This wearable piece, entitled “Dressed to the ICD-9s” (2013) was created out of an old surgical drape that Chinn, who also works for a surgeon's office, sewed and screenprinted with ICD-9 codes (a.k.a. medical classification codes). PHOTO BY ROBBIE CLARK
PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST
CHINN UP MULTI-MEDIA ARTIST STACEY CHINN USES A VARIETY OF MATERIAL TO COMPOSE ART ON AN EVEN WIDER VARIETY OF TOPICS
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BY SARAYA BREWER CHEVY CHASER MAGAZINE
tacey Chinn got an initial whif f of her future vocation when her first grade teacher told her she was going to be an artist. “I guess I was fairly impressionable at the age of 6,” said the multi-media artist, who served as the head of Geor getown College’s sculpture department for three years, and has served as adjunct faculty in the University of Kentucky and Easter n Kentucky art departments. Chinn is one of over 30 regional female artists who will be presenting work at the upcoming “Femme-A-N est” group art show, a Gallery Hop event and benefit for The Nest Center for W omen, Children and Families, with a general “nesting” theme. Chinn will feature several photographs; an installation representing a dozen “nests” or egg-like forms hanging from clothespins; and A knitted piece that incorporates man-made yar n as well as rubber bands, metal wire, grocery bags and other materials. Known for incorporating a variety of unusual materials into her pieces – synthetic hair , fibers, found objects, metal, wool, wood – Chinn says her attention span is much like that of her 5-year -old daughter. “I’ll be working on something and I’ll literally stumble upon something else,” she said. This was the case with the photographs that she’s including in the Gallery Hop show – she had been traipsing around in a field, looking for a large stick to incorporate into another piece, when she came across a large pile of scrap metal resembling a nest. She took some photos, thinking the images could inspire a “nesting” piece for the show, and then it occurred to her that the photographs themselves were nest-themed works of art. “When I think about nesting, you take what’s around your environment and make it into something,” she said. Chinn took some time away from nesting to answer some questions about her art and other interests. For more images and infor mation about Chinn’s art – including a link to her newest line of wearable art, “alter -knit-ive,” visit her website, www.staceyrchinn.com.
chevy chaser magazine april 2013
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