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Welcome to Tarot Interviews.
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Today we're sitting down with Nova and Marlee Quinn, the creative duo shaking up the world of queer art publishing.
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Since 2020, they've been on a mission to bring more LGBTQ+ and black indigenous people of colour voices into the spotlight, reimagining classic art and literature in bold, inclusive ways.
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Their classics trilogy gives famous artworks a fresh, diverse twist, and Cover Me Queer transforms vintage romance novel covers into vibrant love stories that reflect the real world.
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But their work isn't just about books.
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It's about building community where underrepresented artists can thrive.
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Through workshops, exhibits and collaborations, they're making sure that queer and BIPOC creatives get the recognition that they deserve.
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Let's explore their journey and see how they're rewriting the narrative, one stunning piece at a time.
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Hi, now you're a little bit pixelated, but you look like very friendly pixels.
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Yeah, like I said, the internet was being.
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It's been in and out, so we're hoping that it'll work, fingers crossed.
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Fingers crossed.
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And Nova and Mali, could you just raise a hand so I know which one's which.
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Nova and I'm Mali.
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I'm Nova.
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Hi Mali.
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Hello Nova and I'm Mali Hi.
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Nova, hi Mali, hello, hello.
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Hello and remind me where is it in the world that you're speaking to me from?
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Michigan, USA-ish.
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Michigan.
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I am technically still working, so I'll be looking at my phone occasionally, but I will be paying attention.
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Bless you.
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No worries, no worries at all.
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And who will be answering the questions?
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You worries, no worries at all.
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And who will be answering the questions?
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You're going to take one each, and then maybe one between you they're probably yours okay.
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Now I read somewhere that you've fostered a large number of cats 98 90.
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I do you know?
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I read 60 and I was thinking on goodreads.
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Somewhere it read 60 and I was thinking on Goodreads, somewhere it says 60, and I was thinking that's an awful lot of cats.
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It's also been five.
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This will be five years.
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Yeah, in the summer it's been five years of it, but yeah 98.
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So what's the most number of cats you've had at any given time?
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So what's the most number of cats you've had at any given time?
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It was the 10.
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We had a mom, a pregnant mom, who came to us and then had nine kittens.
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Technically we had 11, because Sam was also there, our cat.
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But yeah, 10 cats in one room was a lot to behold.
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Was you okay for like the first six weeks, five or six weeks, and then they had just all started bouncing off the walls and the mom was just like, oh my god, it's really cool because we got to see all but one of them be born.
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It was our first pregnant mom too, and then she had nine kittens.
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Oh, I love that we've got sam and cosmo cosmo's in his room.
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He, he won't be out, but we got our two.
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Do you name the cats that you take in or do you just take on the names that they arrive with?
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A little bit of both.
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Sam came to me a long time ago, before I even knew Mali, and she came with a name that was completely ridiculous.
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So I asked her if she had a name and we decided on Sam.
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And then Cosmo came to us and named Cosmo and I was like, well, we can ask him and see if he tells us if he has another name.
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He did that.
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No, he's also not the most intelligent cat we've ever met.
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I would more kindly say that it looks like he's staring into another plane.
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He's gazing into the astral realm.
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That cat.
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Yeah, the funky eye in particular, I'm like.
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That's never actually focused, he only looks at you.
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So he's also really funny because he looks at you like this, because it's just the one eye that actually works, which makes hunting a little interesting.
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He runs into a lot of stuff.
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Poor boy.
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I love him so much, that poor boy.
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While we've been talking, I've got my little deck of cards here, and the ones that we're using today are the Rider Waite, or the Rider Waite-Smith as you'd be called, and these are the little ones.
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These are the centenary deck.
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I do have, you know, the massive ones that you try and juggle, and basically all the cards try and announce themselves all at once.
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We've only got the little ones today.
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Ramali, are you ready?
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yeah the five of ones.
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Okay, so I want you to look at that.
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I want whoever wants to answer this one, let's get first impressions.
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I'd like to vibes.
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What does the card say to you?
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You know I'm better than I do off the top of your head, I think.
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Conflict is what I see.
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Are we going to fight about it?
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In the context of like the work we do, what I see is the world in chaos, I would say that some fights could be good fights.
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I mean, as you say, this traditionally is a card of struggle competition.
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You've got your five figures wielding wands at each other, courting a chaotic clash.
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So it's fiery and it's dynamic.
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So first question is going to be have you faced any competition or challenges in the art world and how did you handle them?
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I mean.
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So the queer online art space.
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It's still very large and yet also very small at the same time, and I would say it's a constant struggle to make sure we're trying to be as inclusive as we can.
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Just a constant.
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We're always trying to make sure that we can include more people, and the more people we include, inevitably somebody gets left out.
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So there's a constant struggle.
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Head to head with that, I would say, yeah, and also just competition, I feel like, among the artists that we hire, because we got to the point pretty early on where we wanted to hire both new people and returning artists, but then we ran into the issue of not having enough spots for all of the artists that we wanted to hire.
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So I think, as time has gone on, it's gotten more competitive, which is nice.
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I'm glad.
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It's also just like I just want to hire everybody, but I can't.
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There's only 78 tarot cards.
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So this will sound almost like a job interview question, but how did you handle those challenges?
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Could you give me a situation and talk me through what you did?
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I would say gratefully, with especially not being able to hire how many returning artists we always have, especially not being able to hire how many returning artists we always have, because people, for whatever reason, want to come back and work with us, which is I'm so grateful for.
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And I think the first couple of times we had to say no to people, especially ones that have become our friends, because we've been doing this for a little over five years now, just like fostering the first couple of times it was really hard to say no to people because I was really afraid that they would take it very personally and sometimes people have, and we've had a few falling outs.
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But I think for the most part, I think the issues with rejecting people that we've had were people that we hadn't worked with before, because we definitely had.
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There's one artist, yeah, that got pretty upset over being rejected, complained about it on Twitter, which was difficult for us.
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So I think we kind of had to sit down and be like this doesn't actually mean anything about us, like it's okay that people are upset over being rejected, but learning how to be okay with the fact that there are people who are upset or unhappy with decisions we've made or products or anything.
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That's been a really interesting line to learn how to walk Because we both have a fair amount of anxiety, you could say generously.
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So there's usually a lot of sitting on the floor and I don't know.
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I feel like we both had to lie down on the floor mid-applications before just because we were in kickoff.
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This is so hard.
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I have to have some floor time about it.
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I have to have some floor time about it.
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I had to have some floor time about it.
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I need to save that to use.
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The reason why that question came to mind is, I imagine I don't know if you're the foreperson of a factory and you know you're sending out a quota of 20 boxes of baked beans per day or whatever it is you do in a factory.
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You have no emotional link to the product day or whatever it is you're doing a factor, you have no emotional link to the product.
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But I imagine you have an emotional link to the artists and they have an emotional link to their work.
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And I mean for me, I I stand in awe because for me that would be, as you say, an anxiety minefield of, I don't know, just the idea of possibly just rubbing up people the wrong way and that being, you know, either reflected in their work or them not coming back to further projects or shoots.
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I wouldn't know which way to jump in that.
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So, you know, hats off to you both.
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Yeah, it's, we've had to learn.
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It's possibly a little bit like herding cats as well, which it sounds like is something you're adept at.
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I also work at a cat cafe that works with two rescues locally.
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I've come up and now I'm an assistant manager there.
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I have more than once said that herding cats there is easier than herding all of my artists into one spot.
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I love you guys, but, oh boy, emails are not your specialty.
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No, being organized is not usually an artist.
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No, that's my job.
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I come in with the spreadsheets.
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I'm just like we're going to get this done, which is why we have as many projects as we have.
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Yeah, I was going to say I think in any good relationship, one person needs to be good at spreadsheets, and that person is not me.
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That is my job.
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You're cute, but no, I didn't even look at a spreadsheet before we did our first tarot project.
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I don't think, at least not since high school.
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Yes.
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I also don't delve in.
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I have so many spreadsheets.
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You don't have a spreadsheet of the spreadsheets that you have, do you?
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You haven't got to that stage yet.
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It's not like an inset sheet.
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We have a master master spreadsheet.
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So like we have spreadsheets for each project and then we have one that has all of the artists and which projects they've worked on.
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So, especially for applications, it's helpful to see have they worked with us before, what did they do previously?
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So then we ding out the master master, so kind of.
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So kind of yeah, spreadsheet.
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Okay here we go.
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Oh, 279 artists.
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We've gotten to work with over 10 projects so far.
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10 projects oh my god, yeah Been busy.
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This Tarot one.
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We started our first project with Tarot and now our 10th project is Tarot.
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This is nice.
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Somehow you found the time to respond to my email.
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I feel blessed.
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Yeah, thankfully it's not too much at once.
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It's usually one or two projects running at any given time.
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I mean, it's usually so staggered in the schedule so the emails usually don't overlap very much.
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So I'll have a ton of emails one month and then I have downtime.
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Not as bad as perhaps it may sound like, it is Well let's find out what the next card has in store for you.
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I've got the deck again, so as before.
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So for card number two, just tell me when to stop.
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Oh, it's your turn first.
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Oh, okay, stop the Empress.
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Ooh, I stop.
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The Empress.
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I love a good Empress card.
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I think that's you.
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So what does the Empress say to you?
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Honestly, it's something I do.
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Have all the pomegranates.
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Oh, is this the one that Julie Dillon did?
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No, she's in a different one.
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No, she knew the cups Queen of Cups.
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Okay, ignore that part.
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But trying to remember what the cards look like from the projects we've done.
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That's why I think it's you, because once you decide that you're going to do something, by God, I'm going to do it, you're going to do it and that's the only reason we do these projects.
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Yeah, that's fair, you're welcome.
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I feel like now I need to tell the story of the first.
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Yeah, I don't remember what we were talking about.
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I just wanted to take a nap.
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Yeah, well, okay.
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So I think I just thought of it in bed and I was like reading or looking at my phone or something, and nova was gonna take a nap and, um, suddenly she she rolls over and sits up and says we should do a crowd funded tarot project just a gay tarot deck gay Gay tarot deck and I was just like this was like three years into our relationship oh, at best, at best.
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So it's like I I did.
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My response was the response that I have for a lot of my creative friends, which is that sounds great, that I've.
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If you can, if you end up doing that, that sounds like a good time, but we all know it's never gonna happen um, out of interest, approximately what time was this conversation?
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Are we talking like as you're going to bed?
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Are we talking like two in the morning?
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Oh no, this is mid-afternoon.
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I'm a big nap fan.
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I like a good afternoon nap, um.
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So I kind of I was like, sure, that seems like a fun idea.
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But, like I, I don't usually have the kind of organizational skills to follow through on that kind of thing and I didn't know yet that someone else does.
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Um, and like the next thing, I know she has a spreadsheet and is reaching out to artists.
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Well, you reached out to Dames first, which is another.
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They do similar line of work.
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They do art books, mostly like women, loving women.
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And now they're good friends of ours because we've been working with them for five years and one of them is our graphic designer on everything.
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So, yeah, familiar and uh, yeah.
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So a couple days later she had like a budget lined out and was trying to figure out how to like run applications efficiently, and I was just like I'll be doing this.
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And then I just kept doing it, yeah, and then, after we finished that one, you were like I could do another one of these and I was like, yeah, sure, but then, out of my mind, I was like I want to do another one.
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And now here we are, ten later, or nine and a half.
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This one's not really done yet, but we'll get there and a master master spreadsheet to go with it.
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Yes, yes, it's beautiful, it's also a rainbow.
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It's very nice.
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I'm thinking about the Empress card and I'm thinking about it's a card of I was going to say flourishment I don't even know if that is a proper word of birthing projects.
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Okay, how has your community nurtured you in your work?
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Oh, without them, them we're nothing.
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Yeah, I mean the first.
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I think it was someone who, like collects and reviews tarot cards, posted a tiktok or a reel looking through the deck that we had made.
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Um, and we were both so humbled and emotional just listening to someone else see something in the work that we had done.
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Um, and, honestly, that just keeps happening, which is wild.
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It happens both from customers and artists.
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Yeah, like finding meaning, or creating meaning and the things that we do, which is so weird because, like, I send emails on the couch in my pajamas and, in turn, somehow make these queer projects in a time, in a space where we need to be seen, where we're constantly being punched down, and I, no, we are going to celebrate the fact that we're here, we're queer, we have always been here and we will always be here.
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So the fact that the artists find meaning, especially with, I would say, our classics.
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But Make it Gay.
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We did three books and people would take pieces from art history and make them queer, particularly also people of color inclusive.
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So it was like a double whammy.
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I've not had much listening in this particular book, but which kind of schools of art or genres of art are we talking?
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Are we talking like sort of pre-Raphaelite or Hudson River School?
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We did up to like the early 20th century.
00:18:44.894 --> 00:18:51.938
We didn't want to get too modern and get into the copyright issues, but pretty much everything before that, yeah, and the more um.
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So at the first book it was probably mostly pre-raffelite um and some art nouveau um, and with the second and third I definitely pushed people to a look outside of white art and be definitely different time periods because, like, there's always art history to make more us um.
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So, yes, it's been wild.
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So having people find meaning in the things that I'm able to do makes me want to make more and again, especially in today's day and age, for whatever reason, it's also just the juxtaposition for us, like, sometimes doing the projects is kind of just work, like it's stressful and Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating, and it still blows my mind every time anybody has anything nice to say about her.
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And we have a whole artist community now too, which is insane.
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We made friends from this.
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They're actually throwing us a baby shower in a couple of weeks, and I'm just like what do you mean?
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Wow, what do you mean?
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That's insane.
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Is this a virtual event, or are they?
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Virtual?
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Yeah, because they're all over the place.
00:20:15.390 --> 00:20:21.490
We do have a couple in Michigan, but most of them are all over the place.
00:20:21.490 --> 00:20:24.564
Yeah, literally all over the place.
00:20:24.564 --> 00:20:26.528
Yeah, literally all over the world.
00:20:26.528 --> 00:20:30.317
Mind-boggling.
00:20:31.226 --> 00:20:32.671
And how far away is the baby show?
00:20:32.671 --> 00:20:33.192
Are we talking?
00:20:34.465 --> 00:20:37.991
That's a couple of weeks and the babies do mid-May-ish.
00:20:37.991 --> 00:20:40.333
We'll see Sometime.
00:20:40.333 --> 00:20:51.711
We're kind of hoping that the foster kitten experience helps us, because with those guys, the bottle babies you're up every hour and a half two hours All night every night.
00:20:51.711 --> 00:20:55.230
Thankfully only for a couple of weeks, compared to a human child.
00:20:55.230 --> 00:20:56.569
But you know.
00:20:56.569 --> 00:21:00.816
So we've done the sleep deprived thing for extended periods of time.
00:21:00.816 --> 00:21:10.548
So we have our fingers crossed that we're like this much prepared for it, as much as you can be and, in terms of preparation, do you have outfits in mind as well?
00:21:10.568 --> 00:21:14.464
Because, of course, if you have a small person, you need to have the small outfits.
00:21:15.347 --> 00:21:19.964
It's, it's part of the role see, maybe not like particularly, but we've gotten a lot.
00:21:19.964 --> 00:21:24.777
I'm not allowed to walk through the baby clothes department anymore and we also have a lot of hand-me-downs.
00:21:24.777 --> 00:21:30.596
So we have a lot of cute clothes, a lot of good koala-themed outfits though.
00:21:30.596 --> 00:21:37.472
Koalas, dinosaurs, anything with the little animals on the feet, oh, I can't handle it Too cute.
00:21:40.526 --> 00:21:42.913
Okay, so we've got a minor arcana and a major arcana.
00:21:42.913 --> 00:21:45.631
Let's see what we get for this one.
00:21:47.125 --> 00:21:48.308
Statistically it should be minor.
00:21:49.192 --> 00:21:54.296
Statistically, yeah, but for some reason there's some cards I just never seem to get.
00:21:54.296 --> 00:21:57.150
I won't tell you which ones they are, because I'll just tempt fate that way.
00:21:59.493 --> 00:21:59.855
Stop.
00:22:00.496 --> 00:22:02.579
Okay, so cut the deck there.
00:22:12.664 --> 00:22:12.865
Okay, stop.
00:22:12.865 --> 00:22:13.406
Okay, so cut the deck there.
00:22:13.406 --> 00:22:14.489
The two of pentacles thought it was the fool at first.
00:22:14.489 --> 00:22:14.729
See, I'm not.
00:22:14.729 --> 00:22:24.494
I think it's because in the original deck, um, your friend did it as a very gesturey and so I'm weird perspective, so they're close to me?
00:22:24.515 --> 00:22:26.144
I think you're right.
00:22:26.144 --> 00:22:41.652
It does have a very kind of coincidentally, the fool is one of my favorite cars as it is for everyone, but it's also, um, a pendant I have to wear around my neck, and you're right, this does have a very similar kind of almost color scheme, feel and vibe to it, but what's it saying to you today?
00:22:43.374 --> 00:23:11.354
yeah, I mean it feels like juggling our projects and our artists and an incoming child, an incoming child, our two cats, rough sea in the background, the current political climate in the background, but yet somehow also they are balanced.
00:23:11.354 --> 00:23:12.395
It'll be okay.
00:23:12.395 --> 00:23:14.566
Yeah, we just have to keep our head on.
00:23:14.586 --> 00:23:19.573
Yeah I mean it's a, it's a light-hearted approach to life's ups and downs.
00:23:19.573 --> 00:23:24.586
So I mean it's it's too much of an easy question to ask, but let's go for anyway.
00:23:24.586 --> 00:23:30.198
Um, how do you both differently balance multiple artistic projects at once?
00:23:30.198 --> 00:23:39.429
Because I imagine how I mean it's literally your job, and it's very different to the other what did you say?
00:23:39.809 --> 00:23:40.830
Literally your job?
00:23:40.830 --> 00:23:49.532
Yeah, I mean, because I am one of the artists, I feel like I have it.
00:23:49.532 --> 00:24:03.338
I do some of the art direction once we start getting like finished files and stuff in, but I think for me I get so much inspiration just from seeing what the other artists are making.
00:24:03.338 --> 00:24:17.238
I think I put a lot of pressure on myself sometimes to live up to the other artists as well, because I don't want to be in the projects just because I'm married to the boss.
00:24:17.238 --> 00:24:28.027
So I think that sometimes I stress myself out a little bit that.
00:24:28.027 --> 00:24:33.657
But overall I think I'm just constantly thinking of art anyway.
00:24:33.657 --> 00:24:43.050
That like playing off the other artists and seeing what we have coming in always gives me a lot of energy to work on stuff.
00:24:43.070 --> 00:24:49.279
I I just have a lot of to-do lists and I've also gotten better about instituting business hours.
00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:54.396
Like if it's after dinner, the emails can probably wait.
00:24:54.396 --> 00:24:59.096
Nothing is that much of an emergency, at least for our projects.
00:24:59.096 --> 00:25:01.773
Nothing is ever really that time-sensitive.
00:25:01.773 --> 00:25:04.334
Yeah, I just kind time sensitive.
00:25:04.334 --> 00:25:04.958
Yeah, I just kind of.
00:25:04.958 --> 00:25:08.152
Do you know, I have to learn.
00:25:09.244 --> 00:25:14.128
How do the vagaries of the muse and inspiration coincide with how you work?
00:25:14.128 --> 00:25:18.576
So, for example, if you suddenly get a really good idea, do you put that to one side?
00:25:18.576 --> 00:25:20.180
Do you drop everything in the moment?
00:25:20.180 --> 00:25:27.298
How do you work with what can be a quite unpredictable source of inspiration?
00:25:27.825 --> 00:25:29.006
I think we have a pretty good.
00:25:29.006 --> 00:25:43.482
I don't think we actually have a list, but we have a list in our minds of ideas that we would like to do for project memory, that we would like to do for project memory.
00:25:43.482 --> 00:25:47.836
Sometimes the timing is just right that I can put one.
00:25:47.836 --> 00:25:58.614
If I'm in a really big dip between work, if we've ordered a bunch of stuff and it's not time to ship it yet, that's a big few months that I can get a lot of stuff done and loop the project over.
00:25:58.614 --> 00:26:02.355
So sometimes I'm able to just, oh good, stretch.
00:26:02.884 --> 00:26:05.685
Sometimes I'm able to just start a new project.
00:26:05.685 --> 00:26:13.353
Yeah, otherwise I have to be good and put it in the back of my mind and try to figure out when the next big dip will be that I can launch something.
00:26:13.353 --> 00:26:15.237
Or you know, we're gonna have a baby.
00:26:15.237 --> 00:26:18.311
So like there's a couple of months where I'm not really trying to do anything here.
00:26:18.311 --> 00:26:34.921
Um, so with this, our new tarot project coming up, we're actually kind of dragging our feet a little bit, because I cannot explain how much I do not want a palette of books and cards to arrive what I'm also supposed to either soon have or just have had a new human arrive.
00:26:34.921 --> 00:26:40.692
Really don't want a palette of books delivered to my house.
00:26:40.731 --> 00:26:44.498
Really, really don't as exciting as the arrival of a new human is.
00:26:44.498 --> 00:26:47.690
I do really want to know about this, this tarot card project.
00:26:47.690 --> 00:26:49.858
Are you able to reveal anything about it?
00:26:49.858 --> 00:26:51.665
Are you, can you talk me through what it is?
00:26:52.586 --> 00:26:56.113
Yeah, so it's um, it's a queer tarot deck.
00:26:56.113 --> 00:27:05.557
So everyone on the cards, even if they're not like I would say, sometimes with a single figure, it's hard to make it implicit that they're very queer.
00:27:05.557 --> 00:27:23.115
But, like, every single card features a queer human and we've done our best to make sure there's a lot of disability representation, particularly a couple of new things that I don't think we've hit on before, and, of course, people of color always and lots of trans inclusivity.
00:27:23.115 --> 00:27:27.855
So that's been really exciting.
00:27:27.855 --> 00:27:32.411
We did a little more art direction on this one, which was kind of fun.
00:27:32.411 --> 00:27:47.046
We basically said, if you have a single figure on your card, they need to be trans, disabled, or a person of color, or all free or any combination or of.
00:27:47.046 --> 00:27:50.255
Yeah, for the most part, I think there are soft feet.
00:27:50.916 --> 00:28:13.195
We're not always super strict about our art direction, just because we do want to give our artists some freedom, um, but we also made um each of the suits color-coordinated this time, which I'm really excited about, so all of the cups have a similar color scheme.
00:28:13.195 --> 00:28:18.073
Yeah, I think it turned out really cool.
00:28:18.073 --> 00:28:21.696
We tried a bunch of new things, things, and I'm very excited.
00:28:21.696 --> 00:28:34.438
We are working on formatting the card soon to send a print and the book to send a print all in April, so then hopefully it doesn't get here until like June or July.
00:28:34.438 --> 00:28:50.452
So, yes, we're very excited about it and I really hope I hope that our customers find the meaning in it, that we have found in it so far, and I know that all of our artists were really invested in it.
00:28:50.452 --> 00:28:59.295
So I'm hoping that love carries through and gives everybody something that they can see themselves in.
00:28:59.295 --> 00:29:10.997
You know which we need again and today, yeah, we need that what an inspiring chat with nova and marley quinn.
00:29:11.538 --> 00:29:13.403
Their work isn't just about creating art.
00:29:13.403 --> 00:29:24.972
It's about making sure that queer and bipoc stories are seen, heard and celebrated, from publishing to exhibitions that opening doors for artists that have been overlooked for far too long.
00:29:24.972 --> 00:29:30.971
Be sure to check out their amazing projects and support their mission, because these are the stories the world needs right now.
00:29:30.971 --> 00:29:33.317
Thanks for tuning in to Tarot Interviews.
00:29:33.317 --> 00:29:36.509
See you next time for more creative conversations.
00:29:36.509 --> 00:29:42.076
Tarot Interviews.
00:00:30.042 --> 00:00:31.428
Welcome to Tarot Interviews.
00:00:31.428 --> 00:00:37.253
Today we're sitting down with Nova and Marlee Quinn, the creative duo shaking up the world of queer art publishing.
00:00:37.253 --> 00:00:48.886
Since 2020, they've been on a mission to bring more LGBTQ+ and black indigenous people of colour voices into the spotlight, reimagining classic art and literature in bold, inclusive ways.
00:00:48.886 --> 00:01:00.006
Their classics trilogy gives famous artworks a fresh, diverse twist, and Cover Me Queer transforms vintage romance novel covers into vibrant love stories that reflect the real world.
00:01:00.006 --> 00:01:01.850
But their work isn't just about books.
00:01:01.850 --> 00:01:05.763
It's about building community where underrepresented artists can thrive.
00:01:05.763 --> 00:01:14.611
Through workshops, exhibits and collaborations, they're making sure that queer and BIPOC creatives get the recognition that they deserve.
00:01:14.611 --> 00:01:20.337
Let's explore their journey and see how they're rewriting the narrative, one stunning piece at a time.
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Hi, now you're a little bit pixelated, but you look like very friendly pixels.
00:01:27.859 --> 00:01:29.683
Yeah, like I said, the internet was being.
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It's been in and out, so we're hoping that it'll work, fingers crossed.
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Fingers crossed.
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And Nova and Mali, could you just raise a hand so I know which one's which.
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Nova and I'm Mali.
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I'm Nova.
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Hi Mali.
00:01:42.373 --> 00:01:44.617
Hello Nova and I'm Mali Hi.
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Nova, hi Mali, hello, hello.
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Hello and remind me where is it in the world that you're speaking to me from?
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Michigan, USA-ish.
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Michigan.
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I am technically still working, so I'll be looking at my phone occasionally, but I will be paying attention.
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Bless you.
00:02:03.201 --> 00:02:04.468
No worries, no worries at all.
00:02:04.468 --> 00:02:05.778
And who will be answering the questions?
00:02:05.778 --> 00:02:06.134
You worries, no worries at all.
00:02:06.134 --> 00:02:06.831
And who will be answering the questions?
00:02:06.831 --> 00:02:13.483
You're going to take one each, and then maybe one between you they're probably yours okay.
00:02:13.483 --> 00:02:21.514
Now I read somewhere that you've fostered a large number of cats 98 90.
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I do you know?
00:02:22.241 --> 00:02:23.264
I read 60 and I was thinking on goodreads.
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Somewhere it read 60 and I was thinking on Goodreads, somewhere it says 60, and I was thinking that's an awful lot of cats.
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It's also been five.
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This will be five years.
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Yeah, in the summer it's been five years of it, but yeah 98.
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So what's the most number of cats you've had at any given time?
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So what's the most number of cats you've had at any given time?
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It was the 10.
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We had a mom, a pregnant mom, who came to us and then had nine kittens.
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Technically we had 11, because Sam was also there, our cat.
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But yeah, 10 cats in one room was a lot to behold.
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Was you okay for like the first six weeks, five or six weeks, and then they had just all started bouncing off the walls and the mom was just like, oh my god, it's really cool because we got to see all but one of them be born.
00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:18.889
It was our first pregnant mom too, and then she had nine kittens.
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Oh, I love that we've got sam and cosmo cosmo's in his room.
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He, he won't be out, but we got our two.
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Do you name the cats that you take in or do you just take on the names that they arrive with?
00:03:34.161 --> 00:03:35.283
A little bit of both.
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Sam came to me a long time ago, before I even knew Mali, and she came with a name that was completely ridiculous.
00:03:42.467 --> 00:03:45.622
So I asked her if she had a name and we decided on Sam.
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And then Cosmo came to us and named Cosmo and I was like, well, we can ask him and see if he tells us if he has another name.
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He did that.
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No, he's also not the most intelligent cat we've ever met.
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I would more kindly say that it looks like he's staring into another plane.
00:04:02.266 --> 00:04:05.133
He's gazing into the astral realm.
00:04:05.133 --> 00:04:05.593
That cat.
00:04:06.502 --> 00:04:08.480
Yeah, the funky eye in particular, I'm like.
00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:10.709
That's never actually focused, he only looks at you.
00:04:10.709 --> 00:04:19.348
So he's also really funny because he looks at you like this, because it's just the one eye that actually works, which makes hunting a little interesting.
00:04:19.348 --> 00:04:21.185
He runs into a lot of stuff.
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Poor boy.
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I love him so much, that poor boy.
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While we've been talking, I've got my little deck of cards here, and the ones that we're using today are the Rider Waite, or the Rider Waite-Smith as you'd be called, and these are the little ones.
00:04:38.286 --> 00:04:39.665
These are the centenary deck.
00:04:39.665 --> 00:04:45.605
I do have, you know, the massive ones that you try and juggle, and basically all the cards try and announce themselves all at once.
00:04:45.605 --> 00:04:47.449
We've only got the little ones today.
00:04:47.449 --> 00:04:48.672
Ramali, are you ready?
00:04:49.192 --> 00:04:53.846
yeah the five of ones.
00:04:53.846 --> 00:04:57.252
Okay, so I want you to look at that.
00:04:57.252 --> 00:05:01.403
I want whoever wants to answer this one, let's get first impressions.
00:05:01.403 --> 00:05:02.725
I'd like to vibes.
00:05:02.725 --> 00:05:04.608
What does the card say to you?
00:05:06.411 --> 00:05:10.264
You know I'm better than I do off the top of your head, I think.
00:05:10.264 --> 00:05:14.319
Conflict is what I see.
00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.812
Are we going to fight about it?
00:05:18.812 --> 00:05:32.283
In the context of like the work we do, what I see is the world in chaos, I would say that some fights could be good fights.
00:05:32.303 --> 00:05:36.928
I mean, as you say, this traditionally is a card of struggle competition.
00:05:36.928 --> 00:05:42.735
You've got your five figures wielding wands at each other, courting a chaotic clash.
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So it's fiery and it's dynamic.
00:05:48.100 --> 00:05:54.759
So first question is going to be have you faced any competition or challenges in the art world and how did you handle them?
00:05:57.103 --> 00:05:57.584
I mean.
00:05:57.584 --> 00:06:01.449
So the queer online art space.
00:06:01.449 --> 00:06:14.334
It's still very large and yet also very small at the same time, and I would say it's a constant struggle to make sure we're trying to be as inclusive as we can.
00:06:14.334 --> 00:06:16.324
Just a constant.
00:06:16.324 --> 00:06:23.547
We're always trying to make sure that we can include more people, and the more people we include, inevitably somebody gets left out.
00:06:23.547 --> 00:06:27.055
So there's a constant struggle.
00:06:27.055 --> 00:06:53.752
Head to head with that, I would say, yeah, and also just competition, I feel like, among the artists that we hire, because we got to the point pretty early on where we wanted to hire both new people and returning artists, but then we ran into the issue of not having enough spots for all of the artists that we wanted to hire.
00:06:53.752 --> 00:06:59.163
So I think, as time has gone on, it's gotten more competitive, which is nice.
00:06:59.163 --> 00:06:59.745
I'm glad.
00:06:59.745 --> 00:07:03.267
It's also just like I just want to hire everybody, but I can't.
00:07:03.267 --> 00:07:05.072
There's only 78 tarot cards.
00:07:07.019 --> 00:07:13.074
So this will sound almost like a job interview question, but how did you handle those challenges?
00:07:13.074 --> 00:07:15.949
Could you give me a situation and talk me through what you did?
00:07:16.500 --> 00:07:30.374
I would say gratefully, with especially not being able to hire how many returning artists we always have, especially not being able to hire how many returning artists we always have, because people, for whatever reason, want to come back and work with us, which is I'm so grateful for.
00:07:30.374 --> 00:07:50.091
And I think the first couple of times we had to say no to people, especially ones that have become our friends, because we've been doing this for a little over five years now, just like fostering the first couple of times it was really hard to say no to people because I was really afraid that they would take it very personally and sometimes people have, and we've had a few falling outs.
00:07:50.091 --> 00:07:58.783
But I think for the most part, I think the issues with rejecting people that we've had were people that we hadn't worked with before, because we definitely had.
00:07:58.783 --> 00:08:11.894
There's one artist, yeah, that got pretty upset over being rejected, complained about it on Twitter, which was difficult for us.
00:08:11.894 --> 00:08:33.418
So I think we kind of had to sit down and be like this doesn't actually mean anything about us, like it's okay that people are upset over being rejected, but learning how to be okay with the fact that there are people who are upset or unhappy with decisions we've made or products or anything.
00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:42.822
That's been a really interesting line to learn how to walk Because we both have a fair amount of anxiety, you could say generously.
00:08:42.822 --> 00:09:03.520
So there's usually a lot of sitting on the floor and I don't know.
00:09:03.520 --> 00:09:08.580
I feel like we both had to lie down on the floor mid-applications before just because we were in kickoff.
00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:10.458
This is so hard.
00:09:10.458 --> 00:09:13.897
I have to have some floor time about it.
00:09:13.897 --> 00:09:17.845
I have to have some floor time about it.
00:09:17.845 --> 00:09:18.889
I had to have some floor time about it.
00:09:19.691 --> 00:09:20.332
I need to save that to use.
00:09:20.332 --> 00:09:32.076
The reason why that question came to mind is, I imagine I don't know if you're the foreperson of a factory and you know you're sending out a quota of 20 boxes of baked beans per day or whatever it is you do in a factory.
00:09:32.076 --> 00:09:37.894
You have no emotional link to the product day or whatever it is you're doing a factor, you have no emotional link to the product.
00:09:37.894 --> 00:09:40.744
But I imagine you have an emotional link to the artists and they have an emotional link to their work.
00:09:40.744 --> 00:10:00.846
And I mean for me, I I stand in awe because for me that would be, as you say, an anxiety minefield of, I don't know, just the idea of possibly just rubbing up people the wrong way and that being, you know, either reflected in their work or them not coming back to further projects or shoots.
00:10:00.846 --> 00:10:04.038
I wouldn't know which way to jump in that.
00:10:04.038 --> 00:10:05.655
So, you know, hats off to you both.
00:10:07.090 --> 00:10:10.120
Yeah, it's, we've had to learn.
00:10:11.110 --> 00:10:15.542
It's possibly a little bit like herding cats as well, which it sounds like is something you're adept at.
00:10:15.990 --> 00:10:19.881
I also work at a cat cafe that works with two rescues locally.
00:10:19.881 --> 00:10:23.259
I've come up and now I'm an assistant manager there.
00:10:23.259 --> 00:10:30.802
I have more than once said that herding cats there is easier than herding all of my artists into one spot.
00:10:30.802 --> 00:10:36.658
I love you guys, but, oh boy, emails are not your specialty.
00:10:36.658 --> 00:10:40.477
No, being organized is not usually an artist.
00:10:40.477 --> 00:10:41.802
No, that's my job.
00:10:41.802 --> 00:10:43.515
I come in with the spreadsheets.
00:10:43.515 --> 00:10:49.143
I'm just like we're going to get this done, which is why we have as many projects as we have.
00:10:49.490 --> 00:10:54.883
Yeah, I was going to say I think in any good relationship, one person needs to be good at spreadsheets, and that person is not me.
00:10:56.892 --> 00:10:57.816
That is my job.
00:10:57.816 --> 00:11:05.159
You're cute, but no, I didn't even look at a spreadsheet before we did our first tarot project.
00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:09.158
I don't think, at least not since high school.
00:11:10.633 --> 00:11:10.874
Yes.
00:11:11.053 --> 00:11:13.400
I also don't delve in.
00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:16.777
I have so many spreadsheets.
00:11:18.072 --> 00:11:20.289
You don't have a spreadsheet of the spreadsheets that you have, do you?
00:11:20.289 --> 00:11:21.433
You haven't got to that stage yet.
00:11:21.433 --> 00:11:22.658
It's not like an inset sheet.
00:11:23.551 --> 00:11:26.139
We have a master master spreadsheet.
00:11:26.139 --> 00:11:36.863
So like we have spreadsheets for each project and then we have one that has all of the artists and which projects they've worked on.
00:11:36.863 --> 00:11:44.115
So, especially for applications, it's helpful to see have they worked with us before, what did they do previously?
00:11:44.115 --> 00:11:48.216
So then we ding out the master master, so kind of.
00:11:48.216 --> 00:11:50.240
So kind of yeah, spreadsheet.
00:11:50.761 --> 00:11:51.524
Okay here we go.
00:11:51.524 --> 00:11:56.039
Oh, 279 artists.
00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:59.178
We've gotten to work with over 10 projects so far.
00:11:59.178 --> 00:12:04.480
10 projects oh my god, yeah Been busy.
00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:05.863
This Tarot one.
00:12:05.863 --> 00:12:10.239
We started our first project with Tarot and now our 10th project is Tarot.
00:12:10.239 --> 00:12:11.802
This is nice.
00:12:12.971 --> 00:12:14.615
Somehow you found the time to respond to my email.
00:12:14.615 --> 00:12:15.277
I feel blessed.
00:12:17.361 --> 00:12:19.995
Yeah, thankfully it's not too much at once.
00:12:19.995 --> 00:12:22.839
It's usually one or two projects running at any given time.
00:12:22.839 --> 00:12:30.179
I mean, it's usually so staggered in the schedule so the emails usually don't overlap very much.
00:12:30.179 --> 00:12:33.220
So I'll have a ton of emails one month and then I have downtime.
00:12:33.220 --> 00:12:40.735
Not as bad as perhaps it may sound like, it is Well let's find out what the next card has in store for you.
00:12:41.197 --> 00:12:43.243
I've got the deck again, so as before.
00:12:43.243 --> 00:12:47.457
So for card number two, just tell me when to stop.
00:12:49.811 --> 00:12:50.572
Oh, it's your turn first.
00:12:50.572 --> 00:12:51.755
Oh, okay, stop the Empress.
00:12:51.755 --> 00:12:52.258
Ooh, I stop.
00:12:56.328 --> 00:12:56.690
The Empress.
00:12:58.192 --> 00:12:59.417
I love a good Empress card.
00:12:59.417 --> 00:13:01.322
I think that's you.
00:13:05.150 --> 00:13:06.798
So what does the Empress say to you?
00:13:07.910 --> 00:13:13.105
Honestly, it's something I do.
00:13:13.105 --> 00:13:13.950
Have all the pomegranates.
00:13:13.950 --> 00:13:15.255
Oh, is this the one that Julie Dillon did?
00:13:15.255 --> 00:13:16.375
No, she's in a different one.
00:13:16.375 --> 00:13:18.756
No, she knew the cups Queen of Cups.
00:13:18.756 --> 00:13:20.140
Okay, ignore that part.
00:13:20.140 --> 00:13:24.500
But trying to remember what the cards look like from the projects we've done.
00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:39.778
That's why I think it's you, because once you decide that you're going to do something, by God, I'm going to do it, you're going to do it and that's the only reason we do these projects.
00:13:39.778 --> 00:13:44.580
Yeah, that's fair, you're welcome.
00:13:45.610 --> 00:13:48.399
I feel like now I need to tell the story of the first.
00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:51.618
Yeah, I don't remember what we were talking about.
00:13:51.618 --> 00:13:54.177
I just wanted to take a nap.
00:13:54.177 --> 00:13:57.071
Yeah, well, okay.
00:13:57.071 --> 00:14:20.298
So I think I just thought of it in bed and I was like reading or looking at my phone or something, and nova was gonna take a nap and, um, suddenly she she rolls over and sits up and says we should do a crowd funded tarot project just a gay tarot deck gay Gay tarot deck and I was just like this was like three years into our relationship oh, at best, at best.
00:14:20.337 --> 00:14:23.500
So it's like I I did.
00:14:23.500 --> 00:14:30.807
My response was the response that I have for a lot of my creative friends, which is that sounds great, that I've.
00:14:30.807 --> 00:14:41.187
If you can, if you end up doing that, that sounds like a good time, but we all know it's never gonna happen um, out of interest, approximately what time was this conversation?
00:14:41.227 --> 00:14:43.333
Are we talking like as you're going to bed?
00:14:43.333 --> 00:14:44.756
Are we talking like two in the morning?
00:14:45.779 --> 00:14:47.202
Oh no, this is mid-afternoon.
00:14:47.202 --> 00:14:48.932
I'm a big nap fan.
00:14:48.932 --> 00:14:52.557
I like a good afternoon nap, um.
00:14:52.557 --> 00:14:56.381
So I kind of I was like, sure, that seems like a fun idea.
00:14:56.381 --> 00:15:06.592
But, like I, I don't usually have the kind of organizational skills to follow through on that kind of thing and I didn't know yet that someone else does.
00:15:07.333 --> 00:15:14.763
Um, and like the next thing, I know she has a spreadsheet and is reaching out to artists.
00:15:14.763 --> 00:15:20.706
Well, you reached out to Dames first, which is another.
00:15:20.706 --> 00:15:26.778
They do similar line of work.
00:15:26.778 --> 00:15:31.677
They do art books, mostly like women, loving women.
00:15:31.677 --> 00:15:41.287
And now they're good friends of ours because we've been working with them for five years and one of them is our graphic designer on everything.
00:15:41.287 --> 00:15:47.294
So, yeah, familiar and uh, yeah.
00:15:47.294 --> 00:16:02.717
So a couple days later she had like a budget lined out and was trying to figure out how to like run applications efficiently, and I was just like I'll be doing this.
00:16:02.717 --> 00:16:17.719
And then I just kept doing it, yeah, and then, after we finished that one, you were like I could do another one of these and I was like, yeah, sure, but then, out of my mind, I was like I want to do another one.
00:16:17.719 --> 00:16:24.241
And now here we are, ten later, or nine and a half.
00:16:24.350 --> 00:16:28.772
This one's not really done yet, but we'll get there and a master master spreadsheet to go with it.
00:16:28.792 --> 00:16:31.774
Yes, yes, it's beautiful, it's also a rainbow.
00:16:31.774 --> 00:16:32.455
It's very nice.
00:16:34.116 --> 00:16:44.625
I'm thinking about the Empress card and I'm thinking about it's a card of I was going to say flourishment I don't even know if that is a proper word of birthing projects.
00:16:52.256 --> 00:16:54.727
Okay, how has your community nurtured you in your work?
00:16:54.727 --> 00:17:00.033
Oh, without them, them we're nothing.
00:17:00.033 --> 00:17:00.533
Yeah, I mean the first.
00:17:00.533 --> 00:17:15.598
I think it was someone who, like collects and reviews tarot cards, posted a tiktok or a reel looking through the deck that we had made.
00:17:15.598 --> 00:17:32.332
Um, and we were both so humbled and emotional just listening to someone else see something in the work that we had done.
00:17:32.332 --> 00:17:37.279
Um, and, honestly, that just keeps happening, which is wild.
00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:40.030
It happens both from customers and artists.
00:17:40.211 --> 00:18:09.952
Yeah, like finding meaning, or creating meaning and the things that we do, which is so weird because, like, I send emails on the couch in my pajamas and, in turn, somehow make these queer projects in a time, in a space where we need to be seen, where we're constantly being punched down, and I, no, we are going to celebrate the fact that we're here, we're queer, we have always been here and we will always be here.
00:18:09.952 --> 00:18:15.796
So the fact that the artists find meaning, especially with, I would say, our classics.
00:18:15.796 --> 00:18:16.537
But Make it Gay.
00:18:16.537 --> 00:18:26.278
We did three books and people would take pieces from art history and make them queer, particularly also people of color inclusive.
00:18:26.278 --> 00:18:27.971
So it was like a double whammy.
00:18:29.586 --> 00:18:35.999
I've not had much listening in this particular book, but which kind of schools of art or genres of art are we talking?
00:18:35.999 --> 00:18:39.015
Are we talking like sort of pre-Raphaelite or Hudson River School?
00:18:40.445 --> 00:18:44.894
We did up to like the early 20th century.
00:18:44.894 --> 00:18:51.938
We didn't want to get too modern and get into the copyright issues, but pretty much everything before that, yeah, and the more um.
00:18:51.938 --> 00:19:11.296
So at the first book it was probably mostly pre-raffelite um and some art nouveau um, and with the second and third I definitely pushed people to a look outside of white art and be definitely different time periods because, like, there's always art history to make more us um.
00:19:11.296 --> 00:19:14.240
So, yes, it's been wild.
00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:51.794
So having people find meaning in the things that I'm able to do makes me want to make more and again, especially in today's day and age, for whatever reason, it's also just the juxtaposition for us, like, sometimes doing the projects is kind of just work, like it's stressful and Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating, and it still blows my mind every time anybody has anything nice to say about her.
00:19:53.930 --> 00:19:56.917
And we have a whole artist community now too, which is insane.
00:19:56.917 --> 00:19:58.809
We made friends from this.
00:19:58.809 --> 00:20:03.730
They're actually throwing us a baby shower in a couple of weeks, and I'm just like what do you mean?
00:20:03.730 --> 00:20:06.673
Wow, what do you mean?
00:20:06.673 --> 00:20:08.490
That's insane.
00:20:10.565 --> 00:20:12.291
Is this a virtual event, or are they?
00:20:13.346 --> 00:20:13.730
Virtual?
00:20:13.730 --> 00:20:15.390
Yeah, because they're all over the place.
00:20:15.390 --> 00:20:21.490
We do have a couple in Michigan, but most of them are all over the place.
00:20:21.490 --> 00:20:24.564
Yeah, literally all over the place.
00:20:24.564 --> 00:20:26.528
Yeah, literally all over the world.
00:20:26.528 --> 00:20:30.317
Mind-boggling.
00:20:31.226 --> 00:20:32.671
And how far away is the baby show?
00:20:32.671 --> 00:20:33.192
Are we talking?
00:20:34.465 --> 00:20:37.991
That's a couple of weeks and the babies do mid-May-ish.
00:20:37.991 --> 00:20:40.333
We'll see Sometime.
00:20:40.333 --> 00:20:51.711
We're kind of hoping that the foster kitten experience helps us, because with those guys, the bottle babies you're up every hour and a half two hours All night every night.
00:20:51.711 --> 00:20:55.230
Thankfully only for a couple of weeks, compared to a human child.
00:20:55.230 --> 00:20:56.569
But you know.
00:20:56.569 --> 00:21:00.816
So we've done the sleep deprived thing for extended periods of time.
00:21:00.816 --> 00:21:10.548
So we have our fingers crossed that we're like this much prepared for it, as much as you can be and, in terms of preparation, do you have outfits in mind as well?
00:21:10.568 --> 00:21:14.464
Because, of course, if you have a small person, you need to have the small outfits.
00:21:15.347 --> 00:21:19.964
It's, it's part of the role see, maybe not like particularly, but we've gotten a lot.
00:21:19.964 --> 00:21:24.777
I'm not allowed to walk through the baby clothes department anymore and we also have a lot of hand-me-downs.
00:21:24.777 --> 00:21:30.596
So we have a lot of cute clothes, a lot of good koala-themed outfits though.
00:21:30.596 --> 00:21:37.472
Koalas, dinosaurs, anything with the little animals on the feet, oh, I can't handle it Too cute.
00:21:40.526 --> 00:21:42.913
Okay, so we've got a minor arcana and a major arcana.
00:21:42.913 --> 00:21:45.631
Let's see what we get for this one.
00:21:47.125 --> 00:21:48.308
Statistically it should be minor.
00:21:49.192 --> 00:21:54.296
Statistically, yeah, but for some reason there's some cards I just never seem to get.
00:21:54.296 --> 00:21:57.150
I won't tell you which ones they are, because I'll just tempt fate that way.
00:21:59.493 --> 00:21:59.855
Stop.
00:22:00.496 --> 00:22:02.579
Okay, so cut the deck there.
00:22:12.664 --> 00:22:12.865
Okay, stop.
00:22:12.865 --> 00:22:13.406
Okay, so cut the deck there.
00:22:13.406 --> 00:22:14.489
The two of pentacles thought it was the fool at first.
00:22:14.489 --> 00:22:14.729
See, I'm not.
00:22:14.729 --> 00:22:24.494
I think it's because in the original deck, um, your friend did it as a very gesturey and so I'm weird perspective, so they're close to me?
00:22:24.515 --> 00:22:26.144
I think you're right.
00:22:26.144 --> 00:22:41.652
It does have a very kind of coincidentally, the fool is one of my favorite cars as it is for everyone, but it's also, um, a pendant I have to wear around my neck, and you're right, this does have a very similar kind of almost color scheme, feel and vibe to it, but what's it saying to you today?
00:22:43.374 --> 00:23:11.354
yeah, I mean it feels like juggling our projects and our artists and an incoming child, an incoming child, our two cats, rough sea in the background, the current political climate in the background, but yet somehow also they are balanced.
00:23:11.354 --> 00:23:12.395
It'll be okay.
00:23:12.395 --> 00:23:14.566
Yeah, we just have to keep our head on.
00:23:14.586 --> 00:23:19.573
Yeah I mean it's a, it's a light-hearted approach to life's ups and downs.
00:23:19.573 --> 00:23:24.586
So I mean it's it's too much of an easy question to ask, but let's go for anyway.
00:23:24.586 --> 00:23:30.198
Um, how do you both differently balance multiple artistic projects at once?
00:23:30.198 --> 00:23:39.429
Because I imagine how I mean it's literally your job, and it's very different to the other what did you say?
00:23:39.809 --> 00:23:40.830
Literally your job?
00:23:40.830 --> 00:23:49.532
Yeah, I mean, because I am one of the artists, I feel like I have it.
00:23:49.532 --> 00:24:03.338
I do some of the art direction once we start getting like finished files and stuff in, but I think for me I get so much inspiration just from seeing what the other artists are making.
00:24:03.338 --> 00:24:17.238
I think I put a lot of pressure on myself sometimes to live up to the other artists as well, because I don't want to be in the projects just because I'm married to the boss.
00:24:17.238 --> 00:24:28.027
So I think that sometimes I stress myself out a little bit that.
00:24:28.027 --> 00:24:33.657
But overall I think I'm just constantly thinking of art anyway.
00:24:33.657 --> 00:24:43.050
That like playing off the other artists and seeing what we have coming in always gives me a lot of energy to work on stuff.
00:24:43.070 --> 00:24:49.279
I I just have a lot of to-do lists and I've also gotten better about instituting business hours.
00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:54.396
Like if it's after dinner, the emails can probably wait.
00:24:54.396 --> 00:24:59.096
Nothing is that much of an emergency, at least for our projects.
00:24:59.096 --> 00:25:01.773
Nothing is ever really that time-sensitive.
00:25:01.773 --> 00:25:04.334
Yeah, I just kind time sensitive.
00:25:04.334 --> 00:25:04.958
Yeah, I just kind of.
00:25:04.958 --> 00:25:08.152
Do you know, I have to learn.
00:25:09.244 --> 00:25:14.128
How do the vagaries of the muse and inspiration coincide with how you work?
00:25:14.128 --> 00:25:18.576
So, for example, if you suddenly get a really good idea, do you put that to one side?
00:25:18.576 --> 00:25:20.180
Do you drop everything in the moment?
00:25:20.180 --> 00:25:27.298
How do you work with what can be a quite unpredictable source of inspiration?
00:25:27.825 --> 00:25:29.006
I think we have a pretty good.
00:25:29.006 --> 00:25:43.482
I don't think we actually have a list, but we have a list in our minds of ideas that we would like to do for project memory, that we would like to do for project memory.
00:25:43.482 --> 00:25:47.836
Sometimes the timing is just right that I can put one.
00:25:47.836 --> 00:25:58.614
If I'm in a really big dip between work, if we've ordered a bunch of stuff and it's not time to ship it yet, that's a big few months that I can get a lot of stuff done and loop the project over.
00:25:58.614 --> 00:26:02.355
So sometimes I'm able to just, oh good, stretch.
00:26:02.884 --> 00:26:05.685
Sometimes I'm able to just start a new project.
00:26:05.685 --> 00:26:13.353
Yeah, otherwise I have to be good and put it in the back of my mind and try to figure out when the next big dip will be that I can launch something.
00:26:13.353 --> 00:26:15.237
Or you know, we're gonna have a baby.
00:26:15.237 --> 00:26:18.311
So like there's a couple of months where I'm not really trying to do anything here.
00:26:18.311 --> 00:26:34.921
Um, so with this, our new tarot project coming up, we're actually kind of dragging our feet a little bit, because I cannot explain how much I do not want a palette of books and cards to arrive what I'm also supposed to either soon have or just have had a new human arrive.
00:26:34.921 --> 00:26:40.692
Really don't want a palette of books delivered to my house.
00:26:40.731 --> 00:26:44.498
Really, really don't as exciting as the arrival of a new human is.
00:26:44.498 --> 00:26:47.690
I do really want to know about this, this tarot card project.
00:26:47.690 --> 00:26:49.858
Are you able to reveal anything about it?
00:26:49.858 --> 00:26:51.665
Are you, can you talk me through what it is?
00:26:52.586 --> 00:26:56.113
Yeah, so it's um, it's a queer tarot deck.
00:26:56.113 --> 00:27:05.557
So everyone on the cards, even if they're not like I would say, sometimes with a single figure, it's hard to make it implicit that they're very queer.
00:27:05.557 --> 00:27:23.115
But, like, every single card features a queer human and we've done our best to make sure there's a lot of disability representation, particularly a couple of new things that I don't think we've hit on before, and, of course, people of color always and lots of trans inclusivity.
00:27:23.115 --> 00:27:27.855
So that's been really exciting.
00:27:27.855 --> 00:27:32.411
We did a little more art direction on this one, which was kind of fun.
00:27:32.411 --> 00:27:47.046
We basically said, if you have a single figure on your card, they need to be trans, disabled, or a person of color, or all free or any combination or of.
00:27:47.046 --> 00:27:50.255
Yeah, for the most part, I think there are soft feet.
00:27:50.916 --> 00:28:13.195
We're not always super strict about our art direction, just because we do want to give our artists some freedom, um, but we also made um each of the suits color-coordinated this time, which I'm really excited about, so all of the cups have a similar color scheme.
00:28:13.195 --> 00:28:18.073
Yeah, I think it turned out really cool.
00:28:18.073 --> 00:28:21.696
We tried a bunch of new things, things, and I'm very excited.
00:28:21.696 --> 00:28:34.438
We are working on formatting the card soon to send a print and the book to send a print all in April, so then hopefully it doesn't get here until like June or July.
00:28:34.438 --> 00:28:50.452
So, yes, we're very excited about it and I really hope I hope that our customers find the meaning in it, that we have found in it so far, and I know that all of our artists were really invested in it.
00:28:50.452 --> 00:28:59.295
So I'm hoping that love carries through and gives everybody something that they can see themselves in.
00:28:59.295 --> 00:29:10.997
You know which we need again and today, yeah, we need that what an inspiring chat with nova and marley quinn.
00:29:11.538 --> 00:29:13.403
Their work isn't just about creating art.
00:29:13.403 --> 00:29:24.972
It's about making sure that queer and bipoc stories are seen, heard and celebrated, from publishing to exhibitions that opening doors for artists that have been overlooked for far too long.
00:29:24.972 --> 00:29:30.971
Be sure to check out their amazing projects and support their mission, because these are the stories the world needs right now.
00:29:30.971 --> 00:29:33.317
Thanks for tuning in to Tarot Interviews.
00:29:33.317 --> 00:29:36.509
See you next time for more creative conversations.
00:29:36.509 --> 00:29:42.076
Tarot Interviews.
