Paper Path

In my daily treasury ventures I came across some great treasuries in which I found one of our very own members, Rachel Smith of Paper Path.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c25732e778c6d91722991d7/traces
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c3b07a678206d91c4ad10cc/blue-and-red-with-no
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c3b0084cff58eef5a11874b/you-heart-me-like-red
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c2d22a624d48eef0e875d34/feeling-bookish?index=3

Rachel's artwork is a vision in motion of artistic delight. Her pieces liven the sences as abstract and aestetic illustrations collaborate into works of {art}istic mechanics.

Today she is sharing her love and wisdom with us. We are glad to have her.

{ Tell us a little about yourself }

My name is Rachel Smith and I am currently living in Idaho with my husband, Taylor and two cats. I love to zip around on our scooter, take photos with vintage film cameras and scour thrift stores for inspiration. I{'m} about to begin my third, and final year of graduate school and will finish with my Master’s in Fine Art. I am particularly drawn to things that are left over by society and repurposing those items to create new implications and contexts by reorganizing preexisting images, texts, texture, etc. My etsy shop, Paper Path, is a nice reprieve from some of the tedium of studying and stress of graduate school. I have found it to be a great creative outlet that challenges me in a completely different way than my fine art installations and collages. I am enjoying the challenge of making cards, collages and crafts that are not oriented around a gallery setting, but still creative with a small business twist.

{ What was the first craft project that began your Etsy venture? }

I have been making art for as long as I can remember. So to be perfectly honest my first item that started my craft was crayons applied to my parents’ living room walls. Now a days found objects and materials motivate most of my artwork. I am constantly collecting bits and pieces that are discarded by people. I’ve always made unique gifts and cards for my friends and family and when I discovered etsy it was a perfect way to expand my audience and make a {profit} off of my craft.

{ What is your primary technique & what tool do you favor the most in your shop }

I work primarily in mixed media/collage. My process is "cut + paste" making my favorite tools glue and scissors and lots and lots of collecting. I collect papers of all kind. Anything I encounter in my day-to-day life, travels and thrift store hunting can become fodder for my next project.

{ What inspires your creations and what sparks your creativity? }

Memories and nostalgia play a huge role in inspiring my work. Found objects and imagery are essential to my work, because I feel that such items retain traces of past ownership, which directly reference memories. I am also drawn to imagery representing systems. Maps, anatomy illustrations, sewing patterns and grids are items that I’m constantly using.

{ Name one favorite item from your store and why is it so dear to you? }

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49119721/storybook-collage
This collage is currently my favorite item on my shop, because I feel like it encapsulates everything that I want my work to be about. I find the tension between intimacy and exposure of the found images and texts to reference ideas of personal and collective memories already embedded in the items while continuing to create a new narrative.

{ What are your future goals for you personally and as a crafter? }

My future goals are to finish up my final year of graduate school with a strong show and thesis next spring. Sometime in the future I would love to start a gallery and restaurant with my husband who is a chef. What’s better together than food, wine and art! As for my shop I would really like to continue to expand it to include a wider variety of handmade paper items. I would also like to start to incorporate more of my fine art collages and projects into my store.

{ Find This Weeks Featured Shop @ }

etsy store paper path:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/paperpath

as well as my blog paper trail:
http://rachelsmithart.blogspot.com/

{ special advice, comments, wisdom from this weeks featured shop }

Keep colleting, creating and caring.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Inspired by Paperpath.etsy.com

Created by www.Cisnexpressions.etsy.com

{ keep it real ~ keep it handcrafted ~ keep it Etsy Greetings }