We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Crystal Thompson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Crystal below.

Crystal, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

I do almost everything differently. I usually start with looking for a new approach in most instances. It keeps things fresh, new and creative.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Crystal Thompson. I am a New York based installation artist and I have also been making costumes for tv, film and stage for over 30 years.

I love creating whimsical environments using imagery that I’ve taken from everyday life. My work often highlights beautiful things that are often left unnoticed. In a world where someone or something is constantly begging for our attention, the things that we discover purely through our own observation and curiosity are often the most meaningful.

One of my newest installations is “New Growth.” It is a community space that takes up the entirety of the gallery of The Modernist Hotel in Long Island City, New York. My intention going into it was always to develop the installation and its following slowly and organically over time.
“New Growth” has been evolving since May 2023. Up until this point, I have done very little to formally promote it. Most of the people that know about the gallery either discovered it by staying at the hotel or heard about it through word-of-mouth.

The very first elements of the installation were projected kaleidoscopic videos created from footage I captured of city lights as reflected through raindrops. The original design involved a dark room in favor of the projections, but the sunlight through the glass block windows was so stunning that I decided to incorporate it into the piece. I drew open the curtains and added kaleidoscope loops onto different video monitors in the room as well. I collected fallen branches from the local area and slowly began rigging them to the walls and ceiling. The branches interacting with the projections helped to create the feeling of a magical tree canopy. Nearly 5 months later, I started creating and filling the branches with hand dyed paper flowers and leaves. I also added floral themed decals to discarded mirrors as I rescued them from the streets, eventually turning the room itself into a kaleidoscope. The installation is now a large-scale, multimedia collage.

We never had an official opening or any kind of a fancy party to announce the show. Things just started happening in there organically. Romantic evenings, heart felt reunions, spontaneous concerts, impromptu artist salons, dancing in the projected light, and even cooking classes. Word of a secret art garden slowly spread throughout the neighborhood. Past guests of the hotel returned to it time after time to see it grow. The show’s guestbook became filled with the kind words, photos, poetry and drawings of the gallery’s many visitors.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Ingrid Fatell Lee’s TED talk “Where Joy Hides and How to Find It” and it’s companion book “Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness” have had a huge influence on how I run my business and how I make art.

In this talk, Lee explains the neuroscience behind why seeing things like bright pops of color, balloons, confetti and google eyes make most humans feel a momentary surge of positive emotion. She describes the practice of “Joyspotting”, or actively seeking out and turning your attention to the joy in your surroundings. Visually “collecting” joyful images is what ultimately led to my interest in photography. I photograph everything from walls of layered, peeling paint to people dancing in my projections. My photographs are the basis of my video kaleidoscopes, my glass decals and many other aspects of my art.

I enjoy the challenge of working with found materials, it forces me to think on my feet and use what’s there. I find that practicing this kind of improvisational art has really sharpened my eye for composition and nurtured my creativity. It is a big reason I’ve have had so many opportunities to work with some of the most talented creatives on projects as diverse as Madonna World Tours and operas for The Metropolitan Opera.

I always try to bring the art of “joyspotting” to my costume work as well. The costumes I get hired to work on are often created under tremendous pressure with high stakes and tight deadlines. Nothing can fix the actual problem besides getting the job done, but sometimes helping someone on a project smile and reset for just a moment can make a big difference in how the rest of the project goes for everyone involved.

Some of my favorite costume jobs have in turn, influenced my personal art. Creating drag ball costumes for background characters on the FX show “Pose”, primarily using donated fabrics and thrift store dresses, taught me how to create from limited resources. Developing and building trash-themed contortionist costumes with Donna Zakowska for an episode of “The Marvelous Miss Maisel” taught me to approach costumes as art, and I’ learned what a powerful force joy can be to create change from working on the set of Sesame Street.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is to teach people to look beyond the obvious, and to understand the importance of being curious and playful. Adults are often told that a sense of whimsy is childish and should be repressed, but I believe it is a crucial ingredient to a happy life. I encourage interaction with my art. I often to introduce elements like fans with flowing fabrics attached and hand held flexible mirrors to play in the projections with. These things are simple and don’t require special skill. It can be very grounding for people to use their minds and bodies in such an easy and creative way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://crystalthompsonart.com, https://crystalthompson.nyc
• Instagram: @crystalthompsonart/@crystalsatellite
• Other: The Modernist Hotel 38-30 29th Street Long Island City, New York

Image Credits
Personal Photo of Crystal Thompson by Yianni Katsifas All other photos by Crystal Thompson