Tuesday, June 14, 2022

it's a thing

Two Years Into Covid by Martin Kotyluk  2022 acrylic on canvas  (detail)
The pandemic.

It is a thing.  

To not mention it would be lying and I try to tell the truth here. 

Our lives have changed because of that pandemic.  

Our ways of being with other people have changed.  

(my baking got better, my introversion got worse)

Cabin Dream in the Big Muddy by Rob O'Flanagan 2020-2022 acrylic on linen (detail)

My eye doctor had to close her local office.  

Which meant that I had go into Sudbury for my check up.  

I have not been going anywhere other than to the mailbox so this was huge.

Ned came too.  It was his almost birthday and so we had a date.

(My distance vision got better, my myopia got worse.)

Sick and Tired by Andrew McPhail 2021 sequins on bedsheet

We went to two art exhibitions because they were there.  

Both exhibitions had a pandemic slant.

Pandemic Partners by Rita Vanderhooft 2021 photographic print on paper

Art Gallery of Sudbury:   "is this real life?"  

A juried exhibition with a wide variety of media including ceramics, glass, textiles, photography, sculpture and painting.  It was thought provoking.  It was interesting.  I found beauty too.

I recognized many of the names, I am friends with some of the artists.  

In The Shadows no 1 - 7  Trish Stenabaugh  2022  digital print on paper

Gallery 6500: (a new gallery that has popped up in the hallway of the steelworkers union office)

Also thought provoking, this exhibition was self organized by the 'peer mentors group' of artists and poets.  The loss of one of their members over the winter, Ray Laporte, may have been the trigger for this exhibition that was entitled  "Lost and Found".  

I am friends with some of the artists.

Lost Dreams  Elizabeth Holmes and Gunhild Hotte 2021 acrylic on canvas

I wanted you to know that all this is happening in Sudbury.

Art.  Poetry.  Loss.      

I'm changed because of our trip to the city.

I keep thinking about the art.  

Cabin Dream on the Big Muddy by Rob O Flanagan 

I'd almost stopped thinking about the pandemic, but it's a thing.  

It's a whirl.  

5 comments:

Cj said...

I just washed and sorted my mask collection this week. Lost Dreams! Beautiful! Married to a union worker, laborers working so hard, so long marking their escape to freedom. He reads the monthly magazine goodbyes. Way too early.

Mystic Quilter said...

I've so enjoyed reading your thoughts here Judy and looking at the photos from the exhibition, I love Cabin Dream on the Big Muddy!

susan hemann said...

I don't think anyone is the same. Only history will show the profound effect it has had on everyone.

There is something I experienced during 2020, what I call "The Great Quiet", a total lack of noise pollution, I would love to show that in my artwork, but haven't figured out how.

Nancy said...

My daughter and I are both introverts. She commented that she thought the pandemic made it easier for introverts to become more introverted and the extroverts who are out and about now need to talk and engage more than ever before. That seems about right to me. I probably need to get out a little more....

Bethany G said...

So happy you had the visits to the Sudbury Galleries. The art you shared is personal and meaningful. I understand the "almost forgot about the pandemic" - me too... and it still crops up now and then. It travels as well... still.
I have so enjoyed your spring posts and love what you are sharing. Means a lot! xo
bethany