jack of all trades i guess

- Comment from Zoe A

What’s in a SeamSmith?

You may or may not have misread my blog name as a typo of Sam Smith, the popular English Singer/Songwriter that everyone knows for singing “Stay with Me”. Unfortunately, we’re not actually here to talk about them. On this blog I’ll  be talking about the struggles of describing what I do exactly--in a professional sense. Since my first handsewn My Little Pony plush and cosplay in 2015, I’ve picked up every creative trade that was available to me, and I continue to expand my skillset every day. As a result, I’ve progressed to (in my opinion) rather intermediate levels, developing my visualization and production skills to as prime as I can get them as a high school senior. New skills come more easily to me now, and whenever I pick up a new medium I learn that I can shuffle through previous techniques and apply them all around, compound them on each other, and unlock infinity +1 possibilities.

This might sound great, but when people ask me “How did you learn to do all these things?” or when colleges or employers ask me to “Describe yourself in one word,” I really don’t know what to say. There isn’t a word for me, and I’m not just saying that to be quirky. They have words for woodworkers, blacksmiths, metalsmiths, seamstresses, painters, sculptors, but these are all so restrictive. They describe a person who does one thing really well for the rest of their life. I couldn’t even stick to one medium if I wanted to. If I’m sewing, chances are I’m also painting on the side. If I’m painting, I’m probably painting something I already made out of wood, foam, or metal, not just a canvas. If I’m creating a painting, it might not even be with paint. Could be with objects, fire, collage, or be done digitally. Heck, I’ve even styled a wig with one hand while stitching finishing touches to a piece with the other.

Saying I’m an artist is too broad, you hear it and you think “Oh, you must mean a painter? You won’t make any money!” The connotations associated with the words “artist” and “creative” won’t cut it in this world, and this travels beyond critical family members. When moving into the professional space, everyone’s an artist. "Artist” places us within a community, but it doesn’t say anything about the individual. It leaves too much responsibility on the listener to come up with their own interpretations of “artistic.” Oh, and I wouldn’t even think about describing myself as a cosplayer in the professional space, not only is it left up for interpretation, but there’s an incredible stigma around it. You need to be able to introduce yourself and your work in a short and concise manner that anyone can both understand, and respect. 

The English language and society’s interpretations of it weren’t doing me any favors in this aspect. The closest thing to a satisfactory word I could find was “designer,” but even this was too broad. So after a short creative identity crisis at 3 AM, I’d stitched together a new word: seamsmith. Seam (\ˈsēm\), a root meaning “to bind, to mend” + smith, the English suffix meaning “craftsmen.” Now, this word isn’t perfect. Not to mention no one uses it yet. But I think it has a lot of potential. Honestly at first I just wanted a word that described me as both a seamstress (weak, negative connotation) and a builder (strong, positive connotation). However it kind of developed further than I thought it would. This word means more than just a crafter of things. It represents the seam, the binding throughout all art mediums. All the expertise that goes into production, whether that’s sewing, woodworking, painting, or anything the artist community can dream of. Seamsmith is a multifaceted word to describe a multifaceted person, and the skills they can bring to the table to share with others.