This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Imagination Illuminated: Lanterns in Ellicott City

A local artist puts a new spin on an annual Howard County parade.

It’s late on a Friday afternoon, and while many people her age are deciding what bar to head to, 23-year-old Christina Kaputsos is lugging boxes out of the Ellicott City Colored School that, for the moment, has doubled as her art studio.

The diminutive art school graduate maneuvers the weighty materials to her car with vigor, explaining all the while that a box isn’t just a box; to her it’s a fish, or a swan, or something even more beautiful.

Come the night of April 29, Ellicott City’s downtown area, from the Patapsco Female Institute to Main Street, will be awash with light during Howard County’s annual “Lanterns of Hope” parade, which is part of the county’s month-long “Cherrybration Days” festival that celebrates, among other things, the ushering in of spring.

Find out what's happening in Ellicott Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

During the parade, participants will carry illuminated pink, white and red tissue paper lanterns and paper designs that will turn the area into a mystical wonderland for the imagination.

And while the parade is entering its fifth year, this is the first time Kaputsos is at its center as the parade’s commissioned artist. Her job is to make the traditional parade more exciting.

Find out what's happening in Ellicott Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“There is no question she’s going to raise the visibility for us,” said Victoria Goodman, the executive director of Blossoms of Hope, the nonprofit responsible for the festivities. “She’s very creative. The pieces she’s created are so impressive.”

For the last few weeks, Kaputsos has been hard at work on the event design. In total, the parade will include 31 pieces, much of which was made with the help of volunteers who have been learning the art of paper construction under her tutelage. Kaputsos is hoping her freshly designed pieces and effects will jazz up the event and create some iconic imagery.  

Designing the parade is a big job. But Kaputsos is no stranger to challenge. In fact she seems to thrive on it. Although she’s only a year out of the Maryland Institute College for Art, the Ellicott City native is already juggling a handful of arts-related jobs, volunteer projects and the teaching gigs that help her make ends meet. She also runs her own arts studio out of her parent’s house.

A self-described multi-medium artist, Kaputsos specializes in everything from eco-friendly art to illustration to 3-D puppetry to dress construction. Her work is both culturally diverse and playful. She’s made India-inspired puppetry to bridal gowns made from paper and her resume includes such experience as a stint working on puppets for a Broadway show to continuous volunteer work with the Steps For the Cure Benefit Fashion Show, for which she creates eco-friendly dresses for breast cancer survivors to wear down the runway.  

“I’ve been getting involved in events since high school,” she says. “As an artist I think it’s important not to be selfish.”

With long, wavy brown hair, a slight figure and almond eyes, Kaputsos has a bohemian way about her. But while her looks might signal a laid-back air, Kaputsos talks with a feverish pitch about her work, rhapsodizing about her art the way that only people who truly love what they do can.

Graduating in one of the worst economies in recent history, it’s that passion that can make one artist stand above the rest. Kaputsos wants to be that artist.

“My dad always says, ‘Do what you love and the money will follow,’” she notes with a smile. “I never tell myself I can’t do something. I always figure it out.”

In her world, impossibilities are defeated with thoughtful precision. When working on a paper dress she doesn’t use a pattern. Instead, she creates a pattern out of shapes. Then she spends hours rolling the paper into intricate designs.

 “I’m very deep into symbolism. From colors to numbers, it all means something,” she said.

The parade elements Kaputsos has been working include giant, illuminated swans to smaller-scale pieces depicting fish, ducks and trees. Her work is a departure from the small, 3-D lanterns of the past few years.

“It’s going to look really cool,” she gushes.

Goodman is hoping that the new elements will draw more people to the parade than ever before.

“The work that she does with paper is really what impressed me,” Goodman said. “She really knew what I was looking for, and how to bring that next element to the event.”

Getting back to her long-term goals, when asked why she named her arts studio “Tyto,” she explains that it is Greek for owl (her dad happens to be Greek). Then she furthers, “The owl represents wisdom, grace, poise, creativity and my favorite—the unknown.” 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?