Calaveras County Arts Council • 22 North Main Street• San Andreas • CA • 95247
  • Home
  • About
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Guitars Un-Strung
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Arts In Education
    • Poetry Out Loud
    • ArtSpirit
    • Scholarships >
      • Online Scholarship Application
  • 2022 Artists Studio Tours
  • Artists Studio Tour
    • For participating artists >
      • How to have a successful Artist Studio Tour
      • How to submit photos
  • Call for Entries
  • Artist resources
  • Artists Studio Tours

What's going on at the
​Calaveras County Arts Council?

Creativity carries the day at Arsty-Parts in arnold

4/27/2020

0 Comments

 

How an artist found elastic and love
​during the Covid-19 shutdown.

Mona Baroody at Artsy-Parts
Mona Baroody solves problems with creativity and business skills
Like most of us, Mona Baroody, owner of Artsy-Parts in Arnold, didn’t expect a mysterious and lethal virus to upend the world so completely. But she is navigating our new reality with the blunt force of her creativity.
 
Mona opened Artsy-Parts in Cameo Plaza almost exactly a year ago as a creative community center. After dedicating four years of her life to the Butte Fire recovery, she said “I wanted to do something for myself.” Someone asked her, what would you do if you could do anything? “My answer was easy. I want to create all day and get paid to do it. I’ve always been creative and happiest when I was doing it. I also wanted to help other people feel the same peacefulness.” In the time before Covid, the cozy warren of rooms provided space for the community to drop in and spread out art projects, take art and craft classes, buy hard to find art supplies and exhibit their art work. The virus changed all that.
 
If an art store seems an unlikely business to survive the shut-down orders, you’d be surprised. Not only do times of uncertainty call for creative outlet to relieve stress, precarious times require an artistic temperament. Mona believes that all the traits and skills of an artist—creativity, inventiveness, thoughtfulness, flexibility—coupled with a positive outlook and hard work will help her weather this storm. At the same time, she can help her community too.
 
“I thought, how can I make this work for all of us?” 
Mosaic class at Artsy Parts
Mosaic making class at Artsy-Parts
She started by supplying crafting kits for families sheltering at home, giving bored kids and stressed parents the chance to craft items ranging from simple foam chickens and bunnies to complicated quilled paper pictures. But other needs surfaced. On Facebook, she posted “hey, spend your money locally. Then somebody said, ‘I need elastic. [for making virus masks]. Can you get elastic?’ And I had no idea what was going on in the world regarding elastic.”
 
In the two days it took Mona to put together an order for a group of local mask makers, all the elastic supply was suddenly gone. “The shipment was being held by the government at the dock as supplies necessary for essential workers only,” she said. Eventually, the wholesale company she ordered from was able to take possession and distribute the elastic. But because the manufacturer couldn’t keep up with the orders, they released only 2 rolls of elastic per day. Not enough for the sudden crushing need for homemade masks.
 
You can’t stop an artist. Mona, a jewelry maker, remembered a kind of silicon rubber cord that is used for stringing beads, and will be able to buy a supply of this for mask makers, as well as pipe cleaners to make the masks form fit to the face. “If the elastic crisis continues,” she said, “I have other ideas.”
Selection of Covid masks
Artsy-Parts carries locally crafted masks
Then people asked if she had material for making masks. “The most effective mask material is debated,” she said, “but the general consensus is that you want 100% cotton quilting blocks. That happens to be what one of my wholesalers carries.” She bought enough for the group and enough to have in stock at her store.
 
All of this has kept Mona quite busy. Time flies as she finagles orders for craft kits, origami paper, calligraphy pens, art supplies, and mask making materials. Customers pick up their orders outside the store, which Mona sanitizes religiously. At the end of her days, often after midnight, she said “I’m so busy I haven’t had time to figure out how I’m doing.” ​
This has made me very aware of how much I love people...It's a basic human need. Love is part of our DNA
One thing Mona has figured out is how hard it is to be isolated. “This has made me very aware of how much I love people. How much we all love people. It’s a basic human need. It’s part of our DNA, a deep need that’s part our survival. Love is a part of our DNA.”

“If it wasn’t for the virus,” Mona said, “I wouldn’t have realized this so deeply.”
 
Mona encourages people to call her for creative needs. She said she can meet or beat Amazon pricing and delivery time. Order supplies from Mona’s online store at artsyparts.com, or her Facebook page, or give her a call at 209/736-7336.
Picture
0 Comments

April 10th, 2020

4/10/2020

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

From quilts to Medical mask Maker

4/10/2020

0 Comments

 
This is the first in a series of stories about Calaveras County artists and how they are responding to the pandemic emergency. 

Nora Carracedo Keeps busy making masks & tells us how to manage isolation

Picture
​When her doctor could not get cloth masks to protect staff and patients, quilter Nora Carracedo of Valley Springs came to the rescue. After watching several mask making YouTube videos, she sat down at one of her many sewing machines and started thinking.
 
She designed her own version of washable masks made of all cotton material, with a pocket in the middle for a piece of material that’s breathable but still acts as a filter.
 
“I use my own pattern,” she said. “I made one for Sue (her daughter) and me and they worked great. Then I made some for the doctor, and they love them.” Her masks add a bit of brightness to a stressful time. “Some of them have flowers, some of them have polka dots. They’re not plain. They’re pretty,” she said.
Picture
​She’s perfectly suited to this need. Nora’s been sewing and quilting for most of her life. When she was young and living in Argentina, she started sewing for a local store to make extra money. “I made pants, underwear, and shirts for men,” she said. “I had to learn to make patterns because there were not many patterns at that time.” She sewed on a pedal machine and finished the clothing by hand.
 
After coming to the states, she sewed clothing for her children and herself. When the grandbabies started coming, she began making quilts. Sue recollects, “I remember my mother making a little bear quilt for the first grandchild.”
 
Nora is still making quilts for the grandchildren, as well as quilts for community members in need. Nora and her sister lead a team of quilters at the San Andreas Senior Center to make quilts for foster children, children with cancer, and comfort care for hospice. “We also donate money for the senior center, and low cost lunches for kids.” It’s a tight knit group, but they welcome others. “We have fun and we enjoy being together,” she said.
I’m a very positive person. When something happens, I always say ‘I’m going to go up, I’m not going to go down.
While she misses the group since the stay-at-home orders made gathering impossible, Nora doesn’t let it get her down. I asked her for advice on how to manage isolation and the stress of this situation.
 
“I’m a very positive person,” she said. “When something happens, I always say ‘I’m going to go up, I’m not going to go down. I’m going to do everything I can for me, for my family and to keep myself busy. And I get my mind on something I like to do. Even if I don’t like it, I make myself like it. I push myself.”
 
Nora is not an idle person. Besides sewing masks, she makes gifts for the family, cooks, cleans, works in her garden, knits, and generally keeps busy, even while watching television.
 
“I never lay down on the couch,” she laughed. “I don’t even know how to do it.” 
Picture
0 Comments
    Become a member of the Arts Community in Calaveras County
      Get news about the arts in Calaveras County and the Mother Lode directly in your inbox. We never send spam, and we guard your personal information like a jealous pit bull with a bowlful of steak.
    Join our arts community
    Picture
     Join the CCAC!
    You can still join the CCAC in 2020! Your membership helps the arts grow in Calaveras County. 
    Become a member

    Calaveras County Arts Council

    Our goal is to support, nourish, and awaken the arts in our community.

    We rely on people like you to help support the arts in Calaveras County. Click on the Donate button below to help us in our mission to make Calaveras a healthy arts community!​

    Donate

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    October 2021
    August 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All
    Calaveras County Artists

    RSS Feed

The mission of the Calaveras County Arts Council is to build a united community by awakening, supporting, and nourishing the arts. 


Gallery Hours

Monday - Thursday: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday and Saturday by appointment only
Email goldrusharts18@gmail.com for an appointment or call 209/754-1774 (message)
Logo Calaveras County Arts Council
Contact the Arts Council

Address/Telephone/Email

PO Box 250​
​22 North Main St.,
San Andreas, CA  95249
209.754.1774
goldrusharts18@gmail.com
The Calaveras County Arts Council is a private non-profit 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation.  Founded in 1981, our purpose is to coordinate excellence in the presenting and promotion of the visual and performing arts of all cultures for artists, residents and visitors.  Our staff is comprised of an executive director, a consultant grant writer, and a part-time assistant under the direction of an 11-member volunteer Board of Directors.  FIN 94-2779793
© Calaveras County Arts Council - 2021 | Designed and maintained by Margaret Sloan Creative Services​
  • Home
  • About
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Guitars Un-Strung
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Arts In Education
    • Poetry Out Loud
    • ArtSpirit
    • Scholarships >
      • Online Scholarship Application
  • 2022 Artists Studio Tours
  • Artists Studio Tour
    • For participating artists >
      • How to have a successful Artist Studio Tour
      • How to submit photos
  • Call for Entries
  • Artist resources
  • Artists Studio Tours