my work have been things that I wanted to make before but couldn’t at the time.
• Now, I revisited them, figured some of the flaws, and made them work.
• I think that the most important thing from all these routine things is to try and fail.

That’s my making.

Not that long, right?

Here is a long(physically) work that I made.

I call it Journey 2020 and this was fun to work in because I got to see what others did on top of it.

Can’t create?

I’ll give you a medium!

I only provided the notebook and markers. All the drawings were made by students or anyone that visited Odegaard. I cleaned the notebook every week and did it for 3 weeks. It was a pleasant surprise to see people interacting with it.

_{I was happy that it worked!}

I had to work a bit to keep Journey running but it’s more entertaining that way.

I could talk about how my art is made but you’ll be listening to me for hours and nobody wants that lol

Not everything goes as planned but here is another one that I made recently using the ceiling lights idea!

The pandemic is really making it hard to make my work entertaining and interactive when no one can touch things but I’ll take it as a challenge.

Endless Suffering 2020

Truly our lives right now in this pandemic.

Going by the digital feeling of everything here is another work that requires you to move(drag) around to see it.

This is Two Sides 2020

I don’t work with only my head(I don’t know everything, ok?). That is why references and inspirations are important for me(and for you too) because I(we) grow as an artist but also as a person.

Below is a simplified version of my recent inspirations that have developed my skill and craft at the moment but that’s also a work in progress(as it should be!).