"I have to make stuff". See the wonderful world of Zina Nicole Lahr who tragically passed away in a hiking accident.
Short Documentary by Stormy Pyeatte [4].
Speaker: Zina Nicole Lahr
Hello, everyone. My name is Zina Lahr. I'm from Ouray, Colorado. I circumnavigate the areas of California as well. This is my room. I like to make things. I suppose you could say I have a self-diagnosed condition called CCD, it's creative compulsive disorder where I have to make stuff all the time, and whatever I have around me. Whether it's trash, or junk, or things that people would normally throw away, I try to find ways to re-fabricate them into something useful and beautiful. I like taking stuff and doing the unexpected with it.
This is an old parasol that was at an antique store that was falling apart. I decided that I was going to stick some lights in it because I needed a flashlight. Why have just a flashlight when you could have a lighted parasol with a hundred LEDs on it, so I put this in there.
I love making robots. One of my favorite things to make is robots. I love learning about kinetics and I love gathering any kind of information like things move, and applying it to either the grounds of animation, or robotics, or mechanics, or even puppetry.
I made this tarantula for a TV show. Me and a team of three other people constructed these leg systems out of zip ties of pool noodles. It had working mouth parts, mandibles that can raise up and down, and jointed legs that were puppetted by eight rods. I would say that I am inspired by real life creatures when I make puppets.
The project of Moving On was one of my favorite projects. We were doing it for these people in Africa, that they had seen hardship and trial. I decided to make a crane out of watercolor paper that I glued together and sewed and I made a base armature of wire that I sewed in together. I sewed all of its feathers on its arms with just tiny stitches. As I animated the crane moving its arms up, every feather would fall down naturally. I watched a ton of videos on African Grey Cranes and how they moved, and I applied that to my stop-motion process.
I made the sea monster named Catalyst out of Chavant clay and wire. I basically wrapped the wire into an armature and added the clay to it. I was mostly inspired to make Catalyst by looking at creatures that were already existent, anything from like a praying mantis to some lobsters, to even pre-historic animals like trilobites for back plates on her.
I like integrating art into anything that I do including what I wear. Everyday, I put on a different outfit and I like to make myself my own canvas. I wear goggles because you just never know when you're going to need goggles. It's good to have eye safety and I'm always ready with my eye safety.
I don't even remember the first time I started making something but I just think I've always made things. It's been my passion in my part to bring life to something inanimate. I just see every day as a new opportunity to bring art to people. If I could do that by what I wear, then I am going to do it in every way possible.
