With modern life essentially coming to a standstill because of the coronavirus lockdowns, staying home for an extended period can actually become challenging.
Before the coronavirus hit, a lot of people would wish for things like a never-ending weekend. But now that it has essentially become a reality, people need to find creative ways in order to stay sane while staying at home.
After all, binge-watching Netflix only goes so far and doing TikTok challenges may not really be that safe, either. But a woman named Teresa Mistretta thought of the wonderful idea of creating an art gallery for her pet guinea pig Maisie.
She was inspired by the art museum that Filippo and Marianna created for their gerbil and using that one screenshot that was posted on Imgur, Teresa built upon their idea and pulled off a creation that her furry rodent friend seemed to enjoy.
It was a project that Teresa badly needed to do. Her boyfriend is in the hospital for a non-COVID-19 medical emergency but she can’t visit him because of the risks. So she had a lot of time on her hand that she needed to use on something that would keep her busy.
Teresa started by re-creating some famous works of art but replaced the portraits of people with guinea pigs. Thinking about how to arrange the art pieces, she kept thinking of the Met in New York City. She decided to emulate that style in creating her very own Piggenheim.
After she set it all up, she had Maisie, a 2-year-old guinea pig, do the honors of “touring” the special museum. Teresa adopted Maisie from the Franklin Township Animal Shelter in New Jersey in September 2018. She’s actually a regular volunteer at the shelter and initially adopted Maisie to be her class pet at school.
Her students fell in love with Maisie although this school year, Maisie stayed at home. Teresa describes Maisie as sweet and possesses a great personality. She’s also very tolerant and Teresa attributes this to Maisie spending a lot of time in a classroom filled with 19 rambunctious 6-year-olds.
As for Maisie’s verdict on the exhibit, she seemed to enjoy it. She scrutinized each miniature work of art and even nibbled on the frame of the Kahlo. The jury’s still out if that meant Maisie loved it or hated it. It seemed she didn’t like the Picasso, though, because she kept chittering at it!
As would be expected, Teresa took photos and video clips of Maisie’s “trip to the museum” and sent them to her best friend Emily Wolf who is an influencer based in Los Angeles. Emily turned them all into a TikTok video and they were both proud of the product they created.
More importantly, the hugely successful project helped Teresa get through a tough time. She wants to create another memorable experience for Maisie but hasn’t decided what yet.
Replaced!