3 Pandemic Diversions

Design and Creative Expression can help us overcome any number of challenges.

Perhaps especially during these stressful and isolating times, I've looked for things that provide me with comfort and enjoyment, that give me a chance to pull away from the pains of the pandemic -- even for a moment, and that help me appreciate the creative human spirit.

To that end, here are three things that I've found that provide me with inspiration and ideas, while also providing glimmers of brighter days ahead.  I hope you'll enjoy them, too.



Care Cards

Care Cards are a beautifully-designed set of kind thoughts and helpful little activities put together by the digital collective First and Foremost. You can install Care Cards on your computer or phone to provide random bits of positivity.  In a similar vein, check out the "Oblique Strategies" cards by Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno. Here's an online version -- just click to see a new card.

The Repair Shop 

The Repair Shop is a show on Netflix that may be the perfect respite for museum workers away from their jobs and their closed institutions.  The series is actually filmed on the grounds of a UK museum (the Weald and Downland Living Museum in Singleton, West Sussex) and involves the same set-up for every episode -- a core band of expert restorers bring three treasured (and sometimes severely damaged) family heirlooms back to life.

The objects on the show may not all be "museum quality" but each item is deeply meaningful to the people who bring them to The Repair Shop.  Along the way, you learn about the fascinating histories of the objects, as well as coming to understand the processes and techniques used for their repair and restoration.  The entire program is positive and gentle in a delightfully British way.

Norah Jones on YouTube

I've always enjoyed the music that Norah Jones makes and have long admired her as an artist.  So I was delighted to find that she has been sharing songs and mini-concerts (she takes requests!) on YouTube from her home -- which might be the most enjoyable type of "work from home" recordings ever.

In addition to the wonderful songs, it's nice to get a better sense of the person behind the music in the less-guarded, more intimate surrounding of Jones' own home.

You can click on over to the Norah Jones YouTube page, or enjoy the embedded sampler below.






Do you have your own special things that are helping you get through these tricky times?  Please share them in the "Comments" section below.



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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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