GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — It's been a challenging year for local artists as the pandemic canceled many art shows and events.
Artigras which was suppose to happen locally this weekend is one of them.
But after a year where galleries were closed and festivals and event were canceled, artists have begun to find new ways to present their work.
"A lot of the artists, the initial reaction to the pandemic was loss of events, loss of the festivals and things where they could sell their products,” said Stacey Burkhart, a textile artist in the Green Bay Area representing Eight Trees Company.
For Burkhart, its been through the power of the internet and social media that has kept her business going the last few years.
For her the pandemic was actually a blessing in disguise in some ways, as she said it was actually one of her best years financially.
"It was quite lucrative,” Burkhart said.
The mother of three says face masks demands were one of main reasons for her additional increase in income.
In the beginning as they were hard to come by, she says she had many local shops request them on store fronts.
"Face masks had the ability for me to say sit and cut 50 of them at one time, sew 50 of them at one time and then distribute,” Burkhart said.
While she was spending a lot 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 got to go online for an hour every day and I just talk to people about what it was that I was sewing that day,” Burkhart said.
Burkhart doing what she loves and continuing to express her creativity.
"A lot of these pieces people may never know what the story is behind them but I do. One is in memory of my grandmother, one is in memory of my aunt that I lost this year,” Burkhart said.
She describes these pieces as her pandemic memoir and says she's hopeful that other artists have used this time to capture the times we're living through as well.
