GREEN BAY (NBC 26) – It’s been a challenging year for local artists as the pandemic canceled many art exhibitions and events.
Artigras, which was supposed to take place on site this weekend, is one of them.
But after a year of galleries closing and festivals and events canceled, artists have started to find new ways to showcase their work.
“For many artists, the initial response to the pandemic was losing events, losing festivals, and things to sell their products at,” said Stacey Burkhart, a Green Bay Area textile artist who represents Eight Trees Company.
For Burkhart, it has been the power of the internet and social media that has kept their business going in recent years.
For her, the pandemic was in some ways a blessing in disguise as she said it was actually one of her financially best years.
“It was pretty lucrative,” said Burkhart.
The mother of three says face mask requirements were one of the main reasons for her additional income increase.
In the beginning, when they were hard to come by, she said many local stores requested them on the store fronts.
“Face masks had a way for me to say I should sit and cut 50 of them at the same time, sew 50 pieces at a time, and then distribute them,” said Burkhart.
While spending much more time at home, she used this to her advantage to apply and become a paid virtual artist for a studio in Fond Du Lac.
“It was a lot of fun because I had to go online for an hour every day and only talk to people about what I sewed that day,” said Burkhart.
Burkhart does what she loves and continues to express her creativity.
“Many of these pieces may never know what the story is behind them, but I do. One reminds me of my grandmother, one of my aunt, who I lost this year,” said Burkhart.
Describing these pieces as her pandemic memoir, she says she hopes other artists have used this time to capture the times we also live.
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