The Little Artshram

To purchase this calendar locally in the Traverse City area go to Oryana Natural Foods Co-op, or to Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate in Empire—-or in Lansing, Michigan it is available at the BEST diner, The Golden Harvest.

To purchase it online go to etsy.com and check out our store at pennylittleartshram.etsy.com

A Message from Penny the Squirl Girl, artist: 

In creating this hand-made calendar, I take a few liberties with the traditional Chinese New Year method of designating the year to a specific creature. Since I live and work in Northern Michigan the creature must be of a mid-western, regional variety. This is actually the Year of the Rat, but the closest I could get to rat, in the sense that I need to actually observe what I’m drawing, was a squirrel.

I also met some folks who informed me that in Chinese, the word squirrel means “Pine-rat”. And, so, my good dog, Marley and I have been researching squirrels, hiking through woods, spending lots of time at Central Grade School (Which we’ve renamed “Squirrel Field”) and, at last we are ready to unveil the fifth annual Year of…Calendar. In previous years, I’ve also illustrated Monkey, Chicken, Dog and Pig.

This is a unique calendar that runs from February 2008 to February 2009. Why? Most calendars stick with the traditional, Jan-Dec idea of a year, so we decided to be creative and connect with the month of the Chinese New Year, which is celebrated in February, and, also decided that 13 months are better than 12.

The Year of Squirrel calendar, is 11 X 17″ in size and is actually printed on bright white paper; contains 13 original, Chinese-brush ink drawings of our dashing, skittish friend, Squirrel; a few Squirrel inspired predictions to guide us in the upcoming year along with a few Squirrel and Rat facts; an original, Northern Michigan New Year Story; with Squirrel Nut New Moon and Full Moon notations.