Honolulu Artist Shares Inspiration Behind Winning Piece

NAP exhibitions bring forward a magnitude of hidden talents from people within the communities where they are held and this year’s Honolulu, HI exhibit was no different. The exhibition featured a wonderful display of artwork from all medium categories across every skill level.  One such piece was “Untitled” by Kristin Laitila, who received the Second Place award in the Intermediate category.

In the interest of learning a little more about the creativity behind some of the truly original artwork that gets displayed in our shows, we reached out to Kristin to inquire about what motivates her artistically.

Kristin finds inspiration for her “handicraft” creations from numerous sources, but it is her “I’ll try anything once” attitude towards the arts that allows her the freedom to create without expectation. Kristin’s first motivation often comes from the necessity for function as she actually wears the hats she creates stating, “due to my unfortunate inclination towards sunburns, a wide brim is always a practical choice.”  However, this is as far as function goes, as she pushes it aside during the embellishment phase of her creative process.  

For this particular hat, she found inspiration for the adornments from a local orchid show where the variety of shapes and colors of the flowers at the show were so mesmerizing that she often found herself covertly poking the petals just to verify they were real.  Aiding in the finishing touches of the flowers, Kristin took a cue from a picture of a 1950’s necklace in a costume jewelry book, that she actually borrowed from the library where she works, which inspired her to wrap the wire in embroidery floss.  

Kristin’s winning piece proves that you can find inspiration for both form and function from your daily life, you just have to be willing to embrace it.