Neitherwise
&
by Riley Neither
&
by Riley Neither
I'm a linguist, writer, and copy editor, and most of the time, language is my medium of choice. When I want to convey something to another person, I always feel that I can do so best in writing, and when I'm writing, I'm always doing so for an audience.
Art, for me, is something else. I don't make art for others; I make it for myself. Sometimes I don't even make it for the end result, but for the process. I'm often happy to share it—or I wouldn't have made this website!—but I could never promise it will be consistent in style or intelligible in substance. I leap between media and styles unpredictably and may never master any. Mastery isn't the goal; communication isn't the goal; profit and success aren't the goal. The goal is just art.
If you'd like to support me with no strings attached, I certainly won't say no! I'm not on Ko-Fi and don't drink coffee, but I do enjoy apple cider.
Like I said, I'm a linguist. To me, there's something profound, powerful, and beautiful in the act of speaking, and with my waveform art, I try to make this power and beauty visible. As far as I know, no one else makes art like this. It takes a particular intersection of interests and skills—language, art, acoustics, math, coding.
I'll start by taking an audio recording of something and plotting the sound wave. Then I start playing around with mathematical manipulations of the wave—envelopes, filters, downsampling, etc. Except for text, every line in the final image, even background color gradients, will be derived in some way from the original waveform. I combine and style all these elements until I've created an image that feels complete.
Paper quilling is a technique that's grown on me that involves rolling thin strips of paper into shapes and gluing them into place. The results can be intricately beautiful, and the process is much less wasteful and toxic than working with resin, as I've done in the past.
For jewelry, I'll varnish the finished quilled piece to give it some protection and durability. It took some trial and error to develop a varnishing process that doesn't warp the paper along the way, and that process is a little more time-consuming than alternatives I've tried, but the results are better for it. Even varnished, though, quilled jewelry is still essentially just paper and glue—it's delicate, so be gentle with it!
Everything I have to offer here is printed or crafted in my home studio. As I've become more ecologically conscious, I've sought out ways to reduce waste and shifted toward more sustainable materials like recycled paper, but this is an ongoing process.
For the moment, I'm only selling and shipping within the United States. Orders are shipped through USPS, and I can provide tracking numbers upon request. I can't guarantee how soon anything will arrive; I recommend allowing at least a week for creation, depending on the item in question, and two for shipping. If anything is wrong with an order when it arrives, let me know and I'll do what I can to fix it.
The website doesn't currently have a cart function, so items must be ordered individually, but if you'd like to place a larger order, you can contact me with the details and I'll set up a custom payment link for you. Online payments are processed by Square, and I can take Venmo and cash in person. If you prefer a different method of payment, contact me and we might be able to arrange something.
I'm conscious of my positionality in the world, my privileges and marginalizations as a person and an artist. I'm white, able-bodied, highly educated, a settler and a U.S. citizen; I'm trans masculine, non-binary (ze/they), neurodivergent, and grew up working class. I also care about community and reciprocity.
For any of my work that features identities or marginalizations that are not my own, I donate 10% of the sale price (that is, 10% of what you pay, excluding only shipping) to a relevant organization. For instance, if you buy a pair of earrings in pan-African colors or an art print with an illustration of a Black woman, I'll donate 10% to the Black Art Futures Fund. If there's a particular organization you'd like to support, let me know!
Additionally, I have a few paintings and prints for which 100% of proceeds will be donated to a specific organization. This is noted in their descriptions.
I'm willing to do a few commissions here and there, but this applies more to craft than to art—a custom notebook, a jewelry set, etc. You're welcome to ask about commissioning a painting or illustration or a piece of waveform art, but the answer may be no; it'll depend on whether I feel like I can make that art genuinely.
If you're interested, contact me with exactly what you have in mind. I'll estimate a price and a time frame and if those work for you, I'll get started! I can keep you updated through the process, and when it's done, I'll send you a (low-resolution) picture and a payment link. Once the payment has gone through, I'll send you the finished piece.
I'm currently in Omaha, Nebraska, Umonhon (Omaha) & Otoe-Missouria land, where I grew up. After spending almost ten years in upstate New York on Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ (Cayuga) land, part of my heart is still there, but I love Omaha's art scene!
This summer, I'm participating in Omaha's Benson First Fridays artist markets. You can find me in the north market on the first Friday of every month through September!
Not in the Omaha area? I'm not very active on social media, but I do have an Instagram presence. I also have some of my art up on Redbubble, if you'd like to get it printed on a shirt, mug, or just about anything you can imagine.
If you're a fan of speculative fiction, you can find some of my writing on my writer website.
Use the form below or email me directly at riley.neither@gmail.com. I'll usually get back to you within a week.