Cassidy Lowe is such a frequent visitor to WMODA that she has become part of the family. The young art student spends hours studying, sketching and photographing the exhibits for her digital pattern making. She creates amazing kaleidoscopic designs from details of her favorite museum objects. Cassidy writes:

I am wholly inspired by the great culture and collection of WMODA. I would go so far as to call it an artist’s mecca. There is not a single corner of the museum that does not elicit a unique feeling of familiarity and wonder. I find great inspiration in the artwork there from the beautifully displayed pottery to the newer glass works. Each exhibit is refreshing and gorgeous. When I first happened upon WMODA, I had no idea what to expect but immediately found myself spending hours there. It was a sanctuary of sorts where I could escape daily life and sketch straight from inspiration.

I dare to do anything. Like a kid with crayons, I just love reaching out and creating with the world in front of me: observing it, enhancing it, transforming it. I practice painting, clothing design, interior design, just about anything I can get my hands on.

As a child, I spent hours in the woods creating tools from the nature around me. I would mix paint with flowers and berries and create brushes by thinly stripping tree bark and attempting to bind it with whatever I could find. It didn’t always work out. As I grew older I developed a love for photography. My favorite “studio” was a local historical site, Fort Griswold. There on the old battleground I would take photos with my flip-phone and apply filters to make it look more “rustic”. It was then that I began to see the world through a new lens. Everything could be art.

My process requires that I become intimate with an art piece. As a soccer player must know the weight, look, and sound of the ball, I must know the piece. This is not to say that I go around picking up people’s precious artwork. I do so, however, in my mind. I pick it up, turn it this way and that, and try to imagine how it felt in the moment of its making. I think about what it is meant to say and how it is meant to feel, and then I reflect it. I look for the most intriguing parts in its composition and I use that to tell its full story.

The patterns I create reflect the atmosphere of the piece through an entirely new shape language. I find the beautiful asymmetry in art and I create a pattern. Textures, shapes, and colors embody the energy of the artwork. Knowing this, I manipulate them. Like a mask, I seek to hide the piece within itself while allowing its true nature to peek through. What I love most about creating this way is that I get to document my experience with artwork. Not only am I exposing my source of inspiration to the world, but I am creating keepsakes. Though life may draw in new directions, through my art I can always come back to my favorite place.

The most important job of an artist is to make sure more artists arise. With art I seek to inspire others to paint, dance, sing, or create however they choose to. I seek to expose art to the world and expose the world to art. I am working toward a future where art and life are synonymous. I want to live in a world where everyone believes that they can create: a world where we can all speak the common tongue of art. If I could broadcast one message it would be this. To be an artist you need only to start.

When I began my journey, I had this fear that many artists suffer through. I refused to be unoriginal. I had always sought to create the most unique and unthought-of thing: To break ground and sweep people off of their feet. The problem that I approached was when I only focused on creating something entirely new, I only ever managed to make incomprehensible, unrelatable, and otherwise uninspiring work. After years of trial and error and feedback, it finally clicked. What is Uninspired is Uninspiring. Success comes as a result of inspiration.

-Cassidy Lowe

Pattern images copyright of Cassidy Lowe