Campus Canvas | Quinn Milton '14

While I was walking around my neighborhood I found these old cabinet doors that were left out on the street. I took them home, and drew this on one of them. I'm constantly looking out for objects that inspire me, and I especially love working in mixed media and unconventional materials.

I'm like an alchemist—I'm constantly surprised at what I can create with two foreign elements. In this case, it was the permanency and elasticity of the marker on the treated wood that was especially intriguing.

As for my subject matter, I rely on imagery from my dreams and symbols that are important to me. When I try to depict whatever is in my head, I find I create deeper meaning for my personal mythologies. The act of creation is an exploration, and visa versa.

The bird-woman is in the act of transformation. The shape of the feathers take over her body, because on a technical level that's what my markers were prone to do on the wood surface. A cabinet door is a door into the subconscious where these images reside.

This is an idea I'm interested in exploring further, although like most of my work, this piece was spontaneous and not pre-meditated.

—Quinn Milton '14