I fell in love with The Pink Lady while driving and doing deliveries during the Covid shutdown. I encountered a lot of interesting art and architecture while driving around and every time I felt drawn in by a place I made mental notes about them so I could look them up later. It seemed that each place I was drawn in by had it’s own unique fact or story about it and I learned so much about the city that way. I looked The Pink Lady up and was not surprised to see her owned by an artist. That is when I first learned about Bob and his art.
I was inspired by the brief bits of information I found online at the time and could tell that Bob and his art were very special. He was the living embodiment of the way I wanted to be when I grow up. The things that stuck out most to me about him were his love of making art just for the sake of making art and his charitable nature. I am conditioned by hustle culture but I aspire to be an artist who can remove capitalistic expectations from my own work. I often struggle with monetizing my work. It just feels weird to me, so hearing about artists like Bob who drifted away from commercial success to indulge in the peace of being able to create freely leaves me feeling heartened as an artist who is often overwhelmed by the thought of commercialization.
Until recently I would just wave at The Pink Lady any time I passed her and tell her how beautiful she was. She stood as a dream in my mind. A goal to attain in my fairy tale life. But then I found her online while scrolling in the middle of the night and I was reminded that sometimes life is so real it’s surreal. I felt that finding her the way I did was kismet. I ugly cried when I thought about what it would be like to be her next caretaker. She and Bob represented everything I dreamed and I couldn’t believe it was within the scope of possibility to actually fulfill one of my lifelong dreams. I ugly cried some more and resolved myself to figure out how to be the one to save her.
I actually didn’t know that Bob was on an episode of Hoarders until after I saw The Pink Lady online and told a friend about finding her for sale. It didn’t surprise me because I know a lot of creative and reclusive people end up with these habits. I watched the episode and was able to finally connect with Bob as closely as I could given the circumstances. It left me feeling even more determined to preserve his home and legacy and restore balance to the chaos so his work can be shared with the world in the ways he always dreamed.
My greatest fear for Bob’s house is that it falls into the hands of someone who just wants to gut it and strip her personality away. Or worse, commodify it in such a way that it becomes disingenuous. I personally believe it would be an absolute loss to the community if it were turned into short term housing or any other turn and burn type of income opportunity. I believe she needs a caretaker, not a landlord. Luckily, the current owner was a lifelong friend of Bob’s and her goal is to sell to someone who will love her and Bob the way they need to be loved.
I know there are a lot of people out there who love The Pink Lady as much as I do but I genuinely believe everything I have done and learned in my lifetime so far has prepared me for this project. All the random knowledge I have acquired will come in handy as I work through all the layers of this puzzle. She needs someone with a specific set of skills and I feel I have the perfect arsenal. And for anything I personally can’t do to fix her up properly, I know I know someone who can.
I wanted to believe I could approach this project by myself but I quickly realized I would need help, it would be impossible to do alone. I spent weeks figuring out how to approach funding and was consistently left feeling frustrated. I have amazing credit and my other numbers are ok, but I don’t make enough money as a barista or artist to secure a loan by myself. And my savings isn’t saved the right way according to one lender I spoke to. I learned just how stupid the rules for lending are. It was frustrating to be written off by the banks because I didn’t clear their formula. Since I couldn’t jump through their hoops I brainstormed other ways to raise her funds. I kept telling myself that a house as creative as Bob’s will require a creative solution. All answers led back to my community. So I squashed down my two greatest fears, failure and asking for help, and decided to open my dream up to the Universe in hopes of attracting enough people to believe it with me.
I have always believed when one person dreams something it is possible, and when more than one person dreams something it becomes inevitable.
And I have quickly learned so many people want to believe in Bob. His story resonates with a lot of us, and with the way the world is right now I know we are all looking for outlets of positivity and hope for our community. I have had to overcome feeling guilty asking for mutual aid knowing there are so many people struggling right now. But this is also important, and a win here would mean so much to all of us who have come to believe things like this will never happen to people like us. I am lucky to say that so many people also believe in me. Thus I am further determined to help Bob fulfill his dreams so I can fulfill mine.
I am truly honored that people believe I can make this happen and would be the right one to do it. It means so much to me, I will never be able to convey the gratitude I feel toward anyone who has already donated or shared.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Good Mourning, Earth! Starshine says Hello! 