2RO086 - User Profile: Sheena

Sheena and I have been “bestest friends” since childhood. We’ve shared so much art and art-making over the years; it’s a joy to share Rookery now, especially since we live so far apart.

This is our interview from February 15th, 2022.

Question 1/10: What does having an archive mean to you?

Sheena:  An archive. It’s something that I never really planned on having, or thought that I would want, but actually once I did it, yeah, it was good. Everything in my Rookery is made by me, and there’s a section for the story, and I kind of realized at a certain point that I kind of have an autobiography in here, with the stories and what they mean. I haven’t written them all down yet, but I will. So yeah, an archive is also a biography or, like, a collection of little points of my life along the way.

Question 2/10: Do you collect art?

Sheena: Um, my own! 

[laughs]

Laura: Um, I have a really hard time, like, the idea of selling my own art was always horrifying to me. Like, I spent so much time making that thing for it to be something that I love, and love to look at. Why would I give that to someone else? 

[laughs]

Do you hang your own art on your walls at home as well?

Sheena: I do! This is one right here.  

Laura: This is one right here? Awesome.

Question 3/10: Do you make art?

Sheena: So, for me, the cool thing about Rookery that I kind of realized and hadn’t realized before I, like, put it all in a place, was that I have very distinct styles. There’s no cohesive style. So, the watercolors are very introspective, very dark, people say that they’re scary. I guess I’m scary.

[laughs]

Because all of those represent a part of me, whereas the oil and acrylic are more things that I like to see, like oceanscapes, or skies or things like that.

[pause]

So I think the thing with watercolor is actually that it’s so limiting. So, sitting there with this, like, all of mine are 8x11 for the most part, just like this random, small thing. And I’m just sketching, and the things that you can fit into something like that aren’t as visually striking as the images that you can get with oil or acrylic or something that’s more concentrated, where you have a lot of space, and kind of texture and everything to play with. So I think the limit of the media makes me more introspective.

Laura: Ah, that’s really cool.

Question 4/10: Are there any objects besides art that you love or want to remember?

Sheena: Not really. I try to not, like, hold on to too many things, but actually, I was thinking of making a Room for the kids’ art.

Laura: That’s nice, yeah.

Sheena: You know I have this folder of their art stuff, this digital folder and I thought you know maybe I should just put it in there. Maybe that would be interesting for them to see, and for me to see also, just how they’re, like, evolving all the time. But that’s also art.

Laura: Right. Well, yeah, but I mean, no, that’s a good answer. And I also think there is a place, um, in the digitizing process for letting the physical object go. You know, something like kids’ art, that, if you kept all of it you know, you’d have a whole basement full, right? But like if you photograph it really lovingly, and you digitize it, you can throw it away and still have it as part of this record. Same with objects. The thing that came to my mind was your seashells, and stones and stuff. I know you love, like, encountering those natural objects and you gravitate towards them.

Sheena: Seaglass. Yeah it’s true; that though didn’t even cross my mind, but I have a whole, like, bin upstairs of stuff that I’ve collected. Including my one rock that Mr. Wetherall told me about when I was in third grade. Did I tell you that story?

Laura: No!

Sheena: Oh, I came into science class with this rock, and I was like, “it’s so pretty!” And he said, “oh if you keep it for thirty years it’ll turn into a garnet.” And so it is now exactly thirty years later —

Laura: Oh my god!

Sheena: — and it, probably about fifteen years ago, started, like, sprouting little garnets. 

Laura: Oh my god, that is so cool. I love that that little insight from him made you, like, keep it, and you know, um, tokenize that as a long-term, like, this is something I need to hold on to because it will physically change over that time. He was such a great science teacher. He really knew how to, like, make stuff accessible for kids.

Sheena: That was third grade, and I’m 38, so yeah, that was thirty years ago.

Laura: Oh my god that’s so cool.

[laughs]

You have to send me a picture of that, please. Put it in your Rookery. Make a rock room just for me.

[laughs]

Sheena: I will. That just never occurred to me.

Laura: I mean, that’s the most… that’s what penguin rookeries are. Just little, like, rock nests. Little pebble nests.

Question 5/10: Imagine your dream Rookery.

Sheena: Do you remember that limited series, or whatever they call it on Netflix, The Haunting of Hill House? 

Laura: Mm, yeah.

Sheena: Do you remember how when they went into, like, their brain, it was kind of organized in DVDs or whatever? That question just kind of reminded me of that, like, there are so many things that just as humans you want to forget. But it’s kind of like, they made you who you are. And it’s like, oh yeah, there has to be a Room for that too. Where you just go in there and sit there and cry sometimes. Um, and I think that would actually be pretty exciting to explore, and, like, I guess it comes back to that scary watercolor thing.

[laughs]

Laura: I was just thinking of that too. I love that, that answer just gave me chills though, I really like that. That feels so rich and challenging.

Sheena: But I mean, as now an adult, when you get this perspective of, like, a big chunk of your life, and you’re like, wow that moment really sucked, but it made so many things possible after that. I wonder what that would look like as a Room. Like if you could go into that and see. Would you, I don’t know if I’d feel, like, awful, reliving this experience. Or I’d be able to then look at it, I guess, with everything that’s come after it, looking at it retrospectively be able to say oh this was beautiful or that was beautiful, or these are things that I want to keep.

Laura: I love that, what a great answer. What a great Sheena answer. You’re the petrel, you’re the bird that goes into the storm!

Sheena: Oh yeah, don’t I know it. All afternoon is me on this bike with, like, headwinds of rain, being like, I am the petrel.

[laughs]

Question 6/10: How was your signup experience?

Sheena: Well, I tried to sign up for it and it did not like any credit cards.

Laura: Right. And you had an email address problem before that, right, also?

Sheena: Yes. But I think the email address problem is because I’m in the Netherlands and then I used a VPN or whatever, but now I don’t have to, so I guess that problem is resolved.

Laura: Ok.

Sheena: Um, other than that it was great. I like, I love the font that you chose.

Laura: Oh good!

Sheena: I really like looking at it, and like the little intro slideshow.

Laura: Like the Lobby, the preview where you can preview your Rooms?

Sheena: No no no, before that, before you sign in, there are some photos.

Laura: Oh the photos, right right right. Ok.

Sheena: I like that part, and the black and white high-contrast, and the font.

Question 7/10: What do you like about Rookery so far?

Sheena: Like I said, there are a lot of things that I was thinking that I didn’t realize I was thinking. 

Laura: Cool.

Sheena: The autobiographical, and introspective. Also I really like being able to see everything on a wall. I have, like, 2% of my artwork hung up. So a lot of these things were just in a book that I’ve been carrying around with me for years. And then I’m like, oh wait, it looks pretty cool on the wall!

Question 8/10: What do you dislike about Rookery so far?

Sheena: Well, just the few technical issues really. I mean the rest of it was pretty seamless, you know, you get everything in there the way that you want it to look. Then it’s just kind of fun to change it around and you don’t have to worry about like, measuring or nailing and all of that. It’s pretty cool, it’s like, wait, I want them in color order, and then it’s like, no, I want them in meaning order!

[laughs]

Which ones most represent my innermost feelings, and we’ll put the other ones on the outside. Yeah, it’s fun to just change it around like that because it gives it a totally different aesthetic, actually. But when it’s not digital you don’t really have that freedom.

Question 9/10: Are there any other archival challenges you have?

Sheena: Well I guess I’m a baby archiver, I don’t have that much stuff. It’s all pretty easy for me at this point.

Laura: You mentioned, you know, a couple pieces that, like, look different in sunlight or are hard to capture in a photograph, so I guess maybe that’s, um…

Sheena: I’m not sure that you can do it digitally. You can’t even do that in a gallery.

Laura: Oh I know!

Sheena: Because there’s no sunlight. Art is not meant to be in the sunlight, because it starts to fade and all of that. So that’s just me.

Laura: Yeah. No, no!

Question 10/10: Anything else to add?

Sheena: Yeah, well, I would like to thank you for that experience!

Laura: Good!

Sheena: Being introspective, and learning more about myself.

Laura: That’s awesome, you’re welcome.

Sheena: Which has been… interesting.

[laughs]

Feels like it comes out in just the weirdest of ways.

Laura: You stare at the abyss and the abyss stares back?

Sheena: You stare at the abyss and the abyss is like, I am you.

[laughs]

And you’re like, oh crap!

[laughs]

Laura: Well, I think that’s a wonderful place to end. Thank you so much for doing this. I really appreciate it.