It’s good to be invited back to write a guest post. I’ve experienced much change in my life since I was the featured artist on the Milspo FAN Blog in March of 2021. At the time of the feature, I was sewing like crazy and creating so much for my own enjoyment and for my Etsy Shop. My craft room was full of fabric, thread, and sewing project possibilities. I had also dived back into watercolor painting, and it felt good to be so focused. I loved spending time in my craft room and having time to myself. My husband and I started planning trips, plus projects we both wanted to complete that upcoming summer. Little did I know how much would change in 2022 and my creative projects would come to a temporary halt.

So much has happened since last year, and I’m very proud of how far I’ve come. One of the pieces pictured in last year’s interview won “Best in Show” at the ODU 2022 Student Juried Exhibition; the award granted me a solo show at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio in Norfolk, VA. I was also awarded a Windgate University Fellowship at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. The Fellowship provided room, board, and tuition for a summer workshop. I chose to take a mechanical sculpture class. It seems the more technology advances, the more magical simple machines become.

Although the pandemic sent my writing into a dry spell, I’ve been productive in other ways. I continue to volunteer with MilspoFAN, which has been wonderful because I love feeling connected to other mil-spouse artists. I also continue to serve as a poetry editor with Inklette Magazine. Not generating new poems gave me ample time to revise and organize previously written poems. I compiled three manuscripts: Forces was published by Middle West Press in the fall of 2021, and the other two manuscripts are looking for homes.

Each time we move, my practice takes a backseat and my work shifts in various ways. This move was especially jarring to my practice. I have had to go through the mourning process of losing my Hawaiian inspiration and I am still working to figure out what my work will look like here. Location changes and motherhood cause my creative practice and business growth to be less linear than I would like.

2022 has been one of the busiest years of my life, as I have learned many new things and worked with publishers on four upcoming books. As a short recap of who I am: I’m Mirka Hokkanen, a Finnish-American author, illustrator, printmaker and an educator. We’ve been a military family for about 17 years. I started out working as a fine art printmaker from graduate school in 2006, but have transitioned into illustrating for children in the last few years as my main focus.

This year, like every year, has been incredibly busy but in a different way. I have reached a different level in my art business. I have established my name and my reputation; I have a steady base of collectors that garner my time.  I’ve been invited by the British school here at SHAPE to teach art lessons.  I’m the SHAPE Performing Art Center resident artist.  Painting theater stages is new to me. Trust me, painting wood to look like wood is more challenging than one would think.

Last year was a year of creative experimentation for me. A lot of drafting new stories and trying out new art techniques. This year has been about bringing creative projects into reality, or at least closer to reality than they were before.

In military family life, it's been a lifetime with lots of life changes. Summer of 2022 we moved back to the states. Among family and friends, it was no secret how much I was dreading leaving Europe. It was my personal playground for artistic inspiration.

I am navigating my new job as a guest artist/social media person for the Anne Arundel Public School System arts magnet program. I'm still learning all the ins and outs of this job, but I finally feel I have found my ideal position! I'm also riding high after landing an art show through Annapolis Arts Alliance and Art in Public Places in Annapolis.

This past year has been both exciting and challenging. My husband and I departed New York City and settled in beautiful but warm San Antonio! Upon arriving we had our share of challenges both in finding jobs to support our more spacious but still modest apartment. I ended up taking a position at a prominent executive protection firm as an accounts payable specialist.

As creatives, one of the easiest things in the world is to devalue ourselves. Whether you define it as “imposter syndrome,” do not think your talents are worth what you charge, or simply cannot imagine anyone finding value in your art, it is something so many artists fight; especially when it comes to pricing. 

Boy, do I have an update for you!

I heard one of my songs on the radio, I started my website and Patreon, I beat breast cancer for the second time, and we were transferred to Kansas.

One of the great things about this opportunity is that it propelled me into creating more and got me back into the flow for the projects that I had planned at that time. I also decided to go back to work full time and my husband, and I recommitted to starting a family.

With all of these changes, I found it to be very difficult to begin my art again and I soon realized that maybe this time in my life wasn't about producing, but more about reflecting. I knew that I also needed to create to keep me grounded. 

In this guest anniversary post, I’m reflecting back on three bits of advice from last year’s interview: to give yourself grace, write your goals down, and don’t let comparison drag you down. The last year of the pandemic has felt hard to bear, as there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight, and I have had to keep the above advice on the top of my mind daily.  

The same thing that happened to me and the rest of the world: COVID.  It would be easy to dwell on the negatives of COVID, but life is so much more enjoyable when reframed through prisms that look for positive outcomes even in the most unfortunate of experiences.  COVID did lead to some positive impacts. I was left with more time to reflect on technique and on the empty walls that my art would fill which I feel further developed by personal style.

Although these last nearly two years have provided little inspiration or motivation to create new poems, the not-writing has given me ample time for editing and organizing what I’d written before.

When the pandemic struck, my entire world turned upside down. At first, it was difficult to adjust to the "new normal.” I had to learn how to make the best of my current situation at home with my entire family—and master the challenge of homeschooling three children with very different needs.

This past year brought with it both challenges and opportunities. Finding the creative thought to infuse my art with the faces of those around me has been more of a challenge. The isolation of COVID brought with it a lack of seeing the beautiful faces of the people in this world. I miss doing portraits, especially those portraying women of my culture given the recent unfolding of tragedy in Afghanistan. Women’s rights are under direct threat there now more than ever.