Archive for December 2020
Where Safety Lives
When we first began sheltering in place, I stocked up on essentials. I focused on helping family members manage (especially my then 15-year-old daughter and my elderly mom). And then I figured I’d settle into a routine in my studio. Many of my friends were switching into overdrive, devoting uninterrupted hours to making art, and…
Read MorePandemic House
On March 15, 2020, we learned that our studios would close because of COVID-19. We had one day to go in and collect what we needed, but for how long—no one knew. I grabbed my sewing machine, various fabrics, yarns, wires, glue and other collage materials. My dining room table became my pandemic studio. It…
Read MoreNightwalk
During this extended time of COVID we find ways to quiet our mind, settle our heart, leave the day behind. Like snow falling in the woods, a gentle hiss as flakes land on pines, trickle down through branches, set underfoot. We do what we can. Take a moment to breathe deep the solace of the…
Read MoreMethodological Irrationality
The role of science in the pandemic has been a good context for reflecting on and articulating my artistic practice. I believe abstract artists have a duty to develop aesthetic methods for understanding the human spirit. And I believe we must use art to deconstruct ourselves outside the framework of scientific enlightenment and reason. Reason is…
Read MoreInto the Abyss and Back
This video was created four years before COVID-19 struck, as a multimedia arts project. Now that there’s an end in sight, given the vaccine and a new administration, the video strikes me as an appropriate metaphor for this juncture in the pandemic. We collectively sank into an unthinkable abyss and hopefully upon the return voyage…
Read MoreSurvivor’s Guilt
Saturday night, March 14, 2020: My husband Jim coughed. Monday morning, March 16, 2020: I coughed. We got tested during the few days in Massachusetts between when Covid-19 testing opened to anybody with suspicious symptoms, and when it slammed shut because tests were in short supply. My test came back positive in two days. Jim’s…
Read MoreMasks of Boston, Part 3
Who do you wear a mask for? ( Ed. Note: This is the third installment of a series of posts covering Katherine Taylor’s “Masks of Boston” project. The following images are a sample of the nearly 300 people that Katherine has photographed to date. Visit Masks of Boston to read the profile of each person and…
Read MoreBig Time. Small Time.
A year ago, my husband and I were preparing to move from Massachusetts to Maine. I was organizing my painting studio in preparation for closing it, visiting with friends for holiday parties, and finalizing last-minute details for my daughter’s wedding. It all seems a very long time ago. Now, settling into our new home near…
Read MoreLife in the Covid Fog
We live in a fog induced by Covid, and our lives are in distress and significantly altered. Very little is normal right now. We turn on the news and listen to the reports of transmissions skyrocketing, and the death toll continues to rise at a horrific rate. The number of people who refuse to wear…
Read MoreSplit Second
As we slog through these long months of Covid and, now, the darkest time of the year when the ancient fear that the sun will disappear forever still lurks in some part of our brains, I am nonetheless reminded that everything can change—in a split second. The text that says a grandchild has…
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