Nothing like waiting until December to send out my first update of 2020
But it's 2020 so who cares right?!
Friends,
I don’t even know where to start because…2020 so I’ll sum it up real quick and get the part where we start 2021 off right.
Summary:
2020 started off great. I was doing a million things. Rita’s Quilt went on exhibit at the National Quilt Museum and I got to be there with dozens of the amazing humans who worked on it. I had over 100 events lined up for the launch of my tour. I had resigned from my job and was hiring my replacement. Then….Covid. Everything got cancelled. You know this story though…we all lived it. So I sold everything I owned, moved into the RV I had gotten for the tour, left Chicago and started driving and thinking.
I’ve made some grand pivots. I teach online now. I speak online. I do workshops online. I sell art online. I send art to museums and galleries that I can’t go to. And I drive. I park in the driveways of strangers that are now family. I wave at them and walk with them but I don’t hug them or go inside their homes or see their smiles because of our masks.
I have traveled through: Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and now I’m in Austin, Texas. My covid test was negative and I feel the healthiest I’ve ever felt physically. I am both grateful for that and constantly terrified it will be taken away from me. Mostly, I’m just thrilled to be alive and to not be feeling trapped in an apartment in Chicago while I explore a lot of nature…because nature isn’t dangerous like humans are.
I lost my precious pup Scrappy to kidney failure this fall. It was devastating. My other dog, Maggie, is adapting and she LOVES life on the road. She was born for adventure. I had a new idea and now it’s becoming a reality…the country’s first Craftivist-In-Residence program. The Fuller Craft Museum will be the first location. Salem College, NC will be the second. There are several more in the lineup. So that’s exciting! Currently, I’m in Austin. I’m parked for a few months. I’ll be having some art shows here and I’m doing A LOT of walking which is nice.
Pandemics are weird. A president that won’t concede after losing like 700 times is weird. I never know what day it is. Time seems irrelevant. I wake up at 2am every morning inexplicably. It’s all just weird. But I’m happy and grateful and optimistic because I still believe in humans.
BUT
The real reason why I’m in your inbox right now!
I had another idea and I want you to know about it so you can participate and we can bring 2021 in right.
All I’m saying is…people who are making seem to be doing less breaking. I’m seeing this first-hand.
And so I present the #MakeDontBreak January challenge.
WHAT IS IT?
I am inviting you to a daily, month-long, making experiment beginning on January 1, 2021. You choose your medium. Maybe you choose lots of mediums, that is irrelevant. The important part is that you commit to spending time reflecting and making every day for the month of January.
I have lined up a few dozen of the greatest minds I know to help us. Daily, you will get to meet one of these people (artists, activists, writer, singers, healers, thinkers) and they will provide you with a reflection prompt. You can use that as the inspiration for your thinking/making time – or not! There are no rules. These are meant as support mechanisms for folks who need some direction.
You can share your masterpieces and connect with other folks participating via the hashtag #MakeDontBreak (or not).
You can build a little cohort of friends and family and have weekly check-ins and conversations about your art practice (or not).
You can join in one of the weekly virtual check-ins that I am hosting throughout the month (or not).
This experience can be whatever you want it to be.
You can learn more and register for the daily emails here.
Are you in??? Great!
I’ll be in touch again soon. I miss mouth breathing all over you.
Love,
Shannon