The Mask Makers: Episode 3 - Masks and Identity
This episode is the first in a three-part mini-series about people who made masks during the early days of the pandemic in Vermont.
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Meet Vermont’s Mask Makers
In spring of 2020, face masks were one of the few tools we had against covid-19, and you couldn’t buy one. Anywhere.
When hospitals started calling for homemade fabric masks amid a world shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), people with sewing skills in Vermont and around the world began to respond. In early April when the CDC changed its guidance and encouraged all Americans to wear a mask in public, sewers quickly expanded to sew for family, friends, and neighbors. At a time when anyone who could was asked to stay home, this work was one of the few active ways for individuals to help keep others safe.
In this three-part mini-series we’ll explore the pandemic experience through the voices of some of Vermont’s mask makers. You’ll hear how and why they joined the sewing effort, learn about the Great Elastic Shortage of 2020, and explore how they expressed themselves creatively through the masks they made (what, you didn’t have a mask with spikes on it!?).
The Mask Makers is co-produced and co-hosted by material culturalist and mask maker Eliza West.
“We ended up making masks with pronouns on them so people who just wanted to be addressed with the right pronoun could have it written all over their face.
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Masks and Identity
Mask wearing is now a part of daily life and it’s easier to get masks. The global supply chain has caught up with the demand for filtered face masks and CDC guidelines encourage the use of N-95/KN-95 masks. But many people still choose to wear a cloth mask over their filtered mask, as a way to share something about themselves.
In this episode we learn how mask makers began expressing themselves creatively through the masks they made, and how they helped others affirm their identities in the middle of a global crisis. amid the isolation of the early pandemic.
Bonus Bits - Episode 3
Check out the Shapeshifters pronoun masks Eli Coughlin-Galbraith mentioned in this episode
If you live in northern Vermont you might recognize the ubiquitous honeycomb fabric supplied by the company Bees Wrap and made into face masks by the Vermont Teddy Bear Company volunteer force
Masks and the Fashion Industry
GQ - How Face Masks Went From Necessity to Personal Style Item Overnight
The Washington Post - Masks are here to stay. And they’re quickly becoming a way to express ourselves.
A counterpoint from the New York Times - Should Masks Be a Fashion Statement?
Recent research on the effectiveness of cloth masks versus N95s:
The New York Times - The C.D.C. concedes that cloth masks do not protect against the virus as effectively as other masks.
Wall Street Journal - Why Cloth Masks Might Not Be Enough as Omicron Spreads
Ankara fabric masks by Roz Wittaker-Heck
Eli Coghlin-Galbraith wearing their spiked mask
Why Mask Makers?
Through our Listening in Place project, the VFC started documenting people’s experiences during the early months of the covid 19 pandemic. Part of this effort included collecting photos of people wearing their homemade masks. As we saw it, making and distributing masks to address the shortage of commercial personal protective equipment (PPE) in spring of 2020 was one of the ways that Vermonters were staying connected and taking care of each other.
A year later, as the pandemic seemed to be easing here in Vermont, our staff started seeking ways to process and reflect on the collective pandemic experience to date. Realizing homemade masks are now a ubiquitous part of pandemic life, we chose to talk with some of the people who had been making those masks.
In the summer of 2020 VT Untapped host Mary Wesley and co-producer Eliza West interviewed 13 mask makers across the state. We talked with a range of people: a variety of ages and backgrounds, as well as people with a variety of connections to the mask making effort. Everything from the person who got their sewing machine out of their closet to make a few masks for friends and family, to the owner of a small, local craft store that supplied the materials for almost 10,000 masks.
For a full list of interviewees click here. See below for a list of the people featured in Episode 3.
Interviews from this episode:
Erin Aguayo was interviewed by Mary Wesley via Zoom on May 27, 2021
Roz Wittaker-Heck was interviewed by Mary Wesley via Zoom on June 10, 2021
Angela Lavalla was interviewed by Eliza West via Zoom on June 11, 2021
Eli Coughlin-Galbraith was interviewed by Mary Wesley via Zoom on June 11, 2021
Hank Bissell was interviewed by Eliza West via Zoom on May 27, 2021
To access the full recordings please contact the VFC Archivist.
Music in this episode:
Cello music by Dave Haughey
Guitar track: “Goodshake” from the album Ya Know, Ya Never Know by Pete’s Posse
The Mask Makers: Episode 1 - Sewing in a Crisis
The Mask Makers: Episode 2 - Community and Collaboration
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The views and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Vermont Folklife Center.
This episode of VT Untapped has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
