NO RED TAPE, YES RED TAPE

You know when you look back on a difficult time in your life & are finally able to say, “Without THAT, there never would have been THIS”?

Like so many people, my THAT has been COVID, and my THIS is a total love affair with making patterns with washi tape. I have a budding business called BEENANZA. I am a pattern designer & block-print artist. I have a lovely, colorful studio in an old soda factory in Burlington, VT which I left vacant for most of last year so I could be home to support my 8 and 11 year old sons with their remote learning.

I had to change my life, my focus and my business. I went from my quiet studio to my dining room table. There were constant interruptions & no more than 15 minutes at a time to follow through with an idea or e-mail - let alone block-print.

And yet, I was really inspired.

The boys became my ultimate source of creativity. They would act as my customers, clients & mini art directors constantly asking to see what I was working on. They were writing poems about disinfecting wipes (yes, yes, that happened), cutting awesome shapes from construction paper to build patterns with me, weaving with rope they made from plastic bags, and taking virtual piano & double bass lessons that became my 2020 soundtrack.

The three of us would mask up every once in a while and head to the craft store to restock our art supply bucket. On one particularly mundane afternoon we were browsing the kid craft section when I found an 8pk of multi-colored washi tape that I threw in the cart. “Ooooo,” I remember thinking, “this could be fun.”

We get home... I immediately sat down at the dining room table. (Granted at this point it’s about 5:30pm & everyone wants to know the dinner plan, “sorry boys, mama’s makin’, Daddy’s in charge of dinner tonight”) I grab my 15 year-old pair of pink kitchen scissors, the rainbow-colored tapes, and my sketchbook. I begin cutting, sticking and layering. I started paying attention to how the colors overlapped, how deep of a curve I could achieve with the scissors before the tape started sticking to itself, the scissors & me. I began to notice the slight translucency of the tape that is oh-so reminiscent of how inks mingle with each other when block-printing. In the same way, each time I cut a shape - even if I try my very best to make it exactly like the shape before - it isn’t. It can’t be. These patterns are beautiful BECAUSE of the inconsistencies, the flaws inherent in both processes add an element of humanity.

Some days when I sit down to create I do it with intention and clarity, and some days I don’t - I simply choose my color count and palette and just begin cutting shapes. As I have progressed day to day I began to realize the possibilities of this art form. I have this growing feeling in my gut that I never want this to end - I am onto something that is truly filling me up. Even more, this is such an approachable, transportable form of art creation. Cutting and taping these patterns has become my go-to for shape exploration. I can still illustrate patterns on my computer, I can still design & hand-print with gorgeous wooden blocks, but darn it washi tape… I think you’ve stolen my heart.

These days I can be spotted spread out on a blanket in the grass at one of my children’s sporting events with a canvas tote full of rolls of tape, my scissors and my sketchbook - ever ready to cut & create.