Together apART: Making Sense through Abstraction

"I reflected on my past lighting installations and the meditative influence of lighting in art. If only temporary, thoughts of the pandemic’s despair had departed."

"During the pandemic I collected all the clear plastic food containers that we brought home from the grocery store, where fruits and vegetables were packed in. I recycled the containers and adorned them all with red markers, creating stream-of-consciousness meditative art."

"Everyday objects have taken on new meaning. The once banal has become the coveted. Time has gone from drought to tsunamic proportions, leaving few afloat."

"During the pandemic, masks were a constant reminder of a horrific and dire situation. I set out to modify their message by painting the masks, cutting them into pieces, and arranging the strips on paper."

"Taking a much-needed break from remote schooling madness, I decided to turn my lifelong love of painting from hobby to business once the pandemic hit, founding Marla Beth Designs."

This painting, “State of Mind,” was created in the early months of the pandemic. It was intended to portray a city in chaos as well as project the vibrant personality and energy of the people supporting each other."

"I wanted to work outside my comfort zone. Creating something without a photo or reference."

"I was the only child of a Holocaust survivor on the President's Commission on the Holocaust and the first U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council created during the Carter administration... The conditions of a pandemic that arbitrarily spreads a virus reminds me of the Holocaust and how much luck factors into survival."

"This is one of hundreds of my original and diverse daily Covid-related drawings. Each day, I post the newest one on Facebook and Instagram. Some of them take all day to create, others just an hour or two, but I never know what each one is until I’m well into it."

"With winter’s chill, the opportunities for short outdoor family visits disappeared. I discovered that as my direct experiences with the outside world diminished, I brought the outside world inside, into my studio and into my work. Between 3/20-2/21 I completed a series of more than 18 oil paintings on canvas."

"What if we can have a fresh start, clean the slate once this virus is not a threat anymore to our normal life? What would we change about the way we live? Is it possible to have a new beginning?"

"My pandemic artwork has an underlying theme, a brighter day - a time of vibrant color, cheer and natural flow which seems appropriate for me at this time"

"During these challenging and uncertain days, I relied heavily on my art to motivate me and give me daily direction, comfort and inspiration."

"My friends and I got together online and we formed a sort of an “online share-house...We each decided to start doing one new thing – even the smallest thing. I picked 'illustration.'"

"With art as my medium, the paintings mimic the way the virus flowed through my body - the way it forever changed my quality of life."

"By taking the time to reflect on my personal journey during the quarantine, I relinquished the weight of my experiences to unlearn what I felt defined me as a woman."

"When we look back on 2020, history will show that it was an unprecedented year for our country marked by terrible racial injustices, disproportionate financial ruin and severe divisiveness amongst our people, all further heightened because of the insecurity caused by this Pandemic."

"Each work is a personal response to the noisy, media saturated world in which we live, the past year with all the bad, sad news about COVID 19, and a hopeful salute to the possibility of wellness and calm post COVID."

"There is a grief pandemic alongside the COVID pandemic, and I wonder what such extensive collective grief might mean, and how it might manifest."

"This piece’s intention is to raise questions and awareness about maintaining eco-efficiency during the pandemic, and to challenge any opposition that COVID may present in terms of disrupting sustainability."

"As I look back at these last ten months, I’m amazed at how I painted at all. In April, my husband died from COVID and I thought my world had ended...I’ve stood up to each crisis as best I could using painting as a healer."

"...my gift and souvenir company that caters to the tourist industry came to a screeching halt. My daily 9-5 rhythm of designing the art for the products I sell was nonexistent. Suddenly I had the gift of time and the opportunity to focus on my love of abstract painting."

"Painted in response to children whose lives have been affected by the CoronaVirus."

"This painting is a document of 2020, our losses, our fears, the courage of some, the venality of others and the abject delusion of others still. The year does not feel over or climbed out of."

"Subtle abstract shapes of bells within the painting represent liberty and freedom... Bright rich colors give a sense of hope to counteract the everyday news of despair."

"The mask portion on the top of the sculpture represents the past, made to look burned with missing pieces and old pictures where my face is missing. Hung from the mask are layers made from recent photos that collectively merge into a pair of hands."

"I resigned from being a litigation lawyer in the field of domestic violence after 33 years in March 2020, the same time the world was closing due to the pandemic. A neighbor introduced me to alcohol inks previously and during the pandemic I have been experimenting with alcohol inks daily."