WEBVTT 00:01.466 --> 00:03.966 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: What objects give meaning to our lives? 00:03.966 --> 00:08.333 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% KPBS reporter Maya Trabulsi talked to an artist who gathered things special to San Diego residents 00:10.133 --> 00:12.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and preserved them as 3-D laser art. 00:12.933 --> 00:16.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% It is part of our arts and culture series, Canvas. 00:16.366 --> 00:21.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MAYA TRABULSI: When you walk into the New Americans Museum, you may wonder where the 00:21.966 --> 00:23.966 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% art exhibit is. 00:23.966 --> 00:27.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But if you look closer, you will see a pen knife, a bell, a figurine. 00:29.800 --> 00:33.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And if you look even closer, you will learn about the stories embedded in these objects. 00:33.166 --> 00:36.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% KERIANNE QUICK, Artist, New Americans Museum: Each one of these individual stories come 00:36.933 --> 00:40.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% together as a chorus, in my view. 00:40.933 --> 00:43.600 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% MAYA TRABULSI: Kerianne Quick is the artist in residence here. 00:43.600 --> 00:47.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% KERIANNE QUICK: When you start with something specific, something completely surprising 00:47.866 --> 00:51.266 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% can unfold, something you never would have access to otherwise. 00:51.266 --> 00:53.566 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% MAYA TRABULSI: Something specific like a typewriter? 00:53.566 --> 00:55.800 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% KERIANNE QUICK: Like a typewriter, yes, yes. 00:55.800 --> 01:00.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MAYA TRABULSI: For her exhibit called A Portrait of People in Motion, she spent over a year 01:02.200 --> 01:04.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% gathering treasured objects from San Diego residents. 01:04.100 --> 01:08.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% But, more importantly, she gathered the stories that accompany them. 01:08.233 --> 01:13.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% KERIANNE QUICK: If we can feel some of that emotion about what it's like to try to figure 01:15.233 --> 01:19.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% out how to live in a new place, then maybe we can empathize with those who are experiencing 01:21.566 --> 01:25.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% the most extreme version of that discomfort. 01:25.000 --> 01:30.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MAYA TRABULSI: The item is scanned, and then 3-D printed or laser engraved to leave behind 01:31.933 --> 01:35.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% what Kerianne calls a ghost, transparent, with faint detail, yet still teeming with 01:37.000 --> 01:39.133 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% the story of how it came to San Diego. 01:39.133 --> 01:42.300 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% KERIANNE QUICK: The story is the art piece. 01:42.300 --> 01:46.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The objects that are represented here, they're just a way in to those stories. 01:46.766 --> 01:49.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And, yes, the objects are transparent. 01:49.266 --> 01:50.766 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% And that's on purpose. 01:50.766 --> 01:52.600 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% MAYA TRABULSI: Some objects are made of clear resin. 01:52.600 --> 01:55.233 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% Others are acrylic. 01:55.233 --> 01:58.566 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% KERIANNE QUICK: The light as it projects through the laser-engraved surface, it creates a shadow 01:59.700 --> 02:03.066 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% where the writing almost becomes legible. 02:03.066 --> 02:07.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MAYA TRABULSI: At first glance, they are hard to see against the stark white wooden furniture 02:07.900 --> 02:10.100 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% designed to look like furniture in a home. 02:10.100 --> 02:13.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% But looking closer is exactly what Kerianne wants you to do. 02:13.533 --> 02:16.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% KERIANNE QUICK: And when they look closer, and they wonder what that -- what the thing 02:16.900 --> 02:21.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% is that they're looking at, they are given access to the story that is behind it. 02:21.833 --> 02:25.733 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% MAYA TRABULSI: Kerianne also recorded the oral histories of each piece. 02:25.733 --> 02:30.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% They can be played by dialing a number on your phone and then the corresponding number 02:32.466 --> 02:34.400 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% of the item. 02:34.400 --> 02:38.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MAN: My object is a jacket that, when I was in Korea during the Korean War, this was a 02:39.833 --> 02:42.300 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% jacket that I, in effect, stole from the Army. 02:42.300 --> 02:47.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WOMAN: From 1971 to now, we have lived many places, and the recipes have gone with me. 02:49.766 --> 02:52.833 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% WOMAN: My object is a little tiny Inuit figure that was given to me in 1945 by my first boyfriend, 02:55.333 --> 02:57.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% who was stationed in the Aleutians. 02:57.666 --> 03:02.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WOMAN: And I think just seeing it makes me feel at home, because I grew up seeing it. 03:02.433 --> 03:07.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% KERIANNE QUICK: The crux of what I'm trying to do here is to help people, people in general, 03:10.466 --> 03:15.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% feel something that might make them treat their neighbor a little bit better. 03:17.466 --> 03:20.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MAYA TRABULSI: And as the sound of plane engines roar above this little museum under the San 03:20.300 --> 03:25.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Diego flight path, it offers a subtle reminder that we are all people in motion. 03:27.200 --> 03:31.733 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Maya Trabulsi in San Diego.