Meet Shawna Eaton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawna Eaton.

Shawna, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
When I was young, I was frequently involved in the local art scene, either via my own showings or through other artist friends. I sort of fell out of the scene as personal issues left me with no desire or motivation to continue making art. Fast-forward about ten years: my 4-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (though, I prefer to refer to it as “Auto-Immune Type 1″ to prevent any confusion with Type 2 diabetes). Her diagnosis was a huge shock to her dad and me, both emotionally and, especially, financially. Our entire world changed. She had to very quickly grow accustomed to getting poked multiple times per day for either blood-sugar checks or for insulin dosing. Eventually, we were able to get her on a tubeless insulin pump, called the Omnipod. A pod is about 1-1/2″ x 2” and can be put on any fatty part of her body, and stays there for three days. Her life literally depends on the insulin delivery from the pods so she wears one 24/7. To make our daughter’s new life a little less scary, I decided to start making little paintings on her pods. She decides what she wants, and I spend about 45 minutes painting it onto the pod using cheap acrylic paint and the tiniest brushes I have on-hand. I started posting images of the painted pods onto social media pages and was overwhelmed by the response. I have Type 1s and parents of kids with Type 1 inquire about me painting THEIR pods. While the logistics of this are not very practical, considering how expensive insulin pods are and the possibility of some getting lost or damaged in the shipping process, I do have other ideas of what I CAN do to share artfully decorated pods with others. My eventual goal is to start printing my artwork onto vinyl stickers that can be cut to fit directly onto the insulin pods so other people with Type 1 can bring a little excitement to an otherwise horrible chronic autoimmune disease.

Has it been a smooth road?
The majority of our struggles lie with the disease itself. In regards to painting the pods, the only real problem I have encountered is with the materials I initially experimented with. I started off using colored pencils but found that, without some type of ground or binder, it was difficult to get the pencil to stick to the plastic pods without me putting a lot of elbow grease into it; and even then, the colors would flake off fairly easily. Currently, I am trying to save up funds for the materials required to start making and distributing my own pod stickers.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
Once I am able to make my pod stickers, I will be able to provide insulin pod users with out-of-the-ordinary, original artwork with which to decorate their pods to make the medical devices look a little less bland. Having to wear these devices around-the-clock can be incredibly uncomfortable and even embarrassing if they are seen by others. For kids and adults alike, a painted pod might get viewers to ask questions and start conversations about Type 1, turning into a learning opportunity for all.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The pod sticker industry seems to be rapidly growing and I hope to get involved in it very soon. Currently, the majority of pod stickers I see are very simple or plain, with the exception of stickers that show licensed characters, product symbols, or sports teams’ logos.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @smeaok

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