Interview with Candice Richardson
Candice Richardson is a cardmaker, calligrapher, and first-year medical student at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Prior to medical school she obtained a Master of Public Health and an HBSc in Mental Health from the University of Toronto. When she’s not studying or working in clinical research, she’s likely crafting. While calligraphy and greeting cards are her current passion, she’s dabbled in everything from embroidery, knitting, and fiber arts to pottery and jewelry-making. She finds joy in sharing handmade kindness and combining her passions for medicine and mental health with the arts.
Q: What's your story? Tell us about your journey in the arts.
I always feel like I live two separate lives: my artistic and creative life, and then my academic [life], which is what people usually know me by. In terms of the artistic side, I always did crafts growing up. My mom taught me and my sister how to knit when we were four, mostly because [my mom] was knitting and wanted our little hands to be out of the way. She would also scrapbook, so we would do that too. Growing up, teachers would sometimes ask me to make scrapbooks for the class. I always did little things—I very much did not want to do any sort of serious art because in school, you're graded on it, and I grew up with a lot of perfectionistic tendencies, as I'm sure many people in medicine can relate to. So, I always strayed away from the traditional arts, and doing visual arts in class or anything like that.
I also grew up in competitive dance, and there came a point in high school where I had to quit because I had a lot of health problems going on. [Dance] was something that took up so much of my time and my identity—I didn't realize until I had it taken away…I asked, "What am I going to do with myself?"
I remember looking through the activity catalog at the local recreation centre, there was a pottery studio, and I saw pottery classes. I started in the usual beginner pottery class and was eventually moved to the adult class. I even got to start teaching other little kids. I did that all through high school and university and it was such a fun job to have; it didn't feel like working because it was super awesome. I also started taking jewelry classes and then actually selling the jewelry that I made. At that point, I was selling pottery too, so it became kind of a side hustle to sell at local stores and craft markets. I later began creating these little polymer clay things that you can use as knitting stitch markers. I started selling those, and they became actually more popular than I could keep up with, demand-wise. This whole time I was also a science student publishing research, so it’s like living two completely separate lives—people are always surprised to learn about one or the other.
As things got busier, I started calligraphy. My train of thought was: "Okay, I can still work art here to make my notes pretty and this gives me the time to do and benefit from doing art, but I’m still studying, kind of!" From there, people would see me do things and be like, “Hey, can you letter my name on this, do you think you can put this on a keychain, do you do invitations?” One thing led to another...and now I do big seating charts for weddings or signage. I did my best friend’s wedding invitations. From calligraphy I stumbled into card-making, which is now my main thing, because it’s smaller and easier to do. I fall into things backwards and randomly which is the story of my life in a nutshell. I have way too many hobbies but they’re all fun...I just like making stuff with my hands.
Q: You’re right, you do seem to live two different lives. How do you reconcile science and art? Do they help each other? Or is one a distraction?
I do try to reconcile them wherever I can. “Art meets science” is my favorite thing. Especially during school, I was always wondering if I would have enough time for art, because it’s actually something that’s really important to me. I always wondered if I’m doing the right thing career-wise: I really love working with patients and I’ve done a lot of volunteer and mental health work and I love it so much, but then I also love art. I was thinking that maybe I could do medical illustrations, but I’ve looked down that path and I felt like I did not have enough raw talent for it. It’s partially imposter syndrome, but part of it was also the realization that I don’t think it would bring me the same joy. I feel that if art becomes work, then I won’t find as much joy from it, because there would be too much stress tied to it. So, I’ve kept art somewhat separate [from school], kind of on purpose, because it is such a stress relief and enjoyable to do as something outside of school.
However, I do also enjoy when there’s crossover in art and a project that involves science or medicine. I worked at UHN for many years as a research trainee, and they had art in the conservatory showcase. I had a couple art pieces displayed there. I met a pathologist who made the Mona Lisa out of histology artefacts that he had taken, and I remember thinking, “Oh my gosh, these are the people who are like me, who enjoy medicine and health, but they also do art, and they find a way to do them together.” Another time, one of my friends took me to an art night in the Department of Psychiatry, and I came to the realization that I can integrate both of my lives. So overall, I separate art and science in some parts of my life, but not in others. I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to intermingle them in some ways, such as in my mental health work and art therapy groups.
Q: Is there a specific project in mind that was your favorite?
I’ve volunteered at an organization in Toronto called Sheena’s Place. They provide very low barrier support groups for folks who identify as being affected by disordered eating or eating disorders, which are unfortunately very stigmatized illnesses. I’ve volunteered with them before, and I do a lot of work in the eating disorder space. I was a camp counselor, but I got to lead some of the art activities, like card-making workshops...people could either make cards for themselves or to others, like loved ones or to other people who they knew were struggling. It was really nice that all of these things kind of came together: mental health and helping other people through art. That was really awesome. I’ve also co-facilitated support groups for folks with lived experience with eating disorders. One of them was knitting, and one of them was card-making. It’s really cool to be a part of something that I, myself, find therapeutic–being able to help others feel that too, within a safe space. I always appreciate when I have opportunities like that.
Q: On your YouTube channel, I came across an eating disorder awareness “cardhop”. Can you talk a little bit more about it? Can you explain what a cardhop is?
Yeah. So, hops are kind of confusing to people who are not in the card-making section of the internet. It's kind of strange...a lot of people are very social media-famous for having accounts with their hobbies. These well-known people will sometimes do “hops”, which is when you post about something, usually like an awareness call. Sometimes companies will sponsor hops and will give the person a product. It’s kind of like influencing, but not as mischievous. For example, a company might be coming out with a new product, so we’ll do a hop to get it out there more. The first person will post and tag the next person, so it creates a train: you click the next person and go and see their posts, eventually seeing more and more inspiration using this product. Sometimes, people will do a hop for important causes, such as trying to generate awareness about a disease. In these hops they’ll include little information blurbs and pictures to raise awareness. Finally, cardhops are also an opportunity for people to see inspiration for cards or whatever the hobby is and find new people who do that hobby that they might be interested in following. Ultimately, a cardhop is community-driven.
I always thought that cardhops would be a great tool for advocacy and awareness...my public health self can’t help it! When I was struggling, I was trying to fill time because I couldn’t do competitive dance or any of that because my health was so compromised. That was when I started my whole art journey. I then found a woman who was also a card maker and who had an eating disorder, and she posted about her experience. That was when I first discovered card-making. Ever since then, I have always wanted [that experience] to come full circle. To this day, I’m actually friends with that woman, and she was in the cardhop I organized, which is super cool because she’s very Instagram-famous and was the reason I fell into card-making. I was honestly so surprised by the amount of people who joined the hop and who voiced their own struggles. It was amazing. It was the first time I ever organized something like that. I expected it to be me and the 10 friends I’ve made, but it ended up being something huge and some of the biggest cardmakers took note and participated. I tailored every person’s post to have different information so that the cardhop was actually very informative. I wanted viewers to learn the things that aren’t really known about eating disorders, because they are incredibly stigmatized and unfortunately [those struggling with them can] face a lot of barriers to treatment. It was a lot of responsibility, but it was really rewarding to see that come to life and be something so much bigger than I ever thought it would be. This was a way to get that information out there and help others who could be suffering. Our entire society is super deep-seated in diet culture, and a lot of us don’t even realize. For example, making comments about people’s bodies or erroneously framing food as “good” and “bad”. Hopefully those little knowledge tidbits from my cardhop will stick with people and can be implemented.
Q: Do you see yourself growing this advocacy in the future?
I think so. I think it’s hard because social media can be such a fantastic thing and a very scary thing as I'm sure we’ve seen with our digital professionalism modules. I very much keep my art self separate from my medical student self, yet I still always ask myself where the lines are. It can be difficult to see the boundaries sometimes, but I definitely love when art and advocacy come together. I have volunteered at the National Eating Disorder Information Center for about seven years now. I began in outreach and education, and then I started working on the toll-free helpline for people to call in if they’re affected or worried about a loved one. I also did a lot for their social media using my art and calligraphy. So, it is definitely something that I want to continue to do, especially being able to eventually translate some of that medical knowledge we learn in school into little nuggets of art. Eventually, career-wise, I would love to be the one to put research-backing behind what I’ve witnessed as helpful to myself and others. Cardmakers know that their craft is something that they find therapeutic, and it helps them and it makes them happy to see other people in their lives happy and bring smiles to other spaces. But there are no studies showing that…It would be super cool to use that as an art-based therapy intervention and find some sort of scientific grounding in something that a lot of us already know is helpful. That’s many moons down the line. I think art is something powerful that people connect with, especially when it’s about topics that can be taboo or scary. Art is such an important vehicle to be able to use because for a lot of people it’s something that is very emotionally-oriented and powerful for them. So why wouldn’t we be using it more, you know?
Q: It seems like you have quite a number of supporters and fellow enthusiasts. What does this community mean to you?
People broadly refer to it as the “card-making community”. I recognize that sounds very weird to anybody on the outside, but it honestly is such a welcoming place where everybody is so nice. They literally make art to just give it to other people, because the whole premise of greeting cards is to give them to others. So it’s honestly such a welcoming and safe space, with people from all different walks of life and all different professions–it really does span the whole gamut. And this community can talk endlessly about different types of inks and stamps and dyes. We have something that unites us all, even though we’re so different in a lot of ways, which is a very beautiful thing. There are a few women who I have met who live in completely different parts of North America, and we get together on Zoom to craft on Friday nights. We started when the pandemic started and we still meet now! A lot of these friendships span continents, and on the flip side, I’ve been really lucky to meet some local people too. One of them is a scientist and actually did her PhD at the University of Toronto; we’re very similar in a lot of ways. She’s a scientist and we randomly stumbled across each other. So it’s really cool to find people who you can share these [experiences] with.
Q: Art is an incredible outlet. You created something. How many times can you say you truly created something?
And it touches so many people! During my undergraduate studies, sometimes I would turn scraps or drafts of crafts into stickers, and I would leave them on study carousels or stick it to my parking ticket back in the machines...and hopefully somebody would find it and it would brighten their day. And usually, I don’t write inside of the cards. Instead, I'll put an insert on the inside that says something along the lines of, "Feel free to take this out and pass it along to send another smile!" That way they can reuse it. I love the idea of passing things on. I also have different stamps that I put in my cards with sayings like, "Share the love!" so they know they can reuse it. I'm big about trying to be environmentally friendly, wherever I can.
Q: Can you walk me through what you think about before making a card? What goes on in your mind?
It’s funny because like, a lot of people will sit down and fully plan. They will do a little sketch of where they’re headed. But for me, I’m more like, "I want to use alien stamps today!" I very much fly by the seat of my pants. I’m completely the opposite of that in every other aspect of my life. Usually, I have some sort of idea of the theme, and then I kind of look at a stamp that I have and realize what I want to do next. And I just pull everything together from there. A lot of people will be very methodical from start to finish because the video tutorials will be way easier to edit, whereas I don’t want to interrupt my flow or process. I usually let things organically flow. So, I just do whatever and then I always hate myself when I’m editing the final video product. Sometimes though, I will plan methodically. For example, I made my boyfriend a light-up card this year. There’s always the pressure to "one-up" myself because I do a lot of interactive and pop up things, especially now. So sometimes, if things are more involved, I will pre-sketch something out in my mind. But a lot of the time it is very much spontaneous: I’m just going to make something and we’re going to see where it goes. And sometimes, I do have to change gears partway through, because things don’t always go as planned and that’s okay, because it’s handmade, not Hallmark! I try to create cards that are unexpected. Interactive cards are probably my favorite ones to make. I make a lot of these spinning cards that people seem to like.
Q: Can you describe your artistic style?
Quirky? I think I span across a lot of styles based on how my life flows. When I had more time, I’d always do very intricate and interactive things, and now I do clean, simple designs. It’s because I’m in med school and have zero time for anything. My style has also evolved with me and changes as my life changes.
