Dave was first photographed with his wife during the Stay-at-Home order. Dave is a professional artist and his wife, Melissa, is a court reporter working remotely for a law firm in Utah. Additionally, they own a vintage shop in Canton called Arrowhead Vintage. When the Stay-at-Home order was lifted and Governor DeWine announced “Responsible Restart”, we followed up with another portrait outside of their store. “So much happened so fast and it was scary in the beginning because no one knew what was going to happen,” said Dave. “There was a lot of uncertainty. I’m on immunosuppressants, so I didn’t know if I was going to die. Now, it’s a matter of long-COVID and I just had a friend die from that. I did end up getting COVID at one point, but didn’t realize that I had it until my wife got it, too. She never left the house, so I knew that she got it from me.”
Initially, they closed the store and started making face masks, which was accounting for all their income. Then, about six months into the pandemic, Dave’s artwork went viral. “We were so afraid that we were going to end up homeless and then ended up having the most successful financial year in our history,” he said. “It was an incredible experience. I was just making art and putting it on Reddit and Instagram. I had some stuff go kind-of viral before but this went wild. I ended up in Newsweek, celebrities started following me, I was sending my art to Italy and France. I was getting 500 orders a day. I turned the store into a space to fulfill all the orders and to use as my studio workspace.”
In 2022, Dave started teaching art at Silo Arts Studio—a work space and gallery in downtown Canton helping to facilitate the advancement of artistic growth and education for adults with disabilities. “I try to work with each student individually. I assess their goals and teach them traditional art skills to meet and surpass those goals,” Dave said. “I also teach them how to sell\ their art at shows."
After the election in 2024, Dave said that his art sales dropped tremendously and he needed to find another way to supplement his income. At the same time, Silo Arts Studio had an opening for student transportation. Dave went through multiple training sessions to receive all certificates necessary to fulfill the position. “Most of the training and certifications are for helping adults with disabilities,” Dave said. “Medical training for seizures, wound care, distribution of prescriptions, and more. There are about 30 people in the program.” Dave is now both teaching and driving for Silo.
“I'm trying to recall it [the pandemic] to write a book, there’s a lot of times where it's all kind of blurry. It’s only been four and a half years since the shut down, but it seems like an eternity,” he said. A couple of his takeaways from the pandemic are: “Nothing is set. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. Change doesn’t have to be bad. I went into the pandemic completely terrified and it turned out to be one of the high points of my life.”
Downtown Canton
March 2020
Downtown Canton
May 2020