The year 2020 has been one of incredible disruption and adaptation. It has been an opportunity to grow, although not everyone was up to the challenge, but many were compelled to be and are better, in ways, for it. The phrase “new normal” is already tired, but nonetheless appropriate. We are weary, but we trudge onward. We are a flexible species and we shall survive. Yes, we need to breathe and work through some mental health moments now and then, but that was always life. We’ve learned to do that and that we can best cope by keeping ourselves productive.

Throughout the year I have been creating little components of media, with which to ultimately redesign this site, and at long last, December has been the month to implement it all. EileeGeorge.com has a new, more responsive and modern theme as its substructure – but in keeping with my styles of art, music, and writing, it has only emphasized the vintage look, sound and feel that are so integral to my output and my brand.

I’ve taken pains to create and include relevant animated banners to each section, and I made pertinent animated GIF files to adorn each page (posts mostly excluded) for a cheeky bit of fun. I’ve constructed a flowchart-icon style Site Map, that is separately referenced (in part) on most pages of the site as necessary, and left breadcrumbs all over, in order to keep you aware of where you were, are, and can be. As some of the old pages have moved or been retitled, it’s necessitated some housekeeping: I’ve double-checked most of the links so far, but if you find any that I missed, please email me here! (And thank you ahead of time.)

Fun facts about many of these icons…most of the antique items are in my own home, and a few others still at my parents’ home. Mine now include the record player (my Dad’s, from the 40’s when he was wooing my Mom back in school), Dad’s old Chicago phone, 8mm camera, film projector, the Model A he restored, and the radio that he listened live to FDR’s “Day of Infamy” speech as a little kid. The piano is still at Mom’s; she played on it; she taught on it; I learned on it. The typewriter is the one I learned to type on; the palette is the one I use (the other side of it is quite stained); the cash register is a vintage toy from my own childhood, the uke mine, the paint and pencils and Brownie camera are all mine. This reinforces the homey feel of the site.

I have loads of old books and frames and artist mannequins, and since I taught myself to do calligraphy in about 7th grade, the quill and inkwell are also mine. And the house on the Home page is actually that of my grandparents. There’s a lot of personal history worked into these (usually merely utilitarian) elements. Despite the fact that I need this site to do its job and encourage commerce in a year that’s been unprecedented for its hostility to any income in the arts, I wanted the entire site to feel like home: familiar, comfy, welcoming. It has a story. Not just my story, but my whole family’s story, as they are part of me. Welcome.

I hope that you find this new iteration of the site as stimulating, informative, warm, almost-analog-homey, and visually lovely as I hope it to be for my visitors. Thank you for browsing.

 

♥ – Eilee