Beading, Instagram and an online community: One artist has turned to social media to stay connected

Sandy, an Anishinaabe artist who lives in Toronto, hosts the event through her Instagram account using Instagram Live. Each event features Sandy beading alongside a guest artist. While the artists work on their projects and chat with each other, anyone can join in to watch and post comments and questions.  

For Sandy, beading has always been an activity that brings community together — she wanted that to continue, even while social distancing. 

"We're all dealing with feeling isolated, and dealing with different effects on our own mental health that come with being stuck inside," said Sandy. "I feel like it's really important to just be there for each other and to take care of each other." 

When Sandy announced the event in an Instagram post she wrote: "Join us while we bead and chat! Feel free to share, lets [sic] all try to create virtual spaces to uplift one another and pass the time being socially distant!"

The response to the events, said Sandy, has been "really lovely" and "unexpected."

More than 100 people joined on the first evening of live beading on March 19, said Sandy. "We had even more people watch it after it was recorded," she explained.

Instagram Live videos are available for viewing for 24 hours after the recording. 

Sandy wants to keep the live beading events going. "I'm going to try to keep it going as long as we're all isolated."