Against all odds and a steep learning curve, my 2022 project has come to fruition.
At 12:00 am on 1/1/23 candio.com went live! I FINALLY have a print on demand store selling my art! Thus begins a new and exciting phase of my career! I have owned this domain for 25 years but never had a website.
My first collection is a combination of hand done imagery from the 80s and modern digital art. It reflects many of the themes I wrestled with in 2022 and several pieces were inspired by the #LetWomenSpeak protests where women were attacked for trying to exercise our free speech rights.
Another theme I am exploring is the issue of cool and whether it is dead, along with irony and other art forms.
I have always firmly believed that artists should be at the front of the culture war. The culture war cannot be won without culture. It really hit me that part of the reason I care so much about issues such as gender ideology is that culture is my terrain, as an artist.
After spending so much of the past decade on writing, it is refreshing to be producing works of art again. I have had to teach myself graphic artist software—Canva, Photopea and a couple other smaller programs. After I sort of had that figured out I had to learn Squarespace and Printful. It was a steep learning curve, often frustrating AF.
But as you know, I am persistent, I never give up. This project took the entire year, working in half hour increments due to my untreated pain.
There are 13 different designs with 67 items in total. Each design has a canvas and shirt as well as other cool merch including mugs, tote bags, journals, pillows, phone cases, puzzles, laptop cases and more.
I am extremely proud. It is my future and I look forward to working on my next collection as well as further building out the website. I am also working on putting together files and packages of stickers and fliers so people can do street art in their city.
The next step is getting it off the ground, I am preparing a social media ad campaign. If you feel comfortable, please consider sharing on social media. Proceeds from this project will directly fund future work, including my expansion into video.
The system seems to be working well but to kick things off for what I am still seeing as a beta testing month before I go big or go home, I am offering 10% off everything if you use the code NOYOURETHEBETA at checkout.
Thank you for your support.
Please visit candio.com and let me know what you think!
Candace Mercer is an artist/writer/activist based in Olympia, WA. She has written on homeless response and political violence in the PNW. In 2021, she ran for Olympia City Council. Her art can be found at candio.com.