As we move through the summer of 2022 and we keep getting hit with the "aftereffects" of COVID-19 (how many Omicron variants do we currently have?!?), I’ve been thinking a lot about how much art I was able to produce during the time we were actually in lockdown and how lucky I was to have had art as an outlet.
In early 2020 as news of cases in China and Italy became increasingly more alarming and US cases were steadily on the rise, a lot of people I know had a really hard time figuring out what to do and how to handle the uncertainty of what was happening. I was one of them...at first. But I was lucky, because I had some pretty amazing artists to lean on throughout those early, crazy times.
The last public event I attended was an event hosted by the Cultural Council of Jacksonville's EVERY SINGLE ARTIST LOUNGE featuring a Business of Art talk given to artists at Jacksonville International Airport's Haskell Gallery by Jen Jones Murray in early March, 2020. I really debated whether or not I should attend, but we were all still a bit in denial at that point. Immediately after that event, things rapidly began locking down in my area. At first, I reacted like most everyone else I knew and didn't do much. At least not much that could be classified as "normal" activity. I read a book for pleasure (an actual novel!) for the first time in years and looked for toilet paper and hand sanitizer online. We ordered in. I tried to stop compulsively watching the news 24-7 for updates, but as the news became more grim and more and more people were dying, it was hard to keep the anxiety at bay.
I was scheduled to attend an intense artist workshop given by my friend, mentor, and renowned artist Louise Freshman Brown in St. Augustine at the end of March. The workshop, like pretty much everything else, was canceled. I'd been doing this workshop for years with roughly the same core group of talented artists, some of whom would come in from all over to attend. A ton of great new work is always produced by everyone when we're together, so it was a big let-down when we had to cancel. It was beginning to sink in that this lockdown was probably going to be long-term.
Louise Freshman Brown in St. Augustine inspiring all of us to produce great art
Louise really wanted to do something for the St. Augustine artist group to lift everyone's spirits, so she and her daughter Betsy (also an incredible artist, teacher and my art soul sister!) came up with a solid game plan for structuring an online workshop. Meeting for the workshop every week over Zoom (like everything else in our new reality) gave me and the other artists in the group an ongoing opportunity to work through and express our anxieties and perceptions about the pandemic through our artwork. It was intense, and it gave me direction, structure, and purpose in those really scary early days. I’m lucky enough to have an extra upstairs room in my house where I have an office/studio set up, but I felt like I needed a more immediate accessible area. I brought everything downstairs and set up a makeshift art studio right in the middle of my living room.
I just kept drawing, painting, and collaging on sheets and sheets and sheets of BFK Rives paper, using the still life set ups in our virtual workshop as a starting point. Everything came pouring out of me: how I was feeling internally, what was happening externally, and how I thought the pandemic was affecting everyone collectively.
Life had been seriously interrupted. We all felt fractured. Everything was changing so fast it was hard to keep up. Having the opportunity to actually see and talk with the other artists in the group weekly really gave me a chance to process everything that was happening. Sharing our work, talking about life during lockdown, and getting amazing feedback every week was such an incredible gift.
By the end of 2020 I had produced enough new work for an entire solo show. QUARANTINE: The Effects of COVID-19, debuted in January 2021 in the Haskell Gallery, the very same gallery where I attended that last event right before lockdown. It was surreal to see all of my work that had been piled up in my living room during lockdown framed and hanging together in this beautiful space.
Since lockdown restrictions have been lifted, we've had two in-person Louise Freshman Brown St. Augustine workshops. Another one is scheduled this Fall. As always, the work everyone produced was incredible. (Louise always gets the best out of us!)
Check out some of my new work here.
Things are back to a new "normal" now, but I don't think I'll ever take things like being in a room together for a gathering of any kind for granted ever again. It's been amazing being with everyone again, it really has...but I'll always be grateful for that incredible virtual workshop experience with Louise, Betsy and my quarantine artist pals.
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