1 00:00:01,466 --> 00:00:03,966 JUDY WOODRUFF: What objects give meaning to our lives? 2 00:00:03,966 --> 00:00:08,333 KPBS reporter Maya Trabulsi talked to an artist who gathered things special to San Diego residents 3 00:00:10,133 --> 00:00:12,933 and preserved them as 3-D laser art. 4 00:00:12,933 --> 00:00:16,366 It is part of our arts and culture series, Canvas. 5 00:00:16,366 --> 00:00:21,366 MAYA TRABULSI: When you walk into the New Americans Museum, you may wonder where the 6 00:00:21,966 --> 00:00:23,966 art exhibit is. 7 00:00:23,966 --> 00:00:27,900 But if you look closer, you will see a pen knife, a bell, a figurine. 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,166 And if you look even closer, you will learn about the stories embedded in these objects. 9 00:00:33,166 --> 00:00:36,933 KERIANNE QUICK, Artist, New Americans Museum: Each one of these individual stories come 10 00:00:36,933 --> 00:00:40,933 together as a chorus, in my view. 11 00:00:40,933 --> 00:00:43,600 MAYA TRABULSI: Kerianne Quick is the artist in residence here. 12 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:47,866 KERIANNE QUICK: When you start with something specific, something completely surprising 13 00:00:47,866 --> 00:00:51,266 can unfold, something you never would have access to otherwise. 14 00:00:51,266 --> 00:00:53,566 MAYA TRABULSI: Something specific like a typewriter? 15 00:00:53,566 --> 00:00:55,800 KERIANNE QUICK: Like a typewriter, yes, yes. 16 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:00,766 MAYA TRABULSI: For her exhibit called A Portrait of People in Motion, she spent over a year 17 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,100 gathering treasured objects from San Diego residents. 18 00:01:04,100 --> 00:01:08,233 But, more importantly, she gathered the stories that accompany them. 19 00:01:08,233 --> 00:01:13,233 KERIANNE QUICK: If we can feel some of that emotion about what it's like to try to figure 20 00:01:15,233 --> 00:01:19,900 out how to live in a new place, then maybe we can empathize with those who are experiencing 21 00:01:21,566 --> 00:01:25,000 the most extreme version of that discomfort. 22 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:30,000 MAYA TRABULSI: The item is scanned, and then 3-D printed or laser engraved to leave behind 23 00:01:31,933 --> 00:01:35,633 what Kerianne calls a ghost, transparent, with faint detail, yet still teeming with 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,133 the story of how it came to San Diego. 25 00:01:39,133 --> 00:01:42,300 KERIANNE QUICK: The story is the art piece. 26 00:01:42,300 --> 00:01:46,766 The objects that are represented here, they're just a way in to those stories. 27 00:01:46,766 --> 00:01:49,266 And, yes, the objects are transparent. 28 00:01:49,266 --> 00:01:50,766 And that's on purpose. 29 00:01:50,766 --> 00:01:52,600 MAYA TRABULSI: Some objects are made of clear resin. 30 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:55,233 Others are acrylic. 31 00:01:55,233 --> 00:01:58,566 KERIANNE QUICK: The light as it projects through the laser-engraved surface, it creates a shadow 32 00:01:59,700 --> 00:02:03,066 where the writing almost becomes legible. 33 00:02:03,066 --> 00:02:07,900 MAYA TRABULSI: At first glance, they are hard to see against the stark white wooden furniture 34 00:02:07,900 --> 00:02:10,100 designed to look like furniture in a home. 35 00:02:10,100 --> 00:02:13,533 But looking closer is exactly what Kerianne wants you to do. 36 00:02:13,533 --> 00:02:16,900 KERIANNE QUICK: And when they look closer, and they wonder what that -- what the thing 37 00:02:16,900 --> 00:02:21,833 is that they're looking at, they are given access to the story that is behind it. 38 00:02:21,833 --> 00:02:25,733 MAYA TRABULSI: Kerianne also recorded the oral histories of each piece. 39 00:02:25,733 --> 00:02:30,733 They can be played by dialing a number on your phone and then the corresponding number 40 00:02:32,466 --> 00:02:34,400 of the item. 41 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:38,466 MAN: My object is a jacket that, when I was in Korea during the Korean War, this was a 42 00:02:39,833 --> 00:02:42,300 jacket that I, in effect, stole from the Army. 43 00:02:42,300 --> 00:02:47,300 WOMAN: From 1971 to now, we have lived many places, and the recipes have gone with me. 44 00:02:49,766 --> 00:02:52,833 WOMAN: My object is a little tiny Inuit figure that was given to me in 1945 by my first boyfriend, 45 00:02:55,333 --> 00:02:57,666 who was stationed in the Aleutians. 46 00:02:57,666 --> 00:03:02,433 WOMAN: And I think just seeing it makes me feel at home, because I grew up seeing it. 47 00:03:02,433 --> 00:03:07,433 KERIANNE QUICK: The crux of what I'm trying to do here is to help people, people in general, 48 00:03:10,466 --> 00:03:15,466 feel something that might make them treat their neighbor a little bit better. 49 00:03:17,466 --> 00:03:20,300 MAYA TRABULSI: And as the sound of plane engines roar above this little museum under the San 50 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:25,300 Diego flight path, it offers a subtle reminder that we are all people in motion. 51 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:31,733 For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Maya Trabulsi in San Diego.