The Pandemic Lens^®

Democracy, like this mask, is a work in progress, often messy and confusing but hopefully with time will come clarity. Let’s hope we can emerge from this chaotic historic moment, humbled by our exposed fault lines, with renewed resolve to create a more just and equitable society. I want to believe Martin Luther King, Jr.…

In the beginning of the quarantine, I used my fiber skills in the way I thought most helpful while also keeping me a bit saner.  It didn’t hurt that my neighbor is a quilter who offered up a wonderful fabric stash. The mask making started with a trickle, becoming a river and then a flood…

“Randomly select a word from the dictionary and express it in any way you choose” was the card I pulled from my Arty Farty Creativity Prompts Deck. The random word generator threw up “tassel”—an interesting word and no mistake, it conjured up images of brash burlesque confidence, seductive teasing and titillation, ripe with imagery no…

In ordinary times I create large paintings in an enormous studio in the South End of Boston. During the Covid-19 pandemic, however, I have been drawing, painting, collaging and photographing from a small room and a porch on the outskirts of the city. My work involves sociopolitical themes expressed through onionskin dye stains splashed onto…

A chance encounter with a damaged art catalog precipitated a collage project that collided with the pandemic. Early in the year, I found an art catalog on the “free” cart outside the entrance to the Encinitas, California, public library.  After perusing it, I realized that it was missing pages, but while browsing, I had a…

It’s July 2020. The world is in lockdown. Everything has changed. There is nowhere to escape, except maybe in science fiction, which is where I found a way to connect our present experience to other realities. In “The Wormhole Project” I explore the idea of connecting two universes within myself. One universe is more colorful…

During my art practice, I ruminate on an emotion brought upon by a personal or global issue — like my recurrent concern about the climate crisis. When the pandemic took over our lives, my full attention shifted to this new global calamity, its immediate and long-term consequences. In the beginning, creating any type of art…

The pandemic is decimating the airline industry. In addition to Americans having been banned from several countries because of our inadequate response to Covid-19, the airlines themselves have contributed to this debacle by selling all seats on flights and not demanding that people wear masks. This is my personal experience: I flew from PHX to…