Sag Harbor resident Chelsea Browne is an artist-in-residence at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton, where she’s enveloped in numerous projects — window installations, workshops, volunteer work. But perhaps her most impactful work yet will be the one the world will never touch.
Browne is using her newest NFT art creation to help bring awareness to CMEE.
The acronym NFT (which stands for non-fungible token) elicits confusion for many, across the generations — what it is, how it works, and why it even exists. Chelsea aims to bring new understanding to this terminology.
As far as aligning with the Bridgehampton kids’ museum, “I absolutely love the institution’s friendly, hardworking caring staff. They are very community focused and care about children deeply,” Browne said.
The NFT created for CMEE is physically made up of a series of 6” x 6” 3-D iridescent glow-in-the-dark shadow boxes made of hand-cut origami paper that will interact with one another based on how the light hits them, a “fractal wave pattern” that creates a unique viewpoint.
In order to transform the physical piece into a digital one, Browne collaborates with larger organizations that take her work and create its NFT counterpart. The work with CMEE will be sold for approximately $5,000, and she will donate 100 percent of the profits to the organization. The physical piece will be for sale through NJP Gallery in East Hampton.
Browne explained, “NFT art will influence how value is transferred and seen. The Hamptons is incredibly rich in natural beauty and I hope NFTs align to support the protection and appreciation of the landscape and communities within it.”
NFT art is where a physical object resides in a virtual world. And the digital landscape has quickly become a new medium for fine art.
If it sounds like something out of “The Matrix” or “Black Mirror” that’s because, well, it sort of is.
Put simply, NFTs can’t be copied. Each piece is a one-of-a-kind digital asset. Which means purchasing an NFT provides a buyer full ownership. Much like physical art, digital NFT artwork holds as much value as society places on it. Prices are determined by personal value, interest, and estimated return on investment, which varies piece by piece. In essence, it’s a boom or bust asset, all depending on what value is assigned to it.
An ever-evolving artist, Browne was first introduced to virtual creations in high school with a class entirely dedicated to Photoshop. While others excelled in their digital abilities, Browne discovered her artistry was best left to the physical realm. However, her interest never waned. Rather than take a backseat to this newly introduced art form, Browne focused on how she could plan physical pieces that would later be digitized. She then created her first NFT in 2021, a collaboration project exhibited at Art Basel in Miami.
“It was exciting to be involved in a new art form and share the stage with other creatives,” Browne said. It’s through a network of friendships and collaborations that she is able to “build unique items that would not be possible without each component.” It’s an intersection of natural elements with artificial interfaces, where the experimental and experiential come to life.
“Being in physical spaces that bring about clear mindsets and emotional wellbeing matter tremendously,” she said, “and technology ideally should be used to help humans live better lives in the physical world as well as mental, social, and spiritual.”
NFTs are here to stay, but what that means exactly has yet to be determined. Will it replace physical art? Will it propel the art world forward? Browne aims to take us one step closer to figuring that out.
Chelsea Browne’s artwork is on exhibit at Waterfall Mansion and Gallery in Manhattan as well as NJP Gallery in East Hampton. Her website is chelseahrynickbrowne.com.
The Children’s Museum of the East End can be found online at cmee.org.