When the shelter-in-place period surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic first started and fear and sadness dominated everything, St. Louisan Janet Muhm began touching base with old friends – several whom she hadn’t talked to in some time.
Not that she hadn’t wanted to communicate with them before – she did. It’s just that this unusual stay-at-home time offered a small silver lining – for Muhm and for most of us: There was time to do some of the things we wanted to do all along, but our busy lives hadn’t always allowed us to do.
But Muhm found through various conversations that people were feeling loss in many ways – not just loss of life, though that was happening across the country, as well, and in fact, still is.
Her creative spirit and entrepreneurial mind began to work overtime. She came up with a way to thank her friends for helping to drive away the darkness, combined with a method of helping out in the community, using her own personal talents. That spark of an idea evolved into what she calls “Cards of Comfort,” which are a sort of spin-off from her core work involving “A Year in the City” calendars that she developed a few years ago.
“For the new project, I started with sympathy cards, because I read that there was a shortage,” Muhm said. “I began to realize that people were experiencing loss in many ways, and I added more variations.”
She created a “silver lining” card to acknowledge the incredible gifts that people were bringing to those in need. The “wellness” card was designed to address not just physical illness, but emotional, spiritual and mental exhaustion. The “thank you” card was fashioned specifically for frontline workers, many of whom are underpaid, but hopefully, not underappreciated.
“Visually, I felt all four cards had to coordinate, but each had to stand on its own. I went with a mosaic motif because it almost seemed to sparkle. But I also used a muted palette to acknowledge the fact that these are very dark times,” Muhm said. “I realized it was the one way I could help the community during COVID. It was really the only thing I could do.”
Half of the proceeds from the sale of her Cards of Comfort go to St. Patrick’s Center during the pandemic, because they are facing even greater challenges than usual.
“During this time, I think we are all living our lives differently, and we can make different decisions,” Muhm said. “It’s really a time to care for one another – in many ways.”
Meanwhile, Muhm was also working on her 2021 “A Year in the City” calendar when the pandemic began to break.
“I was almost done with the calendar when COVID arrived in St Louis, and I thought, ‘I have to print this now in case I get sick!’ So I called the printer and got on press in early March,” she said.
Finished calendars were ready a month later, which is a much earlier release than in past years.
St. Louis and all it entails was the inspiration for the artwork that grew into the calendar business, and it has become a life project for Muhm, as she creates what she refers to as visual stories of the city. Each of her calendars contain 12 idyllic spots around the city and metro region – all suitable for framing.
Since the first calendar was released in 2018, her offerings and business have grown exponentially. At first, she was hesitant to approach retailers for placement of her calendars, but she discovered that her fears were unwarranted as demand grew, and business owners asked for other related products.
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Muhm attended Washington University, where she earned a bachelor’s of fine arts degree, concentrating on graphic communications. She made St. Louis her home, and worked in art direction at several agencies and nonprofits. For several years, she worked in a freelance capacity, which was a time of experimentation and growth.
Her husband, Kevin’s, job with the federal government took them to live in other areas of the country, but they knew they wanted to get back to St. Louis, which they did more than 20 years ago.
Along the way, Muhm added many other skills to her list, and a few years ago, she came up with a concept for the calendar.
“I think St. Louis is an amazing city,” she said. “Without even trying, I had a list of 30 places I could easily include in a calendar.”
She started making her way around the city with a camera in hand.
“I would go back to some places four or five times, just looking and thinking, taking a lot of pictures, and trying to catch the right light or the right color of sky,” she said.
And she’s very particular about color, having studied color theory at Wash U. She did more than one color study on photos like the one of King Louis IX (for which St. Louis is named) standing at the helm of her first calendar, to determine that the resulting pink sky was perfect for a snowy January day in St. Louis. She chose colors to transition from each month in a way that is aesthetically pleasing, which has become a hallmark of her subsequent calendars.
“I felt like so many of the places belonged to me, and I belonged to them, and I think I wanted to foster that same feeling in others or to bring them closer to some of the aspects of St. Louis,” she said.
Because Illinois is so close to St. Louis and a part of the overall metro area, she always includes one image of the eastern neighbor. This coming year (2021), the Illinois site is the spectacular Clark Bridge in Alton.
Muhm’s father-in-law, Frank Muhm, who died this spring at the age of 92, was a big support and encouragement for her calendar project.
“When I gave him my first calendar, he immediately went out and sold it to shops without telling me!” she said. “He also showed great interest in my selections every year. The Museum of Transportation for the 2021 calendar was his idea.”
Each illustration takes about 20 to 25 hours to complete. She makes sure that the 12 pictures she chooses to include in each calendar work together as a cohesive whole, yet offer variety.
“I always try to change up the palette from one month to the next, so that every month feels brand new. In 2021, for example, I go from an overall navy backdrop in January to yellow (in February) to sky blue (in March), etc.,” she said. “I also keep to just a few interior scenes each year. Outdoor pictures are happy, and this calendar is all about feeling happy.”
By the time she spends that many hours with a scene, she’s created a new memory for herself. But many of them hold past memories for her, as well, like going to the Garden Glow for the first time last year, which she found absolutely magical.
“And taking pictures of Alton from the Missouri side of the Clark Bridge, which was challenging, but so worth the effort!” Muhm said.
She already has locations picked for calendars through 2025.
Her product line has grown to include note cards, greeting cards, bookmarks and prints (both litho and archival museum quality), featuring the calendar illustrations.
She also takes commissions of homes and businesses. This involves Muhm creating an illustration of a private home or of a business, then adding personal aspects that the owner prefers. That may be the family playing on the front lawn, the business owner standing on the stoop of the building – or whatever holds a personal significance. Muhm said especially during this time, when “home” has become everything in all of our lives, the demand for these types of commissions has increased.
“I’ve also had people ask me to add them to one of the scenes I had originally created for a calendar,” Muhm said.
For example, a couple who became engaged in a certain park might want to be added to that original illustration. Maybe someone who loves Powell Hall wants to be depicted on the steps, or another who had dinner at the Lemp Mansion would like to be featured on its porch … the possibilities are many.
Muhm also stepped up her marketing practices. Many of the various shows that she would have attended and sold her products were cancelled during COVID, and shops where the line is carried have just recently began to reopen, so she got a little more creative on social media.
For those who are feeling sad, lonely or lost, particularly at this time, Muhm encourages creativity.
“This is such a hard time for so many, but creativity can keep us from becoming tethered to the things that can hurt us,” she said.
Beyond her work, which is full of imagination and creation, her other go-tos are fiction writing and music (she plays piano and violin, though she claims she doesn’t play either of them well! But that’s not the point).
“Sometimes, it seems like it’s more about the process of creating than it is about the end product,” she said. “You emerge from a creative session with a renewed sense of how much goodness there is in the world, largely because you’ve played a part in creating that goodness. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders anymore. You can breathe again.”
She’s also rediscovered the value of the phone, reaching out to friends, which is so important right now.
“We all have more time to talk, and we need one another so much,” she said.
For more information or to order a calendar or other prints from the current or previous years, or any of Muhm’s products or commission options, visit ayearinthecity.com, where local retailers who carry products are also listed.
