My Creative Process

By Jay Thomas GUTS+Published: June 12, 2024

This is an artist page by Jay Thomas. This project was part of the CATS+ Spring 2024 cohort.

Creative Process

I started the CATS+ residency with minimal performance art experience and no previous experience with art technology. I was such a novice to art technology that I had never heard the term “project mapping.” Incorporating art and technology felt challenging to me as someone who never had access to creative resources. My goal was to collaborate and learn from artists with experience in different forms of art and technology.

For my demo, I created a keynote presentation called Drag 101, a Trans Latine Drag King’s Perspective. I spoke about my experience as a drag king, what interests me about drag, my preparation process before a performance, and how folks interested in drag can get started in Austin. I included a time-lapse video of myself doing my makeup and spoke through the process. I edited the video on CapCut.

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Collaborative Process

My favorite part about the collaborative final project was the process of me and the other residents talkings through our ideas. As someone who enjoys exploring how our lived experience informs art, it was exciting to see how similar our interests were.

Some notes I wrote to pitch the group while we were brainstorming

Pretty early on, we collectively decided on the bus as a space for the project. I was really interested in having our lived experience showcased in the project. My work as a drag artist was discussed, and helped us decide on the idea of alternate personas as a main theme of the project. Because we were sharing our inner selves, the set design would be reminiscent of a human’s physical insides (guts!!) The group decided on the name GUTS+.

Some of us interested in performance art decided to create videos expressing ourselves, our vulnerabilities, and our personalities. We would create a space on the bus to showcase the videos and have the other half of the bus be an interactive technology piece. After 3 meetings of brainstorming and gentle nods by our very supportive CATS+ mentors, we learned that the easiest way to get inspired is to start doing and let the ideas flow.

The folks working on videos went on a field trip to a local costume shop called Coco Coquette to try on wigs to inspire us to imagine alternate personas. The only thing I discovered is that I hate the way I look in a wig.

We created a spreadsheet of things we needed to get done for the bus.

During the residency, we were introduced to TouchDesigner, Premiere Pro and other programs I hope to get a deeper understanding of. For my video, I decided to keep it simple and use CapCut to edit it. I used footage from my wedding that happened recently at Sahara Lounge. The wedding was a public event called Lesbian Wedding, a local party that has been happening for 10 years. During it, my partner and I had a ceremony, complete with a prayer and our vows. The ceremony was beautiful and the most vulnerable I’ve ever been in public. I felt dread afterward over how many people saw a part of me I wasn’t sure I was ready to share. It felt appropriate to include this footage because I spilled my guts+ on stage, and I was proud of how this moment helped other queer folks feel like we deserve space for joy and love, especially as queers in the South.

The hardest part of the residency for me was allowing other folks to see my creative process because of how inexperienced I felt. I was a little ashamed of using CapCut because it is not the most sophisticated program and can be easily learned. In the end, though, my video footage and the editing process really encapsulated my CATS+ experience. I used the time I had, the resources at my disposal, trusted the process, and, in the end, had a great time.