- Hello, I'm Beth Macmillian, and welcome to "ARTEFFECTS."

In our featured segment, we explore the dazzling and infinite potential of the sequin.

Beth Baumann is a self-taught artist who creates one-of-a-kind sculptures adorned with thousands upon thousands of sequins.

Let's head to Baumann's studio in South Reno, where she meticulously and patiently creates sculptures that lead to conversations and memories.

(bright upbeat music) - At its most basic, a sequin is a very tiny little disc of plastic with a hole punched in, and on its own, a sequin is nothing.

It's so inconsequential, you barely would even notice it.

But the power of sequins are when they are combined into the hundreds and thousands and millions, and all of a sudden, they dazzle us.

(bright upbeat music) My name is Beck Baumann, and I make original sculptures that are entirely covered in sequins.

(bright upbeat music) Generally, I focus on themes that are everyday objects, like a pencil or a piece of candy or a brain or a television set.

These are just the things that we live with every day, and I don't know why, but I am totally fascinated by these objects.

And so I love seeing them, and I love seeing them covered with sequins because then they become transformed into something special, something that people wanna live with.

And I think that they kind of see it the way I see it, that these little everyday items that are so mundane, suddenly, we treasure the part that they play in our life.

(bright upbeat music) I like the connections that I get where people get excited to see a sequined boombox because like me, maybe they remember getting one as a kid.

They have memories of taking it to the beach in Santa Monica in the summertime.

They remember the tapes that they used to play on it and the music, and they go, "Gosh, where'd all that go?

It's gone.

Probably don't have it anymore."

What about mix tapes?

Oh my gosh, that's like an entire category of regret.

How did I not keep every mix tape I ever made or had or was gifted?

Those were precious things.

And so I feel like sometimes my art does talk to that, those just super happy, concentrated, like, moments that we've all had.

(bright upbeat music) I sketch every day.

What I'll do is I'll write down a little note, and then later that evening, I'll sit with my sketchbook after dinner.

I usually pop on an audiobook so I've got something in my ears, and I'm just sketching for a couple hours to try and then take it from that concept to then something more tangible because once it's on the page, I feel kind of safe.

It's like locked in at that point.

(bright music) The two main things I use for my under structures are wood and styrofoam.

That allows me to build so far anything that comes to mind.

(bright music) I will cut the styrofoam.

Generally, I have to sand it at that point.

(bright music) Then I bring it inside, and I give it a foam coat, which gives it a little bit of durability.

I don't want it to be rock hard, but I wanna try and stiffen it and coat it and seal it as much as I can.

Then I paint it.

I always paint my work because no matter how good you are at putting sequins on an object, there's always, like, little gaps.

There's little ways that it can show through, and so you never want that under color to show.

My favorite part of the entire process is putting on the sequins.

(gentle upbeat music) Sequins come in many different forms, and when I first started working with them, I only worked with them loose, which means that it's one sequin, one pin that holds it in place, and that is how you build the piece.

And so all of my earliest work is simply built out of sequins one by one by one by one.

(bright music) Then I learned about sequin trims, where, okay, now the sequins are sewn onto a string, sometimes in multiple rows, sometimes in single rows.

So then I was kind of like painting with the string.

(gentle upbeat music) And then I got into stretchy trim, and from there, then it's like, okay, what about fabric?

(gentle upbeat music) (scissors snipping) Jumping to fabrics was really exciting because then it brought in this new component, where I love to go to thrift stores, and what do you see in thrift stores?

Often sequined clothing because a lot of people will buy an outfit for a really special day.

They'll wear it, but then they don't have a place to wear it again.

Like, often a sequined outfit is a one-time thing.

(gentle upbeat music) (scissors snipping) I love to pick them apart, cut them apart, and I reincorporate them into my artwork.

And the fabrics that I get from the clothing are usually twice as interesting or fancy or special as things that I can just buy as fabric.

So it's a really fun addition now to everything I do.

(gentle upbeat music) I like to hear what people feel and think about and remember when they look at the work.

(upbeat music) That is always going to be a far more interesting story than whatever I use to come up with the artwork.

So we each have completely different kind of memories and ideas, but we're meeting in the middle because we're both connecting with the artwork.

I remember I had a client who came, and she was so lovely, a very elderly woman.

She had a little dog tucked up under her arm, and she really kind of resonated with the work I was doing.

And she said it was because it reminded her of an experience.

When she was a child, she got to go to the movies, and there was a movie where they had these glass animals, and they were sparkling in the movie.

And it was just something that had really stuck with her imagination, and so seeing my artwork, that was exactly the memory that it brought right to the surface for her.

And it's just kind of a powerful thing when you can pull a memory out of the dustbin of your mind because sometimes they're lost.

And so I like to hear when people really stop and connect with a piece, I always know it's because it's making them think of something in their own past.

It's their own story that's more interesting to me than mine.

(upbeat music) I never get asked what my inspiration is, and I think it's because people don't even need to ask.

They just see it on the wall.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music fades) (bright upbeat music) - Funding for ARTEFFECTS is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors, Heidimarie Rochlin, in memory of Sue McDowell, (bright upbeat music) The Carol Franc Buck Foundation, and by the annual contributions of PBS Reno Members.

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