There aren't always words for hard times. Some hard times call for pints of Ben and Jerry's and hot baths and deep breaths, admits Mary Burrows, the artist behind MB Art Studios in Reno.
But most of the time, there are words.
Burrows would know, as she's made a business of words, and she has largely overcome life's hurdles by leaning on them.
Her porcelain wall tags, printed with sayings by everyone from Helen Keller to Shakespeare, are in 140 shops around the nation, and they are all made in the Burrows' Reno home.
"I felt like a lot of these words helped me with what we were going through," said Burrows.
For years, Burrows and her husband struggled through parenting as she and her husband raised a son, now 20, who had speech and fine motor skills delays since birth. For years, they searched for a root cause, and, only weeks ago, the family discovered Josh had a random genetic mutation resulting in a neurodevelopmental disorder.
The porcelain wall tags make up about 90 percent of the studio's business, but Burrows, and her husband, Cory, have reintroduced a line of planters that also feature messages.
Her son, who has struggled to maintain other jobs, makes the planters and his parents pay him weekly. Sometimes their daughter, 17-year-old Sarah, who has likewise endured a lot over the years, helps too with tasks like stringing the tags so they can hang on walls, hooks and rearview mirrors.
While other small businesses in Reno are struggling as the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the world, the Burrows family business continues to flourish as people seek tokens of solace during the pandemic and the rippling economic fallout.
Popular these days are the quotes, "Exhale only love," by Persian poet Rumi, and the simple reminders, "Keep going," and, "You are not alone."
'The hardest part'
Mary Burrows started the business in 2012 on Etsy, after several years of exploring art as a creative outlet for her son.
"Dealing with school stuff was the hardest part. A lot of people thought there wasn't anything wrong. They thought I was just a bad parent," said Burrows.
Burrows hopped from job to job in an effort to straddle work and care for her daughter and son, the latter of whom truly stretched her abilities, she said.
"There was a time I was really struggling with my son’s education. It was really frustrating, he was bullied, he was really struggling, he didn’t speak until he was 4, he would have really intense tantrums," said Burrows.
She had moments where she just closed and locked the bathroom door to have a moment alone.
For a long time, the family didn't know why her son wasn't talking, why he was frequently upset, and why they couldn't find a school fit for him. One school kicked him out. The family moved several times out of state in hopes of fresh starts, only to return to Reno.
It was where the family felt most at home.
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During some of the most difficult chapters of her son's education, Burrows turned to art as a new way to better communicate with him, but also as a way to relieve her own stress and tension.
She dabbled with painting, stamp art, and then pottery, because she could put it down if her son required her attention. While he required a lot from her, he also inspired her as he was also sweet, wildly intelligent and eager to learn.
"I would not be doing this had I not had my son," she said of the business.
A way with words
While Burrows' son's developmental delays led her to explore art, it was a stint working at Sundance Books and Music store that led her to pick up a book about bereavement quotations.
It was the book's cover, featuring a watercolor of a woman clutching the neck of a red horse, that initially drew her to open to the pages. It was the words she found inside that compelled her to hold on to the book; she still has it today.
In reading the book, "Eternity: Healing quotations and thoughts in times of sadness and loss," she discovered one of her favorite poets, Rumi, a 13th-century Persian scholar.
And as Burrows explored more avenues of inspiration, she found other books and dove into the online social platform, Pinterest, filled with sayings.
Initially, she started hand stamping letters to compose the words, but that was too time consuming so she began screenprinting onto the porcelain tags.
"I realized that, my internal world, that’s really up to me. I felt such gratification putting out such positive words of encouragement," said Burrows. "If they resonate like this with me, they have to resonate with someone else."
Today, the tags are created in her home via two kilns that her husband now operates since he joined her after struggling to find contracting work post-recession. The process was largely streamlined by her husband, who'd previously worked with tile.
The words printed upon the tags, which make up about 90 percent of the business, are those of Rumi, Helen Keller, Shakespeare and many other wordsmiths, but the sayings — which are about everything from nature to love to loss — are all hand picked by Burrows.
"I really want to only use quotes that speak to me," she said.
Today, as the community around her faces a fatal virus, job loss and isolation, many of the sayings she's turned to over the years are more relevant than ever, and her patrons find the ones most relevant to them.
"Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there," is popular, by Rumi.
"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise" by Victor Hugo is likewise popular.
Burrows has had people who have lost family and friends during the pandemic reach out to her after being robbed of their final farewells.
A popular tag with those in mourning has been, "Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul, there is no such thing as separation," another quote by Rumi.
For parents, a popular one is, "Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder," another Rumi.
Burrows said she can only imagine what parents are going through right now, and it brings her to tears to talk about first responders and those who have lost loved ones. Her hope is simply that she can bring some hope to everyone who is hurting right now.
There is one particular tag that seems to be popular with everyone: "Everything is going to be OK."
Jenny Kane covers arts and culture in Northern Nevada, as well as the dynamic relationship between the state and the growing Burning Man community. She also covers the state's burgeoning cannabis industry (Check out her podcast, the Potcast, on iTunes.) Support her work in Reno by subscribing to RGJ.com right here.
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