Patience is known to be a virtue and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception to testing local residents searching for adventure.
However, dreams of non-essential travel across into the United States, or to other countries, remains on hold, as of this publication, until July 21 when the current ban between the U.S. and Canadian governments expires.
For Hanna Minck, an up-and-coming Prince George artist and illustrator, she’s been longing to pursue a career south of the 49th parallel with major companies like Disney and Vans.
Opportunities were even presented to her to venture to southern California, but COVID-19 public health guidelines have forced her to stay home and wait.
“People have been like, ‘You’re crazy! You want to go down there?’,” Minck explains to PrinceGeorgeMatters.
“I am hoping to possibly gain some more opportunities down there to eventually move and do it the right way. [...] It’s been really tough; I don’t want to sugar-coat it. I was hoping to have gone down there in March to meet some people and see what could come from the opportunities, but that never happened.”
Minck has been collaborating with Steve Caballero, a former world skateboarding champion from San Jose, Cali., now recognized for his extreme-sport apparel, after the two connected over social media.
The legend even invited Minck down to Anaheim last year, shortly after her entry into Vans shoe-design contest, to show off designs and network with industry professionals, and since then, the two have teamed up for projects that include socks and skateboard decks.
“I do a lot of colour work now, which I’m super-blessed to do,” she said gleefully, noting the experience has been surreal for someone from northern B.C.
“We have two artist-series decks that are being released, and it’s like a limited release too. He draws them, I colour them and they get sent to the people who produced the deck. [...] I’ve got my own pair of socks coming out soon; there’s a lot going on, but it’s all been so awesome. Steve has been such a mentor to me.”
Currently, there are more than 223,000 test-positive COVID-19 cases in California compared to the 65 in Northern Health’s jurisdiction, which includes Prince George.
While she believes the pandemic will end at some point in the future, Minck considers herself lucky to be living in a part of the world where healthcare and safety comes first.
“I’m sure everyone is feeling the effects of it too, but as a dreamer, when everything is on pause, you wonder if everything’s going to continue once everything does open back up. Even if the border were to open soon, I wouldn’t be rushing down.”
“I think we’re supposed to be put through some of these tests in life,” she adds, encouraging others in her position to embrace the struggles and be grateful for the short-term opportunities the pandemic is providing.
“I’m doing my best to learn from this, but you have to go through it. You can’t go around it. I think everybody in their own sense is going through an extreme setback with patience. You have to just look at the positives and what we do have rather than what we don’t, otherwise we’ll drive ourselves crazy. I’m spending more time with family; I got a dog recently and I love her so much, and it gives me joy to do these smaller things in life while I wait.”
Minck looks forward to seeing that light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, but plans to continue to help her family’s business while continuing to build her portfolio.
She’s set to launch a new design this week through MERGE4 Socks in a new collaboration with Steve Caballero.
