From helping at the front desk to supporting development and finance, and shredding lots and lots of paper, Sebio finds contentment in showing up each week and lending a hand. Get to know the volunteer and artist who enjoys seeing where a little experimentation can take them.
What do you do as a volunteer, and what’s your favorite part of the role?
I volunteer in development, finance, and at the front desk, working with the community, filing documents, doing various odd tasks, and shredding lots and lots of paper. What I enjoy so much about volunteering is being able to come in every week and do my thing without the pressure of a job. It brings me a lot of contentment, and it feels good doing that consistently for a long time.
What brings you joy? Is it a hobby, a favorite place, or a little everyday ritual?
I am a very outdoorsy person, and I love any kind of hiking or camping far into the woods or in the mountains. There is a very unique sort of peace that I get when I am by myself, far away from human civilization. It feels good to know that I have everything I need on my back, and I don’t need to worry about anything else.
What drew you to studying sculpture, and what’s the most unexpected material you’ve worked with?
I sort of fell into sculpture after taking a couple of ceramics and sculpture classes at community college, and it connected with me in a way I hadn’t really experienced before. There are so many dimensions to sculpture, and when I am able to have this image in my brain and turn it into a very real and physical object that takes up space in the world, I feel like I can really express myself. I’m not all that great with words, so that’s why I like to make weird sculptures instead.
What’s your creative process like: carefully planned, organized chaos, or something else entirely?
I am a bit of a messy person. I try to make a plan; I really do, but I never really follow it and just end up doing something else entirely. I don’t plan on changing; I think this is a great way of making art. I enjoy seeing where my work will take me, and while sometimes that does not work, often I end up someplace I never could have thought of without trying random things and seeing what happens.
If you could create a sculpture for the Center, what would it look like?
I often tend to make work centering around the body, which, for me, is constantly defining and being defined by my queerness. For the LGBTQ+ Center, I would most likely focus on that aspect of queerness being expressed through the body. I do not know what that would look like, but that would be the place I would want to start from.
