I became involved with the Talking Suitcases project, because I have been longing to take art classes during my college career, and have not found many options for making art at the University of St. Thomas. Before I began this seminar, my notions of “art” were something much more structured. The form of art that I learned in Traveling Suitcases was more unrestrained, and initially, I was frustrated with the lack of materials. However, I grew to find deeper meaning in my creations each week. Narratives get created through the making, because since there were limited materials available to convey the my story, it forced me to think more creatively about how to convey my narrative in a meaningful way. Eventually, I realized that it wasn’t just about the object, but rather, it was about the stories behind them. The objects were merely a vehicle to help tell the story.
Above: my lavender suitcase serves to hold my narrative
My narrative began as a modge-podge of stories from my life, instead of a carefully planned collection of stories. As I continued making sense of my objects within the context of my narrative, I realized that some of the overall meaning had changed. Because my narrative slowly developed week by week in an unstructured way, I believe that it is a more raw reflection of my true character. Even without trying to, several key themes and tones emerge throughout the narrative, such as an appreciation for my sister, adventure, and reflection. I chose a suitcase in my favorite color to hold my objects. The suitcase has cursive writing on its interior that reminded me of a written narrative, which I thought was fitting for the project.
Above: a representation of my memory for the excitement I had of becoming a big sister
My narrative begins at the ripe age of three when I found out I was going to become a big sister. I asked for a Jack-in-the-box for Christmas the year my sister was born so that she would have a present to open when she was born on New Year’s Eve. I was extremely excited to become an older sister, because I was looking forward to taking on a new responsible role and having a friend to play with at home. I used legos to represent this object, because it emphasizes the childhood playfulness and dreaminess of the memory. Making this object brought back other memories of my childhood, such as going up to the cabin and long summer days spent by the pool with my Barbie’s in hand. Sometimes it is hard for me to tell stories about out my past because I think that there is nothing extraordinary to tell, but making this object brought back a lot of memories for me and made me realize that I had a nice childhood.
Above: a representation of my love of nature including sunsets, mountains and butterflies
As I continued to create objects, I noticed that memories of my sister were a reoccurring theme. My next art piece is a warm-colored collage of a sunset in nature. My object indirectly relates to my sister, because it reveals our shared love for nature. My sister and I both find solace in nature, even though we have different reasons for appreciating it. I enjoy nature because I find myself in awe with the exquisite beauty in nature, but my sister enjoys nature because she likes to let loose and be unconstrained from a conforming society. I think our appreciation for nature is beautiful, because having very different personalities, we don’t always see eye to eye. Nature has given us a common thread that we can connect with. Additionally, it has enabled us to share many memories together, such as our hiking trip to Banff this summer. I feel that when we are in nature we get along best. I think it makes sense that memories of Caroline have resurfaced throughout this project, because we spent our entire childhood together. While our life experiences may have impacted us in different ways, leading to our different personalities, we have a special relationship in that we value many of the same thing
Above left: soft tones represent my calm and quiet nature of being in an unfamiliar place
Above right: warmer tones represent the excitement I had of being in a new culture
I have a drive for trying new things and travelling is one of my favorite ways to experience the unfamiliar. I made an object that depicted my experience as an outsider as I travelled to Chile, which brought forth the tones of adventure, reflectiveness, and quietness. I remember the first time I particularly felt like an outsider was when I was on the subway and I felt disconnected from the rest of the passengers. I didn’t share the same cultural experiences as they did and I wouldn’t be able to communicate with them further than asking for directions or talking about the weather. I tried to create an object that looked like a megaphone to represent my lack of a voice using a Dixie cup and wood. I used cool colors on the outside to represent my quiet and timid behavior, but used bright colors on the inside to show my excited and energetic personality that I felt internally. I am used to being the talkative person in the room, but this was the first time in my life I had to learn to be the quiet observer. This remains one of the only times I have truly felt like an outsider, and made me much more empathetic towards immigrants who come to the United States to build a life knowing very little English or knowledge about American culture. From a greater context, I have tried to use this experience to learn how to approach new adventures with an outgoing, but also introspective nature.
Above: a representation of my new exciting, but sometimes frustrating, cooking adventure
My most recent adventurous endeavor is my commitment to learn how to cook. I have always been an awful cook and have avoided it for many years, but this year I took initiative to practice cooking, because it is a skill that I will need throughout my life. I try to make it fun by making Pinterest boards of recipes to try and to experiment with new ingredients. I used orange-colored tissue paper as a backdrop in my object to convey the challenge that I am a terrible cook. The frayed edges of the tissue paper resemble fire and serve as a metaphor for the disorderliness of my activities in the kitchen. Additionally, the pop-up character conveys the playful side of cooking. While I often get frustrated when I am cooking, I try to keep light-hearted so that I don’t become overwhelmed by the challenge. The bouncy and playful nature and the cheerful smile on the cartoon’s face helped emphasize the humorous aspect my cooking challenges. Cooking hasn’t always been fun for me, but it has helped me see that I can find joy even with challenging adventures. It is one of the many examples, among with long-distance running and memorizing piano pieces, that illustrates that I like accomplishing goals even though the journey can be tearful and excruciating.
Above left: black and white pipe-cleaners represent the importance of keeping active in my life
Above right: the tea-box serves as a literal representation for my love of tea and the Mandala beads represent how art has served as a means of tranquility and reflection for me
While my sense of adventure has given me a plethora of wonderful memories, my go-go-go attitude can sometimes be overwhelming, and can make it difficult for me to relax. Nevertheless, I have found over the years effective techniques for relaxation, which I have illustrated in this object. I chose the box of Yogi green tea to contain my art for this object. Not only do I love drinking tea, but I also realized that a lot of the subtle messages within the box of tea illustrated different ways of how I destress. For example, the box’s interior had 5 yogi principles, which reflected how yoga has helped me find spirituality and positivity. My yoga instructor helped me find peace at mind in the serenity of each pose, which is sometimes difficult for me to do with a very active mind. The yogi principles also included a statement about how health is found in nature. I find a lot of solace in nature, even if it just means taking a 10-minute walk on the River Road trails after class. The box also included the phrase “Enjoy” on the flap of the container, which I thought was symbolic in the fact that the opening to my object led the viewer to find ways that I enjoy life. In addition, I embellished the box with some gems that seemed to resemble Mandala paintings. I used to create a lot of mandala paintings when I was younger because I loved to color. As I have gotten older, I have found a great appreciation for water color painting and creating collages. I love how art can take my mind off everyday stresses so easily, and help me make sense of my problems. Furthermore, I used jagged pipe cleaners to represent movement. I purposely chose black and white pipe cleaners on the top and bottom of the box to represent the balance of life. Movement through dancing and working-out have helped me most often to release stress, because it is a chance to “burn off steam” after sitting all day. Similarity to art, there are no rules to dancing or running—all that is required is good music—which is a refreshing change of pace from the rigid rules of society. Ultimately, my object represents de-stressors and it is my favorite object because it represents the things that have helped keep me grounded and enjoy life even during the most stressful times.
Above: My small group at the University of St. Thomas workshop. I think I enjoyed the sharing of stories more than the making of objects!
I was grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the seminar community, St. Thomas and the East Side Freedom Library, because I was able to see the impact of stories on community building. In our workshops, we remarked on how most strangers are limited to small-talk in conversation, but the Talking Suitcases warranted an opportunity for deep conversation. I thought it was wonderful to see friends or grandfather and son share stories with each other that they had never heard before. In this way, the traveling suitcases incited. After these sharing experiences I also realized how important the use of community space is. Community spaces, like schools and libraries, promote a safe and welcoming environment, for people of all backgrounds to share their own personal stories.
Overall I am taking away from this experience the fact that stories are dynamic and malleable. I found that each time I told my story, I would remember different details and realize a new deeper meaning as to how it fit in the context of my narrative. Seemingly unrelated objects grew to fit loosely together by the end of the project. In this way, I think that Travelling Suitcases is a valuable way to discover your own personal development from experiences that might initially seem insignificant.
St Thomas' Talking Suitcases 