Chapter 1 – 31 Lessons (completed in July, 2020)
Instagram documentary of 31 lessons (and counting)
Chapter 1: “Cov-ED Garde”
Hello! Welcome to Cat and Cowboy’s humble little Texas website!
About us:
During the Summer of 2020 while sheltered-in-place, single working Father/Dad (aka Alex, “The Cowboy”) set out to educate 10 year-old “Cat” (aka Liliana) on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) academics in our garage. The goal was to link STEM education to art history and interior design (topics of high-interest to both Cat and Cowboy). A summary of our journey to date includes,
- 31 custom designed STEM lectures including experiential art and interior design learning (designed by Cowboy for Cat) – known as “garage-side” chats
- All lectures were delivered in July, 2020 on two large white-boards in our garage while drinking “Dr. Shirly Temples” (Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Club Soda, Cherries)
- Setup an Instagram documentary currently running all 31 lessons (began in September, 2020 and will run into January, 2021) – “SIPDesigns”
- SXSW.edu 2021 application proposal (to re-create one of our garage-side chats live)
- A discovery of Cat’s new obsession of Andy Warhol, Rembrandt, Ansel Adams and Ferris Buellers Day Off
During several of our lectures, Cat became very interested in London, U.K. among many, many places around the World. We agreed that post-covid we would visit London and Paris together, to see many of the things we learned about (artist, landmarks, etc.) – but only on the condition that Cat earn money to cover part of the trip.
As of September, 2020, we have continued our STEM learnings with art history and interior design by way of hands-on furniture building and woodworking. Cat signed a contract with Cowboy to borrow and repay $549.79 to buy wood and materials for her project (Lesson: Money management, Good Debt vs. Bad Debt, Credit…). Cowboy doesn’t want Cat to become a “starving artist” – but instead, a savvy and artistic business woman.
We are currently focused on mid-century modern interior design and furniture styles (complete with a mountain of books in our living room that we study). We are actively redesigning our home as we learn new techniques in the garage with our wood working projects.
Our plans are to generate revenue through our initial sale of charcuterie boards and end tables to:
- Make a charitable contribution to families and children experiencing economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic
- Plant a tree seedling in Texas for every charcuterie board and end-table sale we have (to foster conservation awareness, forestry and ranching education)
- Note: Future wood product sales that are not charcuterie boards or end-tables (to be offered in our Etsy store), will have a small financial contribution made to the National Forest Foundation to plant trees outside of Texas (in lieu of planting a seedling) – https://www.nationalforests.org/get-involved/tree-planting-programs
- Set aside funds for Cat to eventually visit London, UK to expand her art and design education (post-COVID). She is fascinated with the idea of visiting London to see many of the things we talk about during our art and design garage-side chats
- Invest in additional tools and materials to extend our STEM education with more complex furniture (including chairs and lamps). These items will also be available in our Etsy store (to continue teaching Cat about entrepreneurship, business, and small business ownership)
- Learn how to “turn wood” on our newest investment – a wood lathe (this is sort of like a pottery wheel…but for wood!). First goal:
- Make charcuterie board accessories for our ETSY store
- Corkscrew handles, serving bowls, serving plates, cheese flags/markers (all food-safe of course!)
- Make charcuterie board accessories for our ETSY store
- Invest in Cat and Cowboy’s co-owned start-up (Sheltered In Place Designs) to continue teaching Cat entrepreneurship, expand hands on artistic skills and grow her business
- Learn from others in our neighborhood, be good neighbors and tech others who are interested in what we are doing!
The first chapter of Cat and Cowboy’s STEM journey with art and design (which we refer to as “Cov-ED Garde”) includes 31 lessons instructed “garage-side” in July, 2020. We are already working on Chapter 2 (as Cat asked for the lessons to continue after we finished #31 on 7/31/20 – exciting stuff!).