We will all likely agree that the month of March 2020 will go down in history as one of the most memorable ever recorded. But before the COVID19 virus exploded worldwide, upending any and all planned events, happenings and lives in general, the Giving Tree Gallery was gearing up for our peak season in Sarasota and New Orleans. We’ll talk more about COVID19 later, but for now, we’ll recap the beginning of the month, when we were all blissfully unaware of the impending doom that was just about to upend all our lives.
March is an AMAZING time to be in the south. (If you don’t mind the crowds.) With the average temperature hovering around 77 degrees, humidity low, and ocean breezes kicked up, it is the time of year Floridians step out of their homes and say, “this is why we live here”. It truly feels like heaven. Because the weather is absolutely gorgeous, there are outdoor festivals, parades, art shows, concerts, etc, happening everyday, everywhere, all the time. In Sarasota, March is when we see favorite customers return to vacation with us again and we catch up on grandkids, new hobbies and opinions on trending headlines. In New Orleans, March is full of fun. Everyone celebrates pretty much all month long. Residents and travelers get their partying in before the Lenten Season begins.
We also started the month off celebrating our 26th birthday!
26 years ago, we left the state of Illinois and drove south to set up shop in gorgeous Sarasota, Florida.
Here is an image of our family outside the shop on St. Armands Circle in 1994: (Mom Debi, daughter Deb, son Michael)
Today, the family still owns and operates the stores. Michael lives in New Orleans with his wife, Frances, who run the day to day operations in the galleries there. While Debi, Deb and Terry work with an awesome staff in Sarasota to run the Sarasota and online store.
As the month rolled on, we saw fabulous new collections from our designers and artisans.
Several Designers launched capsule or Spring/Summer Collections that were very well received:
Freida Rothman -A stellar collection, the Celestial collection flew right out the door the minute it hit our shelves. Classic Freida, with the quintessential edgy black and gold combination is sprinkled with accents of turquoise and mother of pearl. Elegant lines, and celestial motifs were thematic throughout.
Patricia Locke - With her finger on the pulse, Patricia Locke debuted her Flight of the Bumblebee collection. Honeycomb shapes permeate throughout, showcasing the brilliance of the active color stories. In fact, a new color story - PROSECCO - debuted along with the new collection and was a welcome fresh Spring story. It features pinks, purples and hints of yellow (But little did she know how appropo this would soon become, as the world soon needed to come together swiftly, and work hard to protect the community. JUST LIKE THE BEE!)
Uno de 50 - Collection inspired by the architecture & symbols of the far east. This capsule celebrates the magnetic and enigmatic side of Unode50, its true DNA of both curved and sharp lines.
Pyrrha - Two new talisman groupings were introduced - one celebrating Goddesses like Hera, Gaia and Artemis. These pieces are a bit larger in scale, offering a more substantial pendant necklace look. The other new offering is the Focus Talismans. These pieces feature a white sapphire center - a focal point for the wearer and the viewer. Intent like, “oldest friends are the best” and “through adversity to the stars” are both important reminders - worthy of our intention.
VSA Designs had gorgeous Magdalenas featured on #MagdalenaMonday:
In our Sarasota location, we acquired a few large scale works by New Orleans artist Greg Creason that are absolutely breathtaking. See a video clip of "For Me" - a 40 x 40 Mixed Media Giclee here.
We continued our “Behind the Tile” Series on Houston Llew Spiritiles where are learned the origin story of Spiritile #227 - Lucky Find.
"We were at a park, with the family, mid-Spring, when I spent an embarrassing amount of time scanning the ground, looking for luck. Curious, the youngest wandered over and asked what I was doing. Looking for a clover with four hearts, I said.
Why? Well, for good luck. It struck me as the words flowed out that I perpetuated this understanding, this flora of superstition. I was taught this concept of finding luck by someone like me, most likely when I was his age. And so it goes on, generations of sharing luck with the ones you love. As I held the four-leaf clover and gave it to the little outstretched hands, his eyes lighting up at being gifted something even so small, I ruffled his hair and asked, Want to look for more?"
We also learned a collector's connection to this Tile via “What’s YOUR Story?”:
"My husband is the luckiest person I know. It sounds funny as I say it out loud, (because yes, he married me) but it’s also true. He will find prime parking in a crowded lot, survive a fall from a roof without a broken bone, and be the raffle winner more often than not.
He’s also the most unassuming, nonjudgmental person I know. Perhaps this luck is karma for an open mind and heart."
- Jennifer C. -
What is your connection to this Spiritile or other favorites? We’d love to hear! Submit here.
In other Houston Llew Spiritile News -
We also had a SURPRISE release when miraculously Spiritile #13, TARDIS
morphed again into its 4th version. A little backstory on this:
The TARDIS Spiritile is a piece that refuses to follow the rules. It bends time and space to evolve its design at will.
Several years ago…
Houston discovered a Spiritile that just “appeared” on his website! Overnight, this lucky #13 Spiritile came to be known as TARDIS - Time and Relative Dimension In Space. Houston had to start making it! This wacky, unique Spiritile transformed a year later into its next version. TARDIS defied time, space, and logic - it didn’t abide by any of the rules other Spiritiles followed. This one stuck around for a while before it too transformed! Every TARDIS’ design evolves, but each one follows the theme of ‘TIME’ - our memories, our present moments, our future opportunities - calling us to value our space and time. Once again, TARDIS transforms!
BLOG POSTS
Our 2 part blog post on “How to Clean Jewelry” was well received!
Cleaning up jewelry can seem like a daunting task, but our informative post breaks it down in a comprehensive step by step guide. It also includes great tips for preserving your jewelry so you can keep your jewels sparkling and low maintenance. Bookmark this page to keep it as a reference. Part 1 talks about keeping fine jewelry clean and Part 2 talks about costume/fashion jewelry.
Towards the end of the month, the virus broke out. It became difficult to navigate our place in the world as the magnitude of the problem escalated minute by minute. We, like many retailers and businesses across the nation and the world at large, had to close our doors.
However, WE ARE STILL HERE
And there's a good chance your priorities look a lot like ours at this unprecedented time:
- The health of our family and loved ones
- Doing our part to support and be a positive presence in our community
- Continuing to serve you, our valued customers
Though our stores in Sarasota and New Orleans are currently closed, curb side pick up is available at all locations, and our website is fully operational. We will continue to ship daily and answer any and all inquiries - while taking all necessary precautions. As always, we are available via text (941-376-8276), phone (941-388-7754) email:(info@thegivingtreegallery.com), and live chat.
Friends and loved ones still have birthdays, anniversaries...moments worth celebrating. Though it may feel like we shouldn’t be celebrating, perhaps it is the most important time to do so - celebrate each other, our connections, our existence.
Please know we are here and are happy to assist you in any way that we can. We have a devoted team of intelligent, thougthful people who are on hand to help you - even if it's just to chat.
We're all in this together.
Be safe; take care of each other.
With love,
The Giving Tree Family
A Most Memorable March | Givingtreegallery.com
