Scraps sparcS
they/slay
Boston, MA, USA
Scraps sparcS is a queer disabled blacksmith and drag quing. Scraps has trained both in the forge and on the stage, completing their blacksmithing apprenticeship at 17-years-old at prospect hill forge in Waltham MA. In 2024 they were selected to participate in the Blacksmithing Mentorship Residency at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC with a full scholarship and stipend. They perform drag in local bars in Boston and get booked for large events like RPM fest in Montague, MA. They have a passion for community and are an instructor at Artisan's Asylum, a 501c3 arts non-profit in Allston, MA. There, Scraps co-founded the metal shop residency program which gives education and work opportunities to marginalized folks by raising a new generation of teachers.
“Scraps plays with themes of kink and horror in their work to reclaim the ways the world objectifies queer and disabled bodies. As a queer, mixed-race amputee, the world sees them as different, weird, and even gross. Thus. they have never been a stranger to being a spectacle. Through their artwork, Scraps takes control of how they are perceived by curating a look, style, and attitude that's in your face and impossible to ignore. The use of evocative motifs with a long, rich history in queer art allows them to show the world the beautiful monster they've become.”
How does your work relate to the theme connection?
“My work spits in the face of systems of oppression that teach marginalized folks to feel shame for qualities of themselves that are intrinsic and immutable. Qualities that are beautiful and should be celebrated. Through the inherently public nature of combining metal work and performance, I put myself in front of the world as someone who is unapologetically themselves. This display of confidence shows others that they can be safe and empowered to join me in loving themselves, their bodies, and their identities. Queer people have always existed. Disabled people have always existed. It's far past time we step out of the shadows.“
"Jaw Neck-Niece", mild steel, 14" x 14" x 10", 2024
What role does connection play in your creative process?
“Connection is crucial to every step of my process and the education I needed to become who I am. I gain access to my workshop where I create my art by volunteering for Artisan’s Asylum. I am able to put food on my plate by teaching the skills I have to others through classes and demonstrations. I put time, effort, and passion into the metal shop residency program I helped start because I know that for me to thrive requires others around me to thrive as well so we can all flourish in a creative community. Every day, I go into my work shop reminding myself that the reason I am able to share the knowledge, skills, and resources I have is because someone before me did the same for me. From my apprenticeship, to my friends sharing opportunities, to the experienced folks who taught me all my skills are acts of reciprocity in a community that I work my absolute hardest to continue to pass along.“
What connection(s) does your queerness make to the world around you?
“Artisan’s Asylum, the maker space where I teach, is divided up into 15 different workshops focusing on different mediums. I am beyond proud to say that our metal shop has by far the most queer folks in its leadership and volunteer workers. In spaces that are so frequently dominated by cisgender heterosexual men, it is crucial to have diversity within their leadership. Since starting efforts like the metalshop residency program that give opportunity to marginalized people, many queer people have found the metalshop as a safe haven and place to explore new skills, learn, and grow where they know they will have a community to back them up and uplift them. Because of this shop, more queer people will be able to go out in the world and spread the joy of metal work while making others feel safe to be brought into the fold.“
"Dangerous Submissive", mild steel, 10" x 10" x 3", 2024
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, or research.
“The work I have submitted here is a culmination of many different aspects of my identity as well as the communities I am a part of that enabled me to become the person I am. I am honored to have had so much support from so many incredible people and I have a strong commitment to passing down the love and support I was given to enable more of us to thrive. This work is merely a glimpse into the world our community will create.“