We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mae Rooney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mae, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Three days prior to my mom and I leaving for my brother’s wedding in Cambodia, I made a last-minute decision to sew an emotional support chipmunk friend. He was intended as a trial run, so I used chunky raspberry-colored embroidery thread to sew him up, to better see my stitch work. But in those three days working on his form, I fell in love with the wonky imperfections. Thus, Freddie Munk was born.

We drove to Illinois and stopped by my Grandpa’s house for a visit. He lived on a farm in Sycamore, and was about an hour out from the O’Hare Airport. During our visit we watched TV, Grandpa showed us his art, and he talked about his days as a soldier in World War II. Freddie was propped up on a chair next to him and he said, “that’s a cute squirrel.” My mom chimed in that he was a chipmunk and he said, “OH”. In that moment, I made a mental note that I was going to make him his own rendition of Freddie, named Dougie.

Dougie was ready to be loved. He knew his purpose and was ready to experience a new environment with someone special. Making him was a challenge -I followed the same pattern as before and he came out different and a bit misshapen. He had charm and all the good looks. He was Freddie’s younger-yet-bigger brother. I was so proud, I completed him in less than 24 hours and had ten minutes to spare. I took a quick photo of him on our staircase and he was ready for his 7 hour road trip to Illinois.

Shortly after his arrival, my Grandpa passed away. We mourned the loss & cherished the life of an amazing 103-year old. At his funeral, I went down a line of Aunts and Uncles. Each person had a different version of the same story. Together they said it meant a lot to him to be able to give Rachel, one of his favourite caregivers, a memento of how he enjoyed their time spent together. He said to Rachel, “would you be able to hold on to this little guy for me?”

Little did I know a trial run of a chipmunk plush would turn into memories to cherish forever. It all started with a sketch, that lead to the first pattern and three chipmunks made so far. More to come and potentially a whole Munk family album.

Mae, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a Korean-American Multimedia artist based in Metro-Detroit. When I was little my all-time favorite subject in school was art. Throughout the years I ventured deeper into the art world by taking an assortment of classes. Upon entering college, I was completely lost. No one really talked about the possibility of art being a profession. So, I took a bunch of random classes to spark my interest. One particular semester, I flunked two classes and my parents nudged me to try a graphic design class. Instantly fell in love with the design process and soon after started posting illustrations to my instagram. Post-college, I started volunteering my set of skills to design invitations for baby showers, offering custom birthday cards, and designing websites for local businesses. I started to gain traction from my peers and gain confidence surrounding my work.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Post-pandemic, I found myself stuck in a corner: Graduated with a BFA; no job lined up; no call backs. I was at the point of creating incentives for myself to distract from the fruitless job search. Then at last, I found a job listing where creativity was advertised (though not a focus of the job itself). I was called back for an interview. I was excited. Dressed my best. The interview and job offer took place in a dark grey room. I could feel anxiety creep in, and instinctually said yes to the position, even though the whole experience made me uneasy. On my way out I called mom, and could feel tears well in my eyes as I told her the “good news”. I called them back and quit the same day, feeling like a big disappointment.

That same day my boyfriend’s mom saw a job outreach post on Facebook: A financial consultation company, looking for an office receptionist–no background in finance necessary. She recommended me in a comment & the evening-of, I sent in my resume – the very same I was applying with for creative-oriented positions (it even included my Instagram handle on it). I still felt like it advertised me in a genuine way, though I did adjust the wording to reflect my office skills too. I was called for an interview and got the job! It was the first step in a big direction.

My role within the company is to greet clients, schedule and confirm appointments, prepare newsletters, direct calls, and help others with filing, copying, running reports etc. The first time I was offered a creative task was to craft a newsletter wishing everyone a happy New Year. It was the first time my design background came into play, and I even got to include original illustrations. And people loved it.

The success of this newsletter led to management asking me for a summer newsletter. I created four characters to embody summertime vibes, and they were going to be front and center. I got to be part of the process the whole way: from initial sketches; digitization; sending the file to our printer; watching them arrive in big boxes, and stuffing them into envelopes. The whole time I felt like a proud parent, waving their kids off to school. It was a real feel-good moment, and gave me a confidence boost to offer and aid in redesigning their website (my current design-based project). It’s fun and rewarding to have found, amidst good ole stable office tasks, opportunities to do graphic design projects that my work entrusts to me.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I consistently go back to this video released by Cheyanne Barton on YouTube titled: “the joy of creating stuff for fun!! (also i made brownies).” The way she speaks to her audience feels like a 20 minute long voicemail from a close friend who really cares about you and your wellbeing. She recognizes the creative process and all its clumsy moving or non-moving parts. During the video she says, “some things you can just make for the sake of making them.” I relate to this strongly because I often think that I need to market everything I make. Oh this would be a good sticker or print. This part of the process can be easily overwhelming for me. Watching this video allows me to take a step back and just have fun experimenting with different mediums. Often I walk away with a new insight and sometimes forgotten words that need remembering again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hunkagum.com
• Instagram: @hunkagum
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mae-rooney-223b7814b

Image Credits

Photos are taken by Claudia Kocher & Mae Rooney. All illustrations are created by Mae Rooney.