I am a lifelong generalist with a love for the arts, and I believe that making things with our hands is a joyful and transformative human practice! By engaging with creative work we plant seeds in our life that will grow at different rates, at different times, but they will always be there to give something back to us.
As a kid I grew up with fell in love with comics through Tintin and Dragon Ball, and later found Moebius, Junji Ito, and Rumiko Takahashi. I tried hard to make comics for a few years and drew zines to trade with friends at MoCCA Fest and SPX, but never seriously considered trying to support a life in New York with my art. My career progressed, I took on more responsibilities and demanding hours, and I stopped drawing as much. It's hard not to wonder what it would be like if I had kept on practicing; maybe I could've been really good! Certainly better than I am now.
Then, two years ago when I was pregnant with son, I sketched out a short comic that I wanted to give to him. It's more of a poem or a letter in some ways but, for me it had to be a comic. I didn't post it anywhere because that wasn't the point. Making it felt like such a gift. Playing with how to marry words and images in my head felt like calling up an old friend to find that nothing has changed. My time making comics was a seed I buried. It had grown with me after many years, even if I had neglected it for other things: watercolor, paper flowers, knitting, or sometimes making nothing at all.
Acorns are all oaks, and although though they won't all grow to be massive trees, they're all worth admiring. Acorns are possibility, growth, transformation, humility. For me, Acorn Craft Shop was the seed in the back of my mind that was worth tending to every day. What's your acorn?