Interview with Lacy Hale, June 30, 2021

Partial Transcript: Okay, uh, it is June 30th, 2021 and I'm Kopana Terry and I'm talking with Lacy Hale. Hi, Lacy.

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about her work as a professional artist before the pandemic. She talks about why she became interested in art and briefly about going to art school.

Keywords: Art background; Art classes; Art competitions; Communities; Family; Jobs; Professional artists; Screen printing

Subjects: Artists; Arts; Letcher County (Ky.); Lifestyles.; Parents.; Pratt Institute; Record stores; Self-employed.

Partial Transcript: So let's, uh, let's talk about money for a little bit. Um, you're both self-employed, um, so but you were doing okay when the pandemic hit.

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about how she made money as a professional artist before the pandemic. She talks about running a business and having to come up with alternative ways to make money during the lockdown.

Keywords: Art classes; Businesses; Communities; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Jobs; Making money; Public art; Work

Subjects: Artists; COVID-19 (Disease); Entrepreneurship.; Finance.; Income.; Mural painting and decoration.; Pandemics and COVID-19; Self-employed.; Teaching.

Partial Transcript: What, uh, you know, when they--when they first announced the lockdown it was just for a couple of weeks. Like two weeks, and then it became three weeks, and then it became a month, and then two months. When--when they first announced that, uh, the country was going to lockdown what did you--what did you think was going to happen?

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about her reactions to the lockdown when it first began in the United States. She talks about her business having a good year and donating 75% of her profits to groups like Black Lives Matter and Black in Appalachia after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Keywords: "No Hate In My Holler"; Breonna Taylor; Businesses; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Donations; George Floyd; Government assistance; Government help; Lockdowns; Profits; Projects; Tyler Childers (Artist)

Subjects: Artists; Black lives matter movement.; COVID-19 (Disease); Pandemics and COVID-19; Self-employed.; Unemployment.

Partial Transcript: Well, um, let's talk about "No Hate In My Holler." Um, for--I know what it is but, you know, uh, the future, uh, may--who see this interview who may not know you or be familiar with your work will have no idea what "No Hate In My Holler" is.

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about "No Hate In My Holler," an art movement in response to a neo-Nazi group coming to Pikeville, Kentucky. She explains how the art gained traction and how she turned it into a business opportunity. She talks about donating most of the money she earned to non-profit organizations that were working towards equality.

Keywords: "No Hate In My Holler"; Appalachian youth; Appalshop, Appalachian Media Institute (AMI); Art programs; Donations; Equality; Printmaking; Workshops

Subjects: Artists; Facebook (Electronic resource); Neo-Nazism.; Nonprofit organizations.; Pikeville (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: So let's--let's talk about your murals. You said that, uh, when the lockdown first happened last year, a couple of projects were postponed. Were--were they murals?

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about some of her projects that got canceled because of the pandemic. She talks about the work she did during the lockdown, including teaching classes online. She talks about how difficult it is to be successful as a full-time artist and how she tries to help other artists. She describes some of her art during the lockdown and some of her upcoming projects as restrictions are lifted.

Keywords: Artworks; Businesses; Communities; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Lockdowns; Mural artists; Murals; Networking; Projects; Shopping locally; Vaccinated

Subjects: Art.; Artists; Berea College.; COVID-19 (Disease); Masks.; Paintings.; Teaching.

Partial Transcript: Yeah, so I mean that--that is really a significant part of what you do and so you weren't able to engage like that at all last year.

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about not being able to do many of the things she loves during the lockdown and how that affected her.

Keywords: Community projects; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Future projects; Lockdowns; Online classes

Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Mental health.; Psyche; Teaching.

Partial Transcript: How did you, um, how did you make up for--I mean all of that community work got moved to this year. How did you make up for that lost revenue?

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about how she made up for the lost revenue during the lockdown. She talks about the various places she sells her artwork, including Redbubble and her Etsy shop. She talks about her business during the holidays and how the pandemic impacted that.

Keywords: Artwork; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Etsy; Holiday sales; Local businesses; Lost revenue; Online shops; Online stores; Redbubble

Subjects: Art commissions; Art.; COVID-19 (Disease); Christmas.; Finance.; Income.; Masks.; Paintings.

Partial Transcript: So is there--is there anything about, uh, what happened, uh, with COVID, um, and the way it shut the world down, i-is it going to change your business much?

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about how artists and art will change as a result of the pandemic. She talks about having to adjust her business and be flexible in order to make money. She talks about having to get other businesses to produce some of her art and struggling with not having as much control over the final product.

Keywords: Change; Communities; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Fine art; Impact; Printing shirts; Prints; Screen printing

Subjects: Artists; Arts; COVID-19 (Disease); Collages; Paintings.

Partial Transcript: Well, but, you know, that brings us to--to the future. You've--you've got a lot of things on your plate. You--you've survived, uh, the pandemic actually really well.

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about what she hopes the future will look like once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Inspiration; Positivity; Safe spaces

Subjects: Appalachian Region.; Art.; COVID-19 (Disease); Kentucky.; Optimism.

Partial Transcript: I do want to ask, tell me one thing that people wouldn't know about you just from looking at you.

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about her roots in Kentucky and how people sometimes assume she is from elsewhere. She briefly talks about her new "Holler Horror Series" that she is working on.

Keywords: "Draculer"; "No Hate In My Holler"; Holler Horror Series; Shirts

Subjects: Appalachian Region.; Kentucky.; Knott County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: I--I know you--I know you're really busy and, um, I mean I could actually talk to you, uh, about art in general all day but I know you're super busy and you've been in meetings all day, so I don't want to keep you but you know just coming back to our--our topic...

Segment Synopsis: Hale talks about seeing people she knew contract COVID and die from it. She talks about the mask mandate being lifted and her feelings about how Governor Andy Beshear handled the pandemic. She describes her experience with the Moderna vaccine.

Keywords: Andy Beshear; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Lockdowns; Mask mandates; Moderna vaccine; Restrictions; Vaccinated

Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Governors--Kentucky.; Masks.; Pandemics and COVID-19; Politicians.; Vaccines.