Beck Baumann

Fun and Games

Beck Baumann (b.1975) is a mixed media artist with a special focus on sequins who makes her home in Reno, Nevada.

Beck's whimsical sequin sculptures draw from childhood memories and a joyful nostalgia. The word that most often comes to mind is FUN. She likes to combine unexpected elements from everyday objects to create things never seen before. Her inspiration comes from that childhood place when the world felt strange, scary, and full of wonder.

Beck's creative journey began when she started taking graphic design classes at the age of 35. After completing her degree, she spent several years writing and illustrating children's books and a graphic novel. Then she moved onto ‘painting’ with seed beads and yarn, which became the gateway for working with sequins, her primary medium.

Writes Beck: There was only one piece of original art in my childhood home, and it was a watercolor of our ancestor’s homestead in California. It hung in a long, dark hallway and was not given much prominence, but I remember being fascinated with it because someone had made it by hand. I suppose I’m still fixated on the power of original artwork, and how living with art can change our outlook.

In high school art class, the kids who were encouraged were good at painting or drawing. I was never great at either, so I dismissed the idea of being an artist despite loving it above all things. It wasn’t until I was making things with my own hands in middle age that I realized how limiting my outlook had been. I especially love working with materials that are considered garbage, like styrofoam, or used, like thrifted sequined clothing.

Sequins are everywhere. They manage to look both cheap or expensive, depending on the situation. Little kids sport them on their backpacks and sneakers, and they add glitter to couture gowns where they’re sewn on, one by one. These little plastic discs come in wild colors and muted tones, and the colors are hard to pin down because they change with the light. Sequins are flexible and rigid, cloth and armor, cuttable and bendable. I see no end to their possibilities, and that is what keeps me interested in their potential.