So… I really enjoyed this 7 questions for 75 artists about 1 bad year feature that was recently in the Sunday NYTimes, so I used these questions as writing prompts for this post. Now that the end of this pandemic finally seems to be coming into focus, I guess I just wanted to collect & organize my thoughts about the past year. Maybe you’d like to do the same? So here goes!
What’s one thing you made this year?
Well actually from a productivity standpoint, during the time period between the lockdown of 2020 to now has been my MOST productive of my career, having released FOUR new patterns during this time period& already working on a 5th! I attribute this to having plenty of extra time on my hands due to ALL of our retail & wholesale shows having been cancelled. I never realized how much of my year was being taken up with the getting ready, the being gone, and the catching back up from these shows was! Conversely, I also never realized how much I absolutely enjoyed the customer contact and the comraderie with other vendors and the just plain adventure of it all!
What art have you turned to in this time?
I can’t really say that I have turned to a new art form during this time. but I did kinda discover the world of podcasts! Actually, my daughter recommended a select few podcasts that she thought might trip my trigger and I’ve so enjoyed this new diversion while I sew or tend to routine daily tasks!
Did you have any particularly bad ideas?
I’m a firm believer that there’s no such thing as bad ideas… only poor execution, and yeah, poor execution an happen at a moment’s notice, right?
What’s a moment from this year you’ll always remember?
I made arrangements (pre-pandemic) to fly out west and meet up with my daughter & two grandkids in South Dakota to help her drive home (to NC). It was a little scary at times (mainly the plane flight out there), & exhilarating at other times but all-together priceless the WHOLE time!
Anyway, my favorite memory happened at a little convenience store outside the BadLands that also happened to feature a whole field of prairie dogs you could feed (although none of them looked like they’d missed too many meals). I never knew they were such comical little creatures? We literally laughed ourselves silly and just thinking back on it now makes me SMILE!
Did you find a friendship that sustained you artistically?
As a confirmed introvert, I don’t make new friends easily, and the prolonged isolation certainly wasn’t conducive to meeting new people but thank goodness for the friends I hold dear, a few of which have been in my life for 35+ years. The past year would have been miserable without them!
If you’d known that you’d be isolated for so long, what would you have done differently?
I am nothing but thankful that I had no clue how long this isolation would last, because had I known then what we all know now, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have handled it well AT ALL!
Is there anything you want to achieve before things return to normal?
I know this sounds a little random, but I’d like to redecorate our “powder room” and I’d like to try my hand at that new “peel n’stick” wallpaper! Even though I swore I’d NEVER wallpaper a room again after having such a hard time pulling down old wall paper at our former house. This new “peel n’stick” paper has made me reconsider that vow!
And now, it’s YOUR turn!
Years from now, what will you remember from YOUR “Pandemic Year”? Maybe you’d like to share a memory or two in the comment area below or complete this exercise for yourself? It might be fun to compare notes, right? And remember, we love reading your comments and answering your questions too, so please feel free to leave either or both in the space provided below.
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