The new year has started and with it comes new resolutions, a new semester, and new creations. Student-run small businesses have been up and coming over the last few years, and especially flourished over quarantine when many had nothing to do but channel their energy into art.
Fortunately, this spur of creativity has given many students a way to gain an extra income during a difficult time. For some, it added products to their business, and for others, it inspired them to start one!
Supporting local is especially important during this precarious time. Here are some art-based local businesses to support this year, all run by Memorial University students!
Hannah Jenkins – creativelyhannahjenkins
Hannah Jenkins is a fourth year English Literature student at Memorial University who creates beautiful craft décor out of disregarded books.
Hannah is also an author working with the Writers Association of NL mentorship program. To date, she has won a fiction contest for her short story “Coming Out”, had her piece “How to Succeed in Skip-Bo by Really, Really Trying” featured in WORD magazine, and is currently working on a poetry manuscript. You can find much more of Hannah’s inspirational work on her facebook page Hannah Jenkins – Writer, or her Instagram page creativelyhannahjenkins.
Pictured here is a collection of bookmarks, all made from discarded library books that were too damaged or outdated to be of use. She takes the spines and “gives them second lives as bookmarks”.
They are priced at $5 each and would make a great gift for the book-lovers in your life.
Yungrandma – Kris Bumstead
Kris Bumstead is a fourth year Anthropology student at Memorial University who has been knitting for as long as they can remember. They have created many knits ranging from scarves and hats to baby and dog clothes. Kris is also talented at crocheting and embroidery.
Kris is an avid knitter who can create just about anything and include special, unique touches. They use soft, colourful materials to make clothing and accessories that would be perfect for a Canadian winter!
They are currently taking commissions and can be contacted through their Facebook page or Instagram.
Pictured below are some beautiful pieces of knit-work from their Instagram.
Pictures are taken from @yungrandma on instagram.
Hridisha Arif – The HennaPhilic
Arif, “the HennaPhilic” provides creative and beautifully designed henna for all events, including parties, weddings, and other social events!
Henna is a dye from the leaves of the henna plant, Lawsonia Inermis, that temporarily stains your skin. It comes off in a reddish/brown tone, does not contain any harmful chemicals, and can last up to over a week! The henna is 100% natural and has therapeutic properties.
Some of Arif’s work from her Facebook page linked below.
Arif practices henna as a part of her South East Asian traditions and culture. You can book an appointment through phone, Facebook message, or email! You can find more information on her Facebook page, The HennaPhilic.
Cassidy Barry – LUXE Nail Spa
Cassidy Barry is a model, actress, and also a student at Memorial University. In 2020, she created the “Safer Self Campaign”, which spreads awareness and education on sexual violence and how to prevent it.
Cassidy started LUXE Nail Spa in 2018, and has been providing beautiful nail designs to her clients since then. LUXE also sells press-on nails for easy at-home nail application! You can find more of her designs on her instagram page.
Tamera Hogan is a third year student at Memorial University who has a passion for teaching, literature, and creating.
In 2020, Tamera started her handcrafted clay earring business, selling beautiful and unique earrings that would compliment any outfit. These pieces are full of colour, eccentricity, and life!
You can find her work and purchase some earrings on Facebook or Instagram.
Jenna-Wade Art
Jenna-Wade is a student at Memorial University who creates and sells original artwork. She makes greeting cards, stickers, prints, wooden signs, and more! She is also available for commissions, like the pet-portrait shown below.
A beautiful custom pet portrait by Jenna-Wade. You can order one through her Etsy shop.
Jenna-Wade’s “Tea Time” sticker.
A collection of decorative signs created by Jenna-Wade.
Jenna-Wade’s “Yes By” sticker.
You can buy Jenna-Wade’s work from her Etsy shop and check out her creations on Facebook!
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
