For our first interview of the 2020 Delaware Fun-A-Day, we talk to new co-lead Katherine (Katie) LeCocq about arts advocacy, positivity public art displays, Barrel of Makers, and working with gold leaf! Thanks, Katie!
Be sure to check out our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for updates on the progress of our interviewees! And make sure you check your email (and this site) for important information on drop off, the event, and art pick up!
We like to know how people are connected to Delaware Fun a Day - are you a resident, born and raised? What opportunities have you found being in the exhibit?
I’m not even from this coast, actually. I grew up in Seattle Washington and came over here for college. The Delaware Fun-A-Day was the first thing I learned about Wilmington before moving here in 2016. When I mentioned my impending move to an acquaintance, she told me about participating in the Fun-A-Day when it was hosted at the Oddity Bar. I got to participate for the 2017 show and have been going strong ever since! Each time I meet someone I wouldn’t have encountered otherwise, gaining friendships and inspiration to create more. I have also gained a better understanding of my own limitations, more precisely, how I was limiting myself. The number of pieces seemed daunting and unattainable. But I accomplished the goals each time and walked away with a body of work that I used after the Fun-A-Day shows, expanding on my initial focus of the challenge.
This is going to be your FOURTH year participating! Can you describe your favorite past Fun-A-Day project?
My favorite one thus far would be my second Fun-A-Day, “Fox Love”. I was particularly proud of how I dealt with the odd number of days in the month. The first day I fitted all the parts as a whole and created an abstract pattern with gold leaf, weaving all the subsequent parts together for the final product. Then each day I painted foxes with watercolor and ink. I was quite pleased with the finished piece and ended up framing it and displaying it in several juried shows in the region. The other projects were more individual. While I was able to use them after the show by either framing them, donating some to various 6x6 fundraisers, or incorporating them into other works, neither of them ended as cohesively as “Fox Love”.
This is your first year as a Fun-A-Day co-lead. What made you want to step up from participant to fellow organizer?
I look forward to the event each year, and adore the openness of the event. There is such a sense of delight and pride that shines from the participants at that opening party - I find it intoxicating. It is a big job getting all the parts to fit together to pull off an event of this scale, and I found out the organizer, Meredith, had done the whole thing by herself last year. She did an amazing job, but nobody should have to volunteer all that work by themselves. I am passionate about the mission and so I wanted to help share the burdens this year.
Why do you believe that Arts Advocacy is so vital and important to our growth as a society? Aside from making art, do you have any advice on how others can bolster our collective efforts for more and more arts representation?
Every person has their own point of view and aesthetic. I treasure each of these voices and think they should be celebrated. I think artistic and creative expression is the product of a personal journey and I laud those with the courage to display the fruits of that journey in front of others. That heroism gives each viewer permission to confront their own personal journey and discover ways it intersects with other people. Art at its best forces us to see the world differently and often question our preconceptions of the world and our part in it. There are ugly things and beautiful things within each human being and recognizing both are essential to growth. The arts in its various forms offer a venue where that process can happen. It becomes not only a vehicle of growth for the individual, but a pathway for connecting with those around us.
Get out there and connect. Be bold. Allow both yourself and others their ugliness. Learn from it and turn it into beauty. Don’t take everything too seriously either. Art isn’t as stuffy as some would like you to think. If something strikes you funny go ahead and laugh. Humor is an amazing unifying force. Oh yeah, and buy local art.
Elaborate on your experiences in the arts community and the non-profit community. We want to hear more about your passion and involvement.
I had the incredible fortune to get involved with the non-profit group Barrel of Makers, which is a maker group that meets at the Route 9 Library and Innovation Center in New Castle, Delaware. It’s this crazy group of individuals with a wide range of skills and knowledge who get together to pool those talents for creating both community projects and helping each other out with personal projects. Each member enriches each other’s creative process by teaching each other in an organic and open way. I would encourage anyone interested to go check out Maker Monday (Monday nights 6-8pm in the Maker Lab). The space has gobs of tools and materials unusual for the traditional library, like sewing machines, a laser cutter, 3D printers, and a video and sound editing suite.
Although what I make tends to be more traditional, I think I gravitate towards the less traditional arts community. I have had the pleasure of participating in some group shows and pop up galleries in Philadelphia, Wilmington and Newark. I have this desire to work on a mural, but always hear about opportunities too late to participate. But I’m open to any ideas for showing visual art. If anyone wants to collaborate on something or knows of an opportunity, I’m all ears. I’ve got way more ideas than time to realize them, but I’m addicted and just can’t get enough.
I’m also very passionate about providing kids the space and opportunity to explore their own artistic expression. I discovered that I am not very good at teaching. Skill has to meet passion on that front, and it is not a skill of mine. I greatly admire those who have it though. I work at a Serviam Girls Academy, a small private tuition free middle school as executive assistant. Serviam is tuition free because it exclusively educates under-resourced young women in the area. Here I get to use my passion for children’s education without having to be a teacher.
There are so many wonderful arts organizations in Delaware and surrounding areas. What are some groups or organizations you would recommend that our participants get involved in?
There are many, and most of them I haven’t tried yet! I wish there were more hours in the day. I have gone to Newark Arts Alliance for the figure drawing open studios and DCAD for their figure drawing marathon. I understand there is a figure drawing open studio at The Contemporary which I haven’t attended yet. But I’m usually at the Route 9 Library with Barrel of Makers.
This year at the 2020 Fun-A-Day exhibit you are setting up art displays throughout the exhibit space which will have free art for anyone to take. On the back of each piece will be positive thoughts and messages. This is a movement you’ve been doing all year long at various locations throughout the state. Tell us more about this positivity project.
I found myself frustrated by a pervasive negative attitude people display, but I feel as though I don’t have the right to complain about anything I have the power to change. So I decided to try and change it. Everyone needs a little nudge now and again to be their best selves. I took commonly found paper and repurposed it to create Colors of Love. I started with paint samples and carved some stamps. I stamped my designs on the paper slips and added one of 14 quotes that promote positivity. The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary let me present it at their outdoor Earth Day celebration in Rodney Square last spring. I also presented it at a pop up show at the Chris White Gallery in Wilmington, The Delaware River Fest in Philadelphia, and taught a class at the Route 9 Library for a Peace Week presentation. All together I have had the honor of giving away nearly five hundred Colors of Love in 2019.
The idea is quite simple - take one that attracts you, read the quote and keep it with you for as long as you need the inspiration. Pass it on to someone else who could use the inspiration once you no longer do.
I noticed that your past projects, have somehow connected with one another over the years. In 2017 your project was titled “Heart of Gold”, in 2018 there was “Fox Love” where you used gold leaf depicting winter foxes, and in 2019 your project was “Bones of Winter”. Am I going crazy, or is this in fact a yearly progression of ideas and interests on your part?
I think you give me too much credit. There is no long term overarching throughline, and no master plan. I just did what I was into at the time. For “Heart of Gold,” I’d just moved to Wilmington and in an effort to explore my new home I was examining the wild flowers of the area. They are subtle markers that I feel give different areas a grounding and a sense of identity or place. For “Fox Love,” I just think foxes are cute. I’m a ginger and have an affinity for fellow red-headed creatures. “Bones of Winter” really just happened because it was February and that is what I was seeing around me. I love trees and was drawn to examining the structure of them exposed without leaves. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest were most of the forests are evergreens. Though I’ve been on this coast for quite some time, I never get tired of seeing those stark branches reaching and strainting ever upwards.
Again in 2020, like in 2019, we find ourselves with a wintery Maker’s Month. Last year your project titled “Bones of Winter” was a daily watercolor and ink illustration of naked treetops over winter skies. Looking at your project, I really felt the stark beauty of winter. Do you think this will again influence your 2020 project?
Spoilers! Nope, you’ll have to wait and see it on March 6th at the opening party.
It seems to be a favorite of yours, so how tricky or not tricky is working with gold leaf? This is an artistic medium that I think a lot of folks are interested in exploring, but there are certain perceptions about cost and ease of use. Can you shed more light on this?
Using gold leaf is definitely an exercise in fortitude in the face of frustration. But I love how it looks in the end. It’s a technique that can’t be replicated. Nothing looks quite the same as metal leaf. It can be quite expensive if you use real gold. But I am not a millionaire and use imitation gold leaf made with an alloy of zinc and copper. It’s a super affordable option. The process to apply it is the same for any metal leaf. You have to coat the areas you wish the leaf to be with an adhesive, then apply the metal leaf. It is pounded to be thinner than tissue paper and breaks and crumples easily. It is incredibly light and floats on the smallest air current. It is totally worth all the irritation getting it on the art though.
Where can people see more of your work?
I don’t have anything scheduled until January 2021 where I will be showing at the Dover Public Library. I am seeking opportunities however, and am open to taking Colors of Love anywhere that wants it.