Kasey Sears once put puffy paint in her carpet. She was very young and got in all sorts of trouble for it. Her mother could handle the constant doodling and altering of Barbie dolls, but this had gone too far. No matter how much trouble she was in, this moment would stick with Sears for years and plant the seed of her artistic passion.
That passion was switched into high gear when she transferred to Winthrop to pursue an art major. Previously she had only taken a few art classes in high school and was terrified to go full time.
“My first art class here was an 8 a.m. drawing class and afterwards I went up to the professor and said, ‘Look I’m not very good at art,’” Sears said. “And he said, ‘Well you’ll just get better.’”
She did get better. Sears is now a senior, sculpture major who has developed a love of exploring materials and how they can be worked with. In her time at Winthrop, she has developed an affinity for working with wood and further explored her love of antiques.
“I’ve always loved things that were old and broken,” Sears said. “My favorite Disney movie growing up was ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ and it was because Belle fell in love with something ugly and her love made it beautiful.”
Sears is currently developing her senior project which will look at the ideas of lost and found. She combines old photographs of strangers with wooden boxes filled with sentimental items that have been nailed shut.
“The idea is that you can’t get back into the box,” Sears said. “The items aren’t lost, they’re right there, but you can’t see them.
Another massive endeavour of Sears’ began last summer. She was chosen by a professor to help Old Town Rock Hill begin a new project that will live on forever. It was pitched to be like Greenville’s Mice on Main, but frogs.
“At first I thought it was a competition, so I thought I had to make the best model frog to be chosen,” Sears said. “I was very confused in the beginning.”
All Sears needed though was a proposal of her plan for the future frogs. As she worked on them throughout the summer, she researched different types of frog breeds and emulated them in her models. She let this inform what each frogs short bio would say.
“It sounds really weird, but as I was working on them they sort of told me their names,” Sears said.
In total there will be 10 small, frog statues placed strategically around Old Town Rock Hill. Each frog has a short bio that tells a bit about their personality and gives a few clues as to where they’re located. Sears has three young nephews who served as inspiration to her during this project.
“They come to Rock Hill all the time, and I can’t wait to take them out and see all the frogs,” Sears said.
Eventually Sears hopes that, like the Mice on Main, the frogs’ story can be continued. She just needs to find the right writer and illustrator.
“I do want to get somebody to write a book like a children’s book to tell the story of the frogs,” Sears said.
Sears’ work always explores the two main themes are love and redemption. She looks at the redemption of people, their worth and their value, but also redeeming materials.
“I want people to look at my art and say, ‘She took this really ugly thing and she made it beautiful and worthy and valuable,’” Sears said.
The Old Town frogs are being announced one-by-one every few days. Photos of each frog and all bios can be found on onlyinoldtown.com/oldtownfrogs and seen on social media with the hashtag #OldTownFrogs. Sears’ final project of the lost and found boxes will be displayed in the senior art showcase at the end of April.
