KT MURRAY
What's been going on in your world and circles lately?
Honestly, checking in on my community. Talking with one another, sharing skills, and helping where we can. I had the privilege to take the month of February off of work to diffuse some long-time-built-up burnout. I want to thank my co-workers for filling in for me to allow me to take this rest. This time off has been so nourishing for my nervous system and I am feeling actual difference most specifically in my dream-space. I haven’t felt a willingness and ability to organize in years, and found myself during this time daydreaming about projects I want to work on. The body is not a machine, it needs rest.
Anything in particular you've been working on?
My newest creative projects have been revolving around jewelry! I’ve always been a collector of tiny objects and interesting materials, bits and bobs, that inspire me, but about a year ago, I started collecting objects from sidewalks and roadsides while visiting my mom in Santa Fe, NM. Little pieces of metal or plastic, weird bits of junk litter. Simultaneously, I also started playing video games for the first time. Being raised as a girl, I wasn’t invited to play the video games my brother and his friends were playing, so it really is like learning a whole new skill. The game I started with is a game called Ooblets, which is kind of a cross between Pokemon and Animal Crossing. In this game, there are these things called Nurnies. You find them on the ground and their image is either a paperclip, a screw, or a little green springy thing. Nurnies are just parts of things that you collect in the game to make other things with. When starting out, I became really obsessive about playing the game, I found it hard to stop and remember to eat, go to the bathroom, and rest. When talking to my partner and friends more experienced with playing video games, they let me know this was actually pretty normal, but something that takes getting used to. While trying to take intentional breaks away from the game, I went on walks around Santa Fe and I started noticing trash, scrap metal, and little treasures on the ground; my own Nurnies. I noticed my I-Spy skills were sharpened by becoming so engrossed in the game. So I collected all these little thingies and brought them home with me and started making wearable accessories with them. I share all of this because it really did feel like all of these individual experiences were parts that, when connected, are what made my jewelry practice come to form. I find that this particular practice is really reflective of my larger art practice, which is mainly about giving time + space to the child in me that wants to explore magical and fantastical ideas that bring me and others joy.
Other projects you see happening around that are cool?
Erika actually gifted me the book Practice, Practice: How To Keep Creating by local creators Isa Rodriguez + Dylan Cale Jones. This book is designed to be a workbook + resource for people wanting to get in touch with their creative practice and help define it in their own terms. I am only just in the beginning of working my way through the book + its exercises, but I absolutely resonate with the concept. I’ve been a creative person my entire life, but found ways over time to push that part of me aside to pursue things I thought were of more value in our society (making money? Having a steady job? Fitting in???), I guess. And even when I finally allowed myself to pursue an art degree, I found myself obsessing about making sure I had a specific “style” to be more marketable or be successful. This pretty much squashed and choked out my creative spirit and I was left feeling super empty and not interested in making anything. It has only been over the past few years that I have really begun to allow my creative practice to be its own thing and not have to look like what I think other people’s creative practices are. And that has meant making a lot of stuff for myself for the process and joy of making it, with no intention to make money off of it while making it.
So, this gift was not only a moment where I felt really seen by Erika, because she has been really privy to that part of me, but also an encouragement of that journey to continue the pursuit of finding what works for me. I am super grateful to the creators of this book and really align with what they are putting out there.
Favorite bands / albums lately?
I DJ sometimes, so I am more of a mix guy, but I’ll share the collaborative playlist Erika and I made for the Big Bug show! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0SBRsrDROurTrqjM5448Go?si=7f351896aa66470b
Future thing you are looking forward to?
The Queer Joy art show at Uncanny Art House - happening May 9th during Norman’s 2nd Friday Artwalk 6-9pm. Submissions are due March 31st - no fees to enter! At a time where pretty much every Queer person I know is feeling scared and/or shitty for our community due to the heinous acts of political violence in both Oklahoma and the U.S. Government, I am really grateful for the spaces uplifting us and giving us a specific place to still express joy. I am looking forward to seeing the many different representations of that joy. I think the coolest part about Queer people is that you never know what you are going to be getting in terms of individual experience and how that is expressed. Queerness feels like futurism to me because it feels like a way to imagine and dream about how things can be different in the world. What a gift.
Visual artists (or whatever people) you've been digging lately?
I want to take the moment to conjure up some artists who have inspired me in this jewelry making journey, because nothing is made in a vacuum and I want to shine some light on their work too. 1, I just love their work and want to wear it all the time. 2, I just really like the way these creatives are making their practice their own. Whether it’s limited releases, pop-ups, curation, being open to assisting other artists + share resources, making work in different mediums, it just has been inspiring to me seeing folks that do a wide variety of things while maintaining the same artistic voice.
KT Duffy’s practice HYPERLINK https://www.etsy.com/shop/HYPERLINKjewelry
Gaby Vélez’s practice Mano Pom https://manopom.com/ which is sold local to Oklahoma by Isaac Diaz’s shop Naranjo-Naranjo www.naranjo-naranjo.com, and Linzy Dioguardi https://www.etsy.com/shop/linzylizard
KT and Erika currently have collaborative design available for preorder on our website. They will be donating their portion of sales from this preorder to Southern Equality. Their design is available on a light green t-shirt or a cream color muscle-tee and the preorder is open until Wednesday, March 19th. You can place your order here!
