In March of 2020, we began a season of unexpected change with the outbreak of COVID-19 in NYC. While we have all been faced with loss, grief, and loneliness, many of us have been searching for meaning, inspiration and hope as we barrel toward “the new normal.”
We reached out to artists who have exhibited in our gallery in the past, and invited them to share with us their responses to our current circumstances: how they are practicing their art, what kind of art they are creating, how they are processing what is happening in the world, and what is inspiring them during this trying time. Their response was outstanding.
We exhibited their work on our Instagram page, and now we are keeping the documentation of their work here: a snapshot of how artists responded during an unprecedented time in our history.
We’d like to thank the artist who participated-
Melissa Beck
Joshua Benson
Ben Cowan
Sophia Dawson
Jerry Dienes
Alicia Flannery
Lisa Ferber
Jessica Olah
Julie Shelton Snyder
Kristen Somody-Whalen
Teressa Valla
Thank you for sharing your hopes, fears, joys, and struggles with us during a time when we all needed reminder of beauty and glimpses of inspiration.
This exhibit will be on view from August 6th to September 7th, 2020.
Family Meal
Jessica Olah
2020
“There is a poem I read a few weeks ago that has also really impacted my work and I take it with me into the studio these days.
"Let everything happen to you.
Beauty and terror. Just keep going.
No feeling is final."
I love this because there are days I don't feel like painting. There are days I'm too sad or too tired or annoyed. I am learning through this pandemic that the control I thought I had over my life and my art was just a facade.
That could be a scary realization but it isn't because I know who my parent is and that His ways of taking care of me can be trusted. I just need to relax into His strong arms and let Him move me forward. That has made all the difference.”
-Kristen Somody-Whalen
@kristensomodywhalen on instagram
As an artist, my original response to the pandemic was to shut down. I couldn't create, because my brain was flooded as I tried to make sense of this sad and frightening time. After a few weeks, my creativity was pushing to come out, and within the past 8 days, I finished 3 new pieces.
I have no idea where this painful period in history will take me creatively. All I know is that I am grateful to have the ability to make art. I am grateful that color and texture and beauty exist. We all need a place to go and make something pretty or humorous or calming or interesting when it feels like the world around us is crumbling and the future is so uncertain.
I send everyone peace and strength and support.
We will get through this.”
“I made these pieces last year, back when toilet paper was something of a rudimentary nature, overlooked and available in abundance.
It’s interesting how the value of something and our perception of it can change so quickly. It reminds me of the fluidity and temporal nature of life. Hardly anything stays still or remains permanent.
A large part of my practice involves coating objects in thick layers of paint. I do this in an attempt to encapsulate the ephemeral or bring permanence to that which wants to shift and change. Life often feels as though it’s going by me on a conveyor belt, too fast to tend or savor that which is before me. I long for a pause… a lengthier time to be still.”
“Much of art is less about being ‘inspired’, and more about doing it regardless of how one feels.”
Mainly, I enjoy seeing other artists —who also work in the Classical tradition—that causes me to come up with new arrangements.
I love people who have farsighted vision, who they can see down the road, and already have ideas about it. I’m much more a ‘normal’ responder, waiting until things are in place and then responding to them.
So, I’m not really sure what post-COVID will look like, maybe not that differently for me…but more so for others.”
“I made a batch (of masks) for my family and another batch was donated through a local yarn shop in Santa Fe to the Navajo Nation in NW New Mexico. It made me happy to use fabric from my stash to make the masks. Sewing is not something I do often, and I really enjoyed it. Just knowing I could help others in some small way was really important to me.
In order to counter the anxiety I’m experiencing associated with the pandemic, I’ve decided to turn to an aspect of my art practice that has always provided comfort and enjoyment: color. I am starting a new series of abstract mokuhanga prints that focus purely on color. I’m “escaping into color” - and that will probably end up being the name of the series.
Artists are famous for thinking outside the box, and I fully expect artists to be involved in designing what life will be like post COVID-19.”
I had a baby less than month before the virus hit, and we all had to stay in our houses here in Barcelona. In order to maintain a sense of some sort of productivity, I've been taking time during my son's naps (20 minutes here, 5 minutes there) to work on my current projects.
I think the requirement of staying home has actually been a hidden blessing during this time. I haven't had the pressure to return to my normal activities outside of the house, so I am able to spend these little moments making progress in what would normally might be a difficult time to do work.
It's interesting to me that the only thing we can leave the house for right now is going to get food, and this happens to be what I'm also focusing on in my work.
