Kaegan Sparks hails from a small southern-Texas town, but she's making a big mark on Penn's urban campus. The Kelly Writer's House art curator shares her thoughts on vintage typewriters, hipsters and Penn's architectural sexual innuendos.
Street: What do you do at the Kelly Writer's House?
Kaegan Sparks: Cook. Clean. Letterpress. Collage chairs. Drink blood orange Italian soda. Organize programs. Laugh. Destroy defunct electronics with hammers in the parking lot. Caffeinate. Make hand turkeys. Design calendars. Cook and consume artichokes with friends. Sell books. Read books. Brunch, incessantly. Do laundry. Talk shop. Play hostess at posh receptions. Recaffeinate. Scribble a lot in my Moleskine. I also curate KWH Art, our in-house gallery.
Street: You're from a small town in Texas. What's it like living in Philly?
KS: Well, I'm not exactly a reformed country cousin or something. Hailing from the dear nether regions of our country (read: suburbs of Mexico), probably the biggest culture shock coming here was the ethnicity inversion. I actually didn't realize so many blonde heads could populate one place. I find Philadelphia a manageable first metropolis and just quirky enough. Notwithstanding the occasional nostalgia for grapefruit, January sunnies-with-a-high-o'-85 and your faithful cornerside taqueria, for the most part I'm a pretty satisfied renegade. The Yank jokes back home are cute, too.
Street: What's one item you can't live without?
KS: My default answer was always "my electronic dictionary, duh." But now the screen's gone awry, and I use my Mac for that anyway. Paradoxical analog: I'm pretty into my chartreuse 1953 typewriter lately.
Street: If you could rename Penn to get rid of all of that Penn State confusion, what would you call it?
KS: I think I have bigger issues with our mascot.
Street: How would you describe your personal style?
KS: "Delicately avoiding hipsterdom, one day at a time." I do lots of vintage and chunky jewelry. Any duo of curious objects that I come across under a five-pound composite is typically revamped as earrings: glow-in-the-dark mini dinos, oyster shells, chandelier prisms, Mexican milagritos (prayer charms), etc.
Street: What do you TiVo?
KS: I literally can't answer that question without confirming the meaning of "TiVo" on the Internet.
Street: Most overrated thing at Penn? Most underrated?
KS: Overrated: Huntsman phallus (I'm personally psyched about post-college life in a humanity-major-cardboard-box collective). Underrated: probably the balcony carrels in the Fine Arts Library.
Street: There are two types of people at Penn.
KS: Those who LOL and those who don't.
