Category: 434

“I stitch for my family,” says Lauren Ryan, owner of Poppypointe, Charlottesville’s source for all things needlepoint. “A lot of what I do is inspired by them and for them.”

Coming from a long line of skilled craftswomen and embroiderers, Ryan sees needlepoint as a bridge across generations. She learned to stitch at a young age with her mother as her teacher. She and her cousins received handmade stockings from an aunt as children, and those cherished keepsakes still adorn mantels at Christmastime. 

Ryan wanted to carry on the tradition once she became a mother, so she stitched a stocking for her firstborn—one of many creations she would craft over the years. “There’s this connection I have, like many of my customers, to the next generation,” says Ryan. “Making something handmade with love for them is really what it’s about.”

While she has always loved needlepoint, it had mostly been a hobby in the gaps between demanding careers—working on Wall Street through September 11, 2001, and later as a social worker in New York. After relocating to Virginia and raising her daughters in Charlottesville, Ryan decided to transform her pastime into a profession. She opened Poppypointe, an online and brick-and-mortar shop, in December 2019. 

Now a thriving one-stop-shop for needlecrafters of all skill levels, Poppypointe has an abundance of stitching supplies—original canvases, more than 100 different types of thread, all sorts of accessories—and a wealth of inspiration. “I try to create a safe space for people where they can empower themselves to create the work they want to put out into the world,” Ryan says. 

The store also provides finishing services, turning stitched canvases into decorative and functional items—from throw pillows and purses to coasters and trays, to treasure boxes and ornaments. There are even options for needlepointed passport covers and flasks.

Needlepointers needing extra support can book one-on-one lessons; there’s an option for beginners as well as another one for experienced stitchers to hone their craft with embellishments. “We all make mistakes. You adjust and keep going,” Ryan says. “There’s no wrong answer in stitching.”

What’s particularly special about the shop is the fiber arts community Ryan has cultivated. Poppypointe serves as a gathering place, offering weekly open stitch opportunities. These no-cost, drop-in meetings welcome needleworkers to share what they’re working on, learn from one another, and form friendships that extend beyond the shop’s walls. 

“I’m constantly amazed by the creativity and humbled, frankly, by what people can create,” says Ryan. “I feel very lucky and privileged to do what I do.”

Why is there no fun underwear in the world?

Joan Kovatch and Dylan West were sitting on their couch one day, pondering this, lamenting the lack of undergarments covered in prints of furry, feral creatures (flowers aren’t really their thing). Struck by a burst of spontaneous inspiration, the couple decided to do something about it, and Critter Butts was born. 

“Our original plan was to make patterns for underwear and make our own underwear and then we were like, ‘slow your roll,’” says West. “Maybe start with something that’s manageable, like cards, and learning how to print.

Prior to launching Critter Butts, West had done a bit of linoleum carving, but Kovatch hadn’t, so the pair got to work figuring out how to bring their designs to life. Learning a new art form to open a new business might seem like a risky move, but they were up for the challenge.

“Before this we’ve both been involved in a ton of crafts,” says West. “We’re both neurodivergent and, just, are all over the place all the time.”

The couple are always down to acquire new skills, adds Kovatch. After learning how to make cheese, build houses, tan hides, taxidermy animals, and sew clothes, carving and printing came naturally.

By summer of 2021, West and Kovatch were ready to take Critter Butts to market. They started at Ix’s Thursday Sunset Market, before eventually moving to the Saturday slot.

Today, the Critter Butts booth is full of delightfully queer block-printed artwork on stickers, cards, prints, and shirts—no underwear, yet. 

“Be gay do crimes” features a bushy-tailed squirrel, gearing up to do some damage. On another design, tiny trash cans and the words “live fast eat trash,” written in an old biker-style font, frame a raccoon. All of the designs are hand-carved, and most of the products are hand-printed.

The couple endearingly describe their work as “queer feral trash creature art.” 

“I often think of queer people as similar to possums or raccoons or squirrels—maybe considered beautiful, but often considered fearful, or a nuisance for the unique ways they figure out to survive civilization, and how they inconvenience normal humans,” Kovatch says. “Queer people, though we are socialized into straight society, in some ways have to unlearn all we’re taught in order to survive as our real selves—to learn to trust our instincts and our inherent worth, even if much of society decides to demonize us. So, feral trash creatures.”

Kovatch continues, “it’s important for us to flag our weirdness enough that other weird people who feel isolated feel okay coming up to us. And that’s been a really, really big part of market.”

The Critter Butts booth at Ix has become an unofficial queer social hub. Folks gather underneath the pride and trans flags always hanging from the tent to trade stories, share life updates, and just be together in community. 

They walk away feeling a little less alone, with a card or two, and perhaps one day, a sick new pair of undies.

How do we feed our babies? It’s a question Kelly Cox has been fielding from new parents for over a decade.

Cox, a licensed clinical social worker, registered prenatal yoga teacher, and birth doula, has hands-on experience helping moms through every stage of pregnancy. After six years of working as a therapist with mainly domestic violence sexual assault victims in Charlottesville, Cox went on to open Bend Yoga in 2010. The studio specialized in children’s and pre- and post-natal yoga, and held free weekly lactation support groups until its closing in 2020. 

It was during those 10 years running Bend that Cox became aware of one of the biggest stressors new moms experience: breastfeeding. 

Breastfeeding is no easy feat, and every mom’s experience is different. “Some women have an amazing time feeding, and they produce more than their babies can even use,” says Cox. “What I saw more of was mothers who, for some reason, couldn’t produce milk.” Going on medications for medical issues or for mental health, stress, and even returning to work can affect a nursing mother’s milk supply, according to Cox. 

Cox would help connect moms with a surplus of breast milk with people in need of the liquid gold. She would also direct people to a number of milk sharing groups on Facebook, but she found the search process to be clunky and cumbersome.

Then one night, inspiration struck from the most unlikely of places. 

“I was emailing two clients late one evening. One of them had milk she needed to get rid of before she moved, and one of them had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and knew that she couldn’t produce. As I was emailing them to introduce them, a notification went off on my phone from Bumble saying that I had matched with someone,” says Cox. “If we can go on our phones and order a car, and rent a stranger’s house, if I can meet my perfect match, why couldn’t families use this?”

Cox and her business partner, Celia Castleman, decided to make this idea a reality when COVID struck. The two started working with Shockoe, a Richmond-based app development firm, to create Share the Drop, a free app that connects milk donors with recipients. The development process was made even more urgent when Abbott, a baby formula manufacturer, issued a recall of several formula products, resulting in a nationwide formula shortage. 

Share the Drop offers a streamlined search process for anyone in need of breast milk, and it’s completely free to use—no download or registration fees. 

To use Share the Drop, users have to agree to follow Eats on Feets four pillars of safe breast milk sharing: informed choice, donor screening, safe handling, and home pasteurization. Recipients can then search for milk donors by distance, age, and other specific criteria, including dietary restrictions and allergies, and donors can upload recent test results for an added level of safety. 

Though the FDA and the American Academy of Pediatrics warn about risks associated with informal breast milk sharing, Cox says Share the Drop is a tool that families can decide to use for themselves. “It’s all based on informed consent,” she says. 

Currently, Share the Drop can be accessed through the Google Play store, or through sharethedrop.com. Cox says many families who can’t afford breast milk use the service, in addition to same-sex couples and breast cancer survivors. “I am a breast cancer survivor, and I’ve made it my mission locally to make sure that any other woman who has lost all of her mammary glands is able to find human milk if they need it.”

Cox and Castleman are still waiting on approval from Apple’s app store, which they hope to receive soon.

“I don’t think the formula crisis is going to end anytime soon,” Cox says, “so we are just really trying to get the word out about this resource.”

his year, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center marks its 10th anniversary. Since 2013, it has provided educational programs, cultural events, and commemorations for Charlottesville’s Black community—and revived the role of the original Jefferson School.

“From its founding, the Jefferson School held the cultural practices—the gatherings, performances, the festivals—of the African American Community,” says Andrea Douglas, who has been executive director of JSAAHC since its founding. “The Center came [into being] to connect the history of that institution to the modern space.”  

Part of Charlottesville’s past

Following emancipation, Charlottesville’s Black community began creating the institutions it had long been denied. One of the first was the Jefferson School, a Freedmen’s Bureau school offering both elementary education and teacher training. The school was opened in 1865, in the building at Seventh and Main streets shared with the First Baptist Church, one of the city’s first independent Black congregations. 

Thirty years later, the Jefferson Graded School (for grades one through eight) moved into its own building at Commerce and Fourth streets in Starr Hill. But under Jim Crow, there was no requirement for Charlottesville to provide a high school for Black students. It wasn’t until 1926, after the African American community petitioned City Council, that the first Black high school in Charlottesville opened in a new building (the one that is now the home of the JSAAHC), constructed adjacent to the Jefferson Graded School. 

For the next 25 years, the Jefferson School (by this point grades one through 12) was home to a wide range of activities—from athletic teams and clubs to music and theater groups—that supported the culture and cohesiveness of the Black community. Its auditorium hosted school and public events at a time when venues like the Jefferson Theater and the Paramount, while open to Blacks, were restricted spaces. In 1934, the city opened a Colored Branch library in the school; municipal libraries were segregated until 1948. 

In 1951, to accommodate the city’s growing African American population, Burley High School was built for Black students; the Jefferson School continued to teach Black students in grades one through eight. Seven years later, after Brown v. Board of Education, the Charlottesville 12 (Black students from Jefferson and Burley) petitioned to attend white schools, and forced the city’s schools to integrate. 

While the city grappled with how to integrate its existing schools, the Jefferson School offered grades seven and eight for Black students. In 1966, when integration was finalized, the Jefferson School taught sixth grade for both white and Black students—a first in the city’s history. But, as Douglas points out, “When the school [stopped being] an all-Black institution, you ended that [community] space. What we’re trying to do is redress that loss of the cultural practices of Charlottesville’s African American community.”

“It’s really important and unusual that we have in our community a descendant organization of the original Freedmen’s School,” says Jalane Schmidt, a UVA professor and director of the Memory Project at the UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy. “It’s a direct link to the community’s Reconstruction history.”

Reinventing the Jefferson School’s role

In 2002, a group of Jefferson School alumni, Starr Hill residents, and figures from local businesses, government, and nonprofits began talking about restoring the Jefferson School as a mixed-use community center. In 2006, the school building was added to the National Register of Historic Places; in 2013, it reopened as the Jefferson School City Center, housing a range of community services and the newly formed Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. 

“We think of ourselves as a bridge from history out,” says Douglas. “We’re not a museum. We’re an event-driven cultural space, a place to celebrate the arts, the festivals, the gatherings—a place where the Black community feels at home.” 

But Douglas emphasizes that JSAAHC is a resource for the wider community as well.  “Our mission is not ‘We just do things for Black people.’ White people need our programming as much or more than Blacks do—we know our history.”

Supporting the Black community

To fulfill that mission, JSAAHC’s programming over the last 10 years has been wide-ranging. Its permanent exhibition, “Pride Overcomes Prejudice,” tells the history of the local Black community from emancipation through the late 20th century, often through the voices of Jefferson School alumni and community members. Rotating exhibits focus on community history and on the works of contemporary Black/diaspora artists.

JSAAHC’s Isabella Gibbons Local History Center, named for the Jefferson School’s first Black teacher, offers resources for researching family and area history. In 2017, local journalist and social historian Jordy Yager worked with JSAAHC and others to launch the African American Oral History Project. Now at JSAAHC, Yager’s current undertaking, called Mapping Cville, documents Black land ownership and racist housing policies in Charlottesville and Albemarle County; its findings will be hosted online for use by researchers and local schools.

The center also provides space for community meetings, presentations, guest speakers, and activities ranging from Kwanzaa and Juneteenth celebrations to book discussions and the annual Greens Cook Off. The former school auditorium now hosts the Charlottesville Players Guild, a reincarnation of a Black troupe that performed there in the 1950s; the Players Guild presents a full range of productions, from Shakespeare to contemporary Black/diaspora theater. 

Driving change

In addition to promoting Black history and culture, JSAAHC was intended to be a forum for addressing racial inequities past and present. “We believe what we do should help drive cultural change,” Douglas says. “This city is not this city without the truth and authenticity of fact.”

To that end, Douglas served on the Blue Ribbon Commission for Race, Memorials and Public Spaces, which met at JSAAHC in 2016. In the 2017 lead-up to the Unite the Right rally, City Council asked the center to host response planning and preparations. “We had 400 people here to be educated about the Proud Boys, and why it was important to be on the streets that day,” says Douglas. “This is the place that Charlottesville came to understand what was happening and why.”

When the statue of Robert E. Lee was finally taken down in 2021, JSAAHC led the development of Swords Into Plowshares, a project to re-use the statue’s bronze to create an artwork symbolizing the city’s commitment to racial inclusivity and healing. 

But telling the city’s Black history encompasses far more than contextualizing the statues. JSAAHC has developed a Black history walking tour of the city, from the Court Square slave auction block to the Daughters of Zion Cemetery; worked with area schools to help teachers incorporate local Black history into their curricula; and advocated for March 3 (the day Union soldiers arrived in Charlottesville in 1865) as Freedom and Liberation Day. The Center helped locate and memorialize the site where John Henry James was lynched in 1898—and raised the money to take 100 people to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, to deliver soil from where James was killed. 

“JSAAHC plays a singular role of promoting and hosting the very difficult discussions about race and justice,” says Schmidt, who as an activist and public historian has worked on many of JSAAHC’s public education programs. “The public knows that the center holds a place for these discussions—and it’s trusted by the community at large.”

The work continues

JSAAHC marked its 10th anniversary in January with a social event—and two days later held a facilitated discussion on race, politics, and the Black community. The Players Guild performances and exhibitions highlighting Black artists; the ongoing work of Swords Into Plowshares and Mapping Cville; Trailblazers, a program that trains African American youth to be community guides; the 2023 Civil Rights Bus Tour with the Memory Project—the center’s commitment to convene, educate, support, and lead continues.

“The Jefferson School, and now the Heritage Center, was and is a touchstone for the African American community,” says Douglas. “We have taken the idea of Blackness in Charlottesville and made it tangible.”

AUGUST WILSON’S CENTURY CYCLE COMES FULL CIRCLE

Perhaps no one has presented the African American experience with more perception, passion, and depth than Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. In 2017, the Charlottesville Players Guild, under the leadership of Artistic Director and writer/director/actor Leslie M. Scott-Jones, staged Wilson’s Fences, and launched the troupe’s commitment to stage the playwright’s complete American Century Cycle—10 plays examining the changes and challenges affecting Black Americans in each decade of the 20th century. Only a handful of theater companies in the nation have taken on this challenge. 

In 2023, the guild will complete the cycle with productions of Seven Guitars, based in the 1940s (February 23-March 5); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, covering the 1920s (June 15-25); and King Hedley II, set in the 1980s (October 12-22). The week following the cycle’s completion, the JSAAHC will host “Wilsonian Soldiers,” a five-day symposium with panel discussions and master classes from four noted national Black theater practitioners and several local theater artists. The symposium will culminate in a performance of How I Learned What I Learned, Wilson’s theatrical memoir. Visit jeffschoolheritagecenter.org for tickets and season subscription information.

Derek Brown’s sculpture is all about fun. 

The Palmyra resident started making quirky clay figures because he wasn’t having fun at his day job. He wants people to see his pieces and think, “That’s fun.” And if he stops having fun making the tchotchkes, he’ll give it up.

“Basically, I hated my job so much—being a mechanic—I needed something sort of comedic or less serious when I got off work,” he says.

Brown and his girlfriend got into clay together, learning to fashion figures on the fly. They made whatever came to mind. For Brown, it was odd, moody little cartoons, offbeat animals, various chonkies, cutesy utensils, and a dervish of devils and demons.

He stuck with it. He started in polymer clay and improved quickly. He branched into other materials. He finished and painted some pieces he was proud of. He put them on his shelves. Friends saw them and laughed. The art started conversations, and maybe an argument or two. The friends commissioned a few pieces—like two clay cat toppers for a couples’ wedding cake.

Everyone was having fun.

Brown launched Strange Clay Creations to try his hand at selling his sculptures. So far, that’s been a good time as well, with some reservations. He has an Etsy store—though the logistics are a drag—and he’s done an art fair—though the high demand left him spent and lacking inspiration. The best outlet, he says, has been through C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery, where he’s also been inspired by the other creatives in residence.

Some people don’t get Brown’s work. “What’s the point?” the killjoys ask. “For you, they do nothing,” Brown quips. But he’s made some practical pieces—ornaments and magnets and the like.

Brown started Strange Clay Creations with no formal art training, but working on his own motorcycles over the years likely helped him hone his handiwork. And he’s always been creative by nature. 

“Maybe ’90s Nickelodeon TV warped my brain—growing up with those strange cartoons like ‘Ren & Stimpy’ and ‘Rocko’s Modern Life,’” he says. “I never cared about school as much as art and music.”

Fortunately for his psyche, Brown’s moved on from his job as a professional mechanic. His new gig as a media producer isn’t a bummer, but he’s not ready to give up what’s become his after-work outlet.

“I’ve been at it for three to four years, and the first one looked like a 2-year-old did it,” Brown says. “Now it’s definitely more refined and polished, and I like where it’s going.
As long as I like making them and seeing other people’s reactions, that’s enough.”

Podcasts are the fastest-growing audio entertainment platform in the country, according to the Radio Agency—more than one-third of Americans listen to them regularly. Charlottesville is home to some of the most engaging, from lighthearted chats to compelling true crime investigations. Give these five a stream.—Laura Drummond

“Bold Dominion” “Bold Dominion” covers all things Virginia state politics in succinct snippets. This podcast is a member of the Virginia Audio Collective and produced by WTJU 91.1 FM, the nonprofit radio station at UVA. Knowledgeable host Nathan Moore, WTJU’s general manager, keeps you informed of the most relevant topics impacting our commonwealth, like affordable housing, broadband expansion, abortion access, and right-wing extremism. Airing twice a month, episodes are thoughtful and educational. 

“Green Light with Chris Long” Hosted by retired NFL star and UVA football titan Chris Long and his best friend Macon Gunter, “Green Light” is a sports podcast and then some. Rated one of the Top 10 football podcasts by Apple, it offers expert NFL and football analysis through recurring segments with Stanford Steve and Mina Kimes. It also tackles all sorts of other topics—entertainment, parenting, history, politics—nothing is off limits. Long has interviewed the likes of actor Matthew McConaughey, retired NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox. Most episodes extend beyond an hour, making them perfect listening for long commutes.

“Small Town Big Crime” Focusing on turning up new leads in unsolved cases, this true-crime podcast is hosted by Charlottesville journalists Courteney Stuart and Rachel Ryan. Listen to the complete first season about the 1985 murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom in Bedford County and the subsequent conviction of their daughter and her boyfriend, Jens Soering. This podcast spans an extensive three-year investigation in easily consumable 30-minute episodes. Plans are in the works to cover other cold cases. 

“Speaking in Hues” Produced at the UVA Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center, this podcast discusses the experiences of Black women living and working in Charlottesville. It’s hosted by friends and colleagues Taylor Nichols, diversity, equity & inclusion expert and self-described pop culture queen, and Jaronda Miller-Bryant, scholar, mother of two, and self-described vegan fit-goddess. The episodes, usually around half an hour long, delve into topics like code switching, navigating white spaces, food, travel, and so much more.  

“Stitch Please” “Stitch Please” is the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, a sewing group that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. Hosted by Lisa Woolfork, founder of Black Women Stitch and a UVA associate professor of African American literature and culture, this weekly podcast offers short and sweet sewing specifics while furthering the discussions of social justice and empowerment. Notable guests include entrepreneur Carmen Green, author Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, and dollmaker Tracy Perry.

Honorable Mentions

These local podcasts may not have new episodes, but their archives are robust and thought-provoking.

-“Backstory”

-“Charlottesville Soundboard”

-“Uncommon Voices by United Way” 

With the Virginia Festival of the Book already on our calendar (March 23-26), we reached out to Kalela Williams—the Center for the Book’s new director—to tell us what she’s most looking forward to reading from this year’s lineup. See her picks below, and visit vabook.org for the full festival schedule.—CH

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

I love reimaginings, especially when authors revisit female characters. Kaikeyi is a queen from the ancient Hindu epic, though sadly, I’m not familiar with the Ramayana. Somehow I never learned a word about it in school or college. So getting to know the original text would be an education for me, and I’d love to see how Patel has reconsidered this figure.

Deaf Utopia: A Memoir—And a Love Letter to a Way of Life by Nyle DiMarco

I’m really interested in stories that describe thriving in a world that isn’t built for everyone. That’s DiMarco in his memoir Deaf Utopia. His book is also an honoring of Deaf culture. Celebrations are always sweeter when they’re mothered by resilience. 

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

I started digging horror movies at the start of the pandemic, and now I’ve got the spine to creep into books, which are much more intimate and lingering—basically, more terrifying. How to Sell has got the lift of humor, though, and you can’t scream all that much when you’re laughing. 

Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles

True crime is my thing, and so is getting outdoors. Trailed chronicles a search to find out who killed a couple—two women who went camping together—so it might not seem like a nudge to get out there. But it’s a call that the wild should be safe for all of us. I mean, let me go hiking and just worry about bears, not murderers. 

Inciting Joy by Ross Gay

Ross Gay’s writing calls me back to a childhood at my grandmother’s house in Summerville, South Carolina, to the legions of flowers she spent hours tending, and how she carried on about each bloom. Her joy. Gay’s new book explores finding mine. Yours. All of ours. Yeah, that’s pretty special. 

Here’s one way to get the creative juices flowing: Rose’s Inspiration Station. The mobile arts and crafts studio comes right to you, infusing imagination into kids’ birthday parties, weddings, and even work events.

Book online by selecting a predetermined theme—fantasy world, for example—or reach out with a one-of-a-kind idea of your own. On the day of the event, the whimsical wagon rolls up, brimming with creative materials to appeal to the traditional artist, paint, felt, and glue—or to the experimental one, battery-powered fairy lights, tiny plastic dinosaurs, and peacock feathers. Guests receive a project base and the freedom to choose from the materials on hand. When it’s all said and done, they walk away with finished crafts and an unforgettable experience of playfulness and positivity.  

Inspiration Station is the creation of Rose Guterbock, award-winning figurative oil painter, self-taught silversmith, and neurodivergent mother of two. While her other endeavors felt worthwhile, creating art in her studio at the Shenandoah Valley Art Center and teaching traditional art techniques as a private instructor, Guterbock wanted to do more within the community. “I’ve seen my private students feel better about who they are as people over time,” she says. “I realized I could encourage this same positive growth in a more intentional, and far-reaching capacity.” 

In addition to bringing the mobile studio to parties and events, Guterbock also partners with local businesses. She recently teamed up with Bluebird & Co. in Crozet, hosting wine and design events for adults and a regular art club for adolescents. She hopes to reach people where they are, fostering an inclusive atmosphere for imaginative thinking wherever she sets up shop. 

Guterbock outfits the Inspiration Station with thoughtfully selected supplies, repurposing and upcycling as much as she can. The Scrappy Elephant is a go-to for like-new tools and other items. “Bringing unique and reclaimed creative materials helps our planet and keeps my prices affordable,” says Guterbock. “Every time you work with me, the materials on hand will be a little different. Embracing the unexpected can lead to some awe-inspiring creativity.”  

With no doubt that art has positively impacted her life, Guterbock says her mission is to share that with as many people as she can. “Making art is healing. Making art connects us to one another. I hope that the individuals I work with will inspire others, passing the positive effects of creative expression on.”

Jen Deibert doesn’t care much for categories. “I would not call myself a potter,” she says, although her cozy cluttered studio is packed with ceramic pieces. (It actually looks like a vintage shoppe and a crystals booth got married in a kiln and had children.) Asked about her art, Deibert simply says, “I make things.” But whatever she’s creating, she clearly has The Touch, because people love her work.

Deibert starting creating early: “I always loved rocks and crystals and digging in the dirt.” By the time her family moved to Charlottesville in her middle-school years, she recalls, “I was making my own necklaces and earrings. My parents loved to go to antique shopping—they’d take me along, and I would get these great vintage jewelry pieces and take them apart to make new things. And the girls at school would say, ‘Could you make me something?’ I would decorate my notebook covers, and people would say, ‘Where did you get that?’”

Next, Deibert says, she taught herself how to make stained glass, and sold it on the Downtown Mall. She left college because she couldn’t decide on a major; she got a real estate license, but all she really wanted to do was make things. She has no formal art training: “I never liked sitting still or following directions,” Deibert says with characteristic candor. 

She kept on doing what she loved: finding and using vintage jewelry, clothing, and objects to make new things in her own eclectic style. But she found the distinction people made between her work as “craft,” and the more valid, respectable “art” to be a false one. “It’s taken me 45 years to say I’m an artist,” she says.

Two years ago, Deibert began developing her own approach to ceramics. She had bought a cheap potter’s wheel to try out (“I hated it—it’s now a spider house”), but she found working with clay and hand-building felt really familiar. “Working with the earth […] there are endless possibilities. There’s nothing you can’t make from clay.” 

And to prove it, Deibert’s current and most popular creations are trophies—recognition of achievements which have nothing to do with competition. Her trophies are child-like, homemade, painted in gleaming white and bright colors, each one unique and proudly displaying affirmative or thought-provoking mantras: “Keep going.” “You’re doing great.” “Good job floating through space.” “Is any of this even real?” “Oh dear, what a year!” Even, “We’re going to need a better trophy.”

Deibert says her ideas start from a phrase. “My [work] is more about the message, but in a physical thing you can touch,” she says. “It’s more about the things I’m trying to get people to think about.” Many of these ideas come to Deibert while she is meditating under a special lamp called a Lucia No. 3. She has one mounted over the couch/bed in her studio; she characterizes its impact as “like a more modern version of staring into the flames. It’s a tool for creativity.”

Deibert works on other objects as well. Scattered around her studio are ceramic cups, vases, and animals as well as vintage objects modified with crystals, paint, clay, and papier-mache. (A favorite example: a table lamp modified into a bright yellow banana decorated with quartz prisms and one staring bright blue eye, emblazoned with “Don’t forget we are here to have fun!” around the shade.) Her works are available for sale on her Facebook and Instagram pages and at The Quirk Gallery.

While she’s enthusiastic about her ceramic work, Deibert also wants to continue working with jewelry and vintage clothing. “I have this mental list of all the things I want to make,” she says. “When I get old, I want to have all these things [around me] that were made by me.” 

Which is a wonderful description of the Deibert home in Esmont, where Jen, husband Josh, 8-year-old daughter Birdie (“already a wonderful artist,” says her proud mother), and their five dogs have lived since 2017. The large farmhouse has a charmingly overgrown Secret Garden atmosphere. Her studio in the vine-draped English basement has a worktable watched over by a turquoise papier-mache dolphin, a plastic chair the shape of a giant cupped hand, and the Lucia meditation bed under a parachute canopy. 

Whether it’s vintage jewelry, a second-hand lamp, or a 1950s housedress, “I just like recycling old things,” Deibert says. “I love pointing out or finding things other people ignore. They are begging you to look at them. We all want to be validated.”

It’s the most wonderful time of year. Of course, for a lot of us, it’s also the most stressful, most exhausting time of year. It’s gift-giving season, and to take some of the pressure off, we’ve tapped local gifting gurus in varying arenas—like food, motherhood, drama, science—and asked them to pick a gift for the very specific people on your list. With any luck (and our experts’ helpful hints), it’ll be the hap-happiest season of all.

For Mom…

“Historically, I’ve not been a giver of material things or commercial goods as much as I have given handwritten notes inside beautiful cards. I can say that as a professional conscious relationship teacher and coach, and as someone who deeply resonates with the mother, the queen, the sage, and the lover archetypes, that reverent, intentional, attentive, and quality time spent in the energies of appreciation (‘thank you for…’), joy (activities or shares that speak to, uplift, and nourish my soul and my senses), play (full-body belly laughs), affirmation (‘I see you…’), praise and celebration (‘In honor of you…’), rest (that is lovingly held, supported, and protected), and pleasure (delicious foods, meals and treats, good conversation, pampering)—in whatever ways they take shape—can be the most powerful, restorative, deeply moving, and memorable gifts to myself or from others.” —Yolonda Coles Jones, Empowerment & Consciousness Coach, Yolonda Jones Creative

For Dad…

“I enjoy any gift from the UVA Bookstore.” —Jim Ryan, President, University of Virginia

For the kid…

“How many gifts provide opportunities for parents and kids to make new friends, spend unlimited time learning and playing, and have a joyful place to work out wiggles when the weather outside is crummy? A Virginia Discovery Museum membership is just $150 a year and includes free or discounted admissions at over 500 other museums nationwide.” —Janine Dozier, Executive Director, Virginia Discovery Museum

For the athlete…

“A gift certificate to Rivanna Cryotherapy. Fran and Dawn are great massage therapists, whether you’re a professional athlete or you just need some body work.” —Chris Long, Host, “Green Light” podcast

For the activist…

“Activists confront the ongoing legacies of trauma, and sometimes undergo trauma ourselves—which we carry in our bodies. Activists are such outward-focused, go-go people that we often need encouragement to get self-care. Gift certificates for massages from Common Grounds Healing Arts are much appreciated.” —Jalane Schmidt, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia

For the writer…

“Support an aspiring author (or avid reader) in your life with a patterned notebook or pretty tote from O’Suzannah. While you’re there, find a matching pouch or pen.” —Jocelyn Johnson, Author, My Monticello

For the hard-to-shop-for person…

“I shop at Michie Tavern, as they have products and gifts from all over Virginia. I also like ‘memory gifts.’ Stop at a local sandwich shop—Feast!, Markets at Tiger Fuel, Market at Grelen—pack a picnic basket and drive to the area LOVE signs and enjoy. There are many locally within a short drive. The downtown experience of a dinner and show is also a great gift!” —Olivia Branch, Member Relations Coordinator, Keswick

For the game-player…

“As someone who has invented several board games, it may seem strange that I’m not a gamer myself. I pretty much never play
any games except chess. I think chess is the greatest game ever, but If I had to pick another, Settlers of Catan would be the clear winner. It’s a fun social game, and we’re lucky to have Pete Fenlon, who originally published Catan and is the current CEO of Catan Studio, living right here in Charlottesville.” —Brian Calhoun, Founder,
Rockbridge Guitars (and creator of Chickapig)

For the theater-lover…

“For the classicist, a fancy quill pen or a wax sealing kit from Rock Paper Scissors—everyone should have one of those!” —Jo Manley, Marketing Consultant, American Shakespeare Center

For the poet…

“I’d recommend a book or gift card from New Dominion Bookshop, with its expertly curated poetry section and friendly staff (several of whom are UVA alums and talented writers themselves!). If you step into the shop on the right day, you may even witness a live reading by a local or visiting author who’ll be delighted to sign a copy of their book for you. After selecting the perfect volume, the poet on your gift list can enjoy a glass of wine and the convivial atmosphere at Tilman’s, right next door.” —Kiki Petrosino, Professor and Director of Creative Writing, University of Virginia

For the wine-lover…

“Gift card to Mountain House Trading Company. Wine-lovers love exploring, and I discovered Mountain House Trading when visiting the 151 wineries last year. It has everything from local honey and wine accessories to mead flights and small bites.” —Tasha Durrett, founder, Black Women Who Wine

For the teacher…

“Teachers are nurturers, leaders, and mentors. They’re planners, improvisers, scholars, and cheerleaders. And so one thing all teachers need by the time the holiday season rolls around is a moment for themselves. Treat the teacher in your life to a gift certificate to one of our amazing local restaurants or bakeries. I just recently enjoyed a pastry from MarieBette Café & Bakery and I bet others would, too!” —Royal Gurley, Superintendent, Charlottesville City Schools

For the STEM nerd…

“The Scholars’ Lab TinkerTank is part of the University of Virginia Library system, and it’s open to the community. 3D print your own designs for free!” —Karl Helmstetter, physics teacher, Charlottesville High School