Shy art studio owner delights others while making her own fun
On July 1, when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered that, to mitigate the spread of COVID19, Pennsylvanians in public had to wear masks, Bethel Park’s April Watt-Little posted on her Facebook a selfie of her wearing a homemade “Star Wars”-themed protective mask over a toy “Black Panther” superhero mask that happened to be on the living room floor.
“Instead of complaining about it, make it your mission to get creative! How do I look?” she wrote.
“Remember, things don’t have to suck 24/7. Make your own fun.” Her friends loved it.
Her husband, Darren Little, went to Five Below and bought her a few more costume masks, and she posted a few more silly selfies, embellishing her looks with makeup and props at her Splat! art studio four blocks away.
At that point, she said with a laugh, “It just started unraveling.”
Every day since, she has posed for and posted a photo of herself wearing protective masks as well as decorative masks and makeshift to full-blown costumes, as everything from a Princess Leia to Indiana Jones, a voodoo doll (her daughter’s idea) to Betty Boop (a friend favorite). She was, for the Super Bowl, a “Superb Owl,” a reference to “What We Do in the Shadows,” a streaming vampire show she loves.
“It’s funny: The more ridiculous ones make me the most happy,” she says, describing how she created a Vincent Van Gogh using the plastic ear from a Mr. Potato Head doll. She loves repurposing and borrowing stuff from friends and
says that while some shoots are planned, the best ones she just throws together with whatever is on hand.
Her Jan. 23 riff on Sen. Bernie Sanders in mittens she did sitting in a chair in her front yard with slippers on her hands — close enough. As she noted on her Feb. 5 National Weatherperson’s Day post of herself in a rainbow wig, sun tiara and cloud pajamas, “I made an ‘It’s Raining Cats & Dogs’ prop, but the cats and dogs couldn’t sit still for the picture and they looked more like drunken flying squirrels, anyway. Oh well.”
People don’t always “get” the images. When she wrapped herself in plastic as an homage to “The X-Files,” people thought she was .” So she’s been adding more caption information, from quotes to quips.
The 45-year-old professes to being a pop culture nerd, which you clearly can see in what’s now 235 photos. What you can’t necessarily see is that she also describes herself as shy. She explains that she felt comfortable letting loose to her real friends on her personal Facebook, where she figures that 80 to 200 of about 500 people are now regularly engaging with her on the “Mask Project.” Per suggestion of her 12-year-old daughter, Katie, she also is posting them for a younger demographic on Instagram (@jackbunnyfly). The feedback gratifies and fuels her.
She says, “I don’t like to disappoint people,” even if that means asking her husband — “my very patient, loving husband” — to take another shot at one of the suitable locations in their little house, even if it’s at 8:30 at night. If she’s late, someone is bound to message her asking when she’s going to post.
Don’t take that the wrong way. She says, “I’m not a braggadocious kind of person. Really, it’s a coping mechanism for me. I just wanted to be a source of positivity in the mids to fall this negativity.”
Her followers get in on the fun, commenting with their own jokes and puns, even requests.
Her friend Leah Uhl says, “I look forward to her post every day, and so does my husband, who doesn’t use social media, so he has to ask me nightly to see what April did! I love how she has taken a hard, tough thing and brought joy and magic to it.”
Friend Nancy Martin says “her masked social media characters have highlighted her intelligence, creativity and wonderful sense of humor” and “have brought joy and laughter to many during this less than joyful time. I love that she started dressing up and posting as a way to cheer herself up and ended up entertaining and cheering all of us up, as well.”
Ms. Watt-Little doesn’t plan to stop until the mandatory mask order does.
In the meantime, this is keeping the creative juices going not only for her but also for her young students at the art studio, of a wide range of ages and abilities, who also offer lots of ideas, feedback and even help with costuming.
“The most magical thing,” she says, “is to have kids want to talk with me about these projects.”