SELF-MADE
What is CAPSLOCK and why do we want you to look at our art so bad?
About ten years ago in Kutztown Pennsylvania, a group of kids with big art dreams and a surprising amount of common interests discoved that they all really liked to yell at each other... but in like, a fun way! There were a few common threads to what we liked to yell about: movies, music, nerd stuff, and how much we all wanted to live lives where we got to make the things that mattered to us. The thing about this group of kids is that it was never about the yelling, it was about the enthusiasm. Living with the caps lock button on, if you will. Thus CAPSLOCK was born, and what started as a cute thing to name a group chat became an emblem of our ethos. Later in our education, this ethos culminated in a pact we swore to each other as we prepared to graduate and enter the Big Art World:
“We swear to never let each other give up on the dream of spending a life making art.”
Ten years after the first time we yelled at each other, the dream is still alive and well. It’s survived and thrived though shitty jobs, shitty presidents, out-of-state moves, career changes, life changes, personal health crises and a global pandemic. In fact, during quarantine we started meeting digitally every week to encourage each other in both art making and life living. Once quarantine was over, we were all so pleased with the results that we thought we’d like to tell the world about it.
So what is this show? It’s a celebration of a friendship that against all odds is about to turn double digits. It’s a celebration of turning quarantined lemons into vaccinated lemonade. It’s a celebration of what we can achieve when we don’t give up on ourselves, and maybe more importantly, when we don’t give up on each other. Thanks for coming! And whatever you’re working towards, remember: