Static-Disrupted Patterns

By Jocelyn Tatum 

While she had been creating artistic pieces with Perler Beads for a few years, it started taking shape, or actually taking on no shape, in February 2021 when she had to quarantine for two weeks after contracting COVID-19. What was she going to do with all of that time?  

“You should make a giant blue square,” a friend said sarcastically. 

“F**k you, I am doing it,” cover artist Megan Zamie said. 

What happened was random, literally. She created a giant blue square with organized patterns in various shades of blue on the periphery, but on the inside she tossed beads onto the board that created what she calls a “static” effect. There is no deeper meaning; it is as random as where the beads fall. “I do things because I think they look cool,” Megan said. That’s it. The static disrupts the order.

I met Megan when I was “walking my beat” at Arts Goggle in April. That is journalese for finding story ideas. Hanging in her booth was one giant orange square and one giant blue square with these static-disrupted patterns. I thought they were beautiful. My son loved Perler Beads when he was about 5 years old, so I was familiar with these tedious and tiny crafting materials. I then thought, how cool would this be as our feature profile-inspired, abstract cover art? 

She said yes. 

When Megan read Yanira Borges’ story, she loved it when she mentioned Wonder Woman. She thought: I wonder if she is a closet nerd, like me? “I could relate to that,” Megan said. She watched a video Yanira took for the writer giving a tour of her garden. At one point Yanira mentioned a hummingbird. Megan saw parallels in Yanira’s story and her movements, flitting all over her garden and Fort Worth helping others grow. Megan also latched on to that because she remembers being fascinated with the tiny creatures on long walks when visiting her grandparents. 

Static has a lot of movement, but it can be difficult to see individual colors in her static creations, so on the back she created larger dots that echo the smaller ones on the front.