Artist Spotlight: Amy Heitman x County Fair

Between us here at Snailbox, I (Amanda) grew up going to county fairs and consider the fair one of my most cherished nostalgic memories. The demolition derby has always been my favorite part, and it still brings me great joy to watch souped up cars ram each other to smithereens. Zach on the other hand, being the city boy that he is, had never gone to a county fair until I dragged him there this July.

Long story short, Zach was mildly impressed with the whole ordeal, and appreciated the exposure to farming and livestock raising. In all honesty, however, I suspect that his favorite part of the fair was his ice cream cone.

We featured Amy Heitman’s adorable county fair themed greeting cards in our August 2019 collection, so of course we had to ask a few questions about her own experience with the fair.

How did you stumble upon the idea to create a county fair themed card collection?

Two years ago, we moved our family from the Chicago area to a small town near Grand Rapids, Michigan. Every year our new town hosts the county youth fair and it is so fun.

There are nature, animal, and agricultural themes running throughout lots of your work. Were you a farm girl in a past life?

I grew up and have spent almost all my life in the suburbs near Chicago, till we moved two years ago. The older I get the more I fall in love with nature and exploring outdoors, and now we are totally immersed and surrounded by it. We have 18 chickens which we just got this spring, and they are the most hysterical things ever! I'd love to get a few goats someday.

How has living in a more rural area informed your life and work?

We are surrounded by endless amounts of diverse plant life and wildlife. It has been a huge source of inspiration for me!

What's your favorite part of the county fair?

Last year our local county youth fair had a costume contest for the alpacas and their owners… That was pretty great!

Any hilarious / weird / scary / awkward fair stories to share?

It's not a fair story…but a few weeks ago my husband called me from work and asked me to come pick up one of our chickens which had apparently hitched a ride under his car and his coworkers found wandering around the parking lot. The crazy thing is that he works 14 miles from here and he was driving 65 mph a good portion of the way! We aren't quite sure how the chicken (which we've since named "Hitchie") made it there unscathed!

Any special projects in the works for you?

We are just finishing up our newest collection which releases next week, and I am so excited to share it!