Archive for January 2021
Life on the Inside
I am a published poet and novelist. I began working in collage as a way to further indulge my fascination with story. Collage is a kind of visual poetry. It seeks coherence amidst disorder, elegance amidst anarchy. It traverses a subterranean landscape, where who we are and what we experience is reflected back at us…
Read MoreAllegiance
(This post refers to works by my late husband, Bill Oakes, a visionary, educator, and prolific painter.) This is an illustration Bill did for a newspaper. I named it “Allegiance.” Although Bill drew the piece years ago, it seems perfect for today’s inaugural even I hope all of the countries of the world can experience…
Read MoreQuarantine: Artists and Writers on Isolation
On March 22nd, 2020, the day of the shutdown, I left my home in New York City and drove with my daughter to my sister’s house in rural Massachusetts. It was a very tense time, and it seemed like leaving New York while we still could was a good idea. We basically quarantined there for…
Read MoreMonday “Masks of Boston” 2021 #3
Who do you wear a mask for? (Ed. Note: Every Monday, The Pandemic Lens publishes an image from Katherine Taylor’s “Masks of Boston” project. To date, Kathryn has photographed nearly 300 people from all walks of life. Visit Masks of Boston to read the profile of each person and learn who they wear a mask…
Read MoreTurbulence
“To submerge oneself in hazy, unsettled waters requires humbleness and a strong heart. Currents may drift you away from what you’re looking for, silencing the inner voice that will guide you through the darkness. But diving against strong currents shouldn’t scare you but give you the certainty that when you reach the shore, you’ll be…
Read MoreCHAOS
I started this painting on January 6, 2021, a day when the US registered nearly 4,000 Covid-19 deaths and political violence at the US capitol shook the nation. On that day, when an unruly mob breached and desecrated the capitol, much more than bricks and mortar were tested as we attempted to make sense of…
Read MorePeace in the Unknown
During the earliest weeks of the pandemic, around the time Governor Baker announced a state of emergency in Massachusetts, I was not thinking too much about my artwork. I had just finished a couple of commissions, and it was an especially busy time at work, where healthcare clients had so many new questions they needed…
Read MoreSlow
One of the things that defines who I am is driving. Driving is my meditation. Driving is totally alien from an evolutionary standpoint, and I revel in its foreignness. Springtime, back country road, top down, radio off. That is my bliss. For an ADHD brain like mine, having a totally different point of view every…
Read MoreA Letter to 2021
Dear 2021, The anticipation of your arrival has been like holding our collective breath under water. We heralded your coming, not with the usual frenzy of festivities, but with a quiet wonder and hope accompanied by soft whispers in the winter wind. “Things will be better now….” For we come from a time of disappointment…
Read MoreOK, Stand Six Feet From Your Camera…
I’m a nature photographer and I teach—the two are deeply intermingled in my life. When I travel through the country to take photographs for my series of “back roads” books, I create workshops along the way for my favorite students. They meet up with me for four to seven days at a pre-selected site. I…
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