blog 3 - covid art
What did you do over the Covid lock down??
What I did over Covid: took walks, cooked, watched CNN, lots of Netflix, read so much! sewed masks, gardened, outdoor meetups, stuck head out window a lot, and made my first quilt square,……
Dining Room/Studio/Video
I also made art during the year long Covid lock down. The dining room of my 800 sf apartment became my studio. I actually constructed a few large scale pieces on the floor. While take-apart, drilling and filing was done in the backstairs with ventilation.
Video really became the lifeline of he Covid lock down. I was invited to do a workshop and tried to shoot some on the dining room table. I set up a couple tripods and an external camera but it just didn’t work out. I even bought a kimbal on sale, but it didn’t work with my phone. I tried various free editing softwares and studied You Tube videos. I posted one for Somerville Open Studios, a still shot with zooming, panning and a voice over. which is horrible. I worked on one to post on CCTV about all the hooks in my kitchen - but never finished it. I sent one of refrigerator sounds to a project by my SUNY Purchase colleague, Natalie Bookchin.
It takes me a really long time to learn new software. I love taking apart technology, I just don't have the know how to get the tech to do what I want. After giving up, I spent hours on my new website on Square Space.
TOTEM POLES are now landscapes
As I wrote on my website’s NEWS page, my triptych, Agam Totem Poles was intended to be three thin vertical constructions hung together. But the folks at L’Attitude, who purchased the piece on behalf of the Boston’s Children’s Hospital envisioned them differently. They had three different walls in mind and chose to install them all horizontally, like landscapes. I haven’t had a chance to see them yet because in order to do so, one must schedule a tour. They don’t let people just wander the halls.
BIG PINK
I did a large scale piece that combined hot pink shag fabric and shiny silicon hard drive discs. Until now I’ve not found a satisfying use for the silicon beauties- but I envisioned this mod, pop, Austin Powers sort of piece. Now that the discs have been replaced by solid state drives there is a finite supply. Good thing I still have not only a stack of discs but loads of unopened hard drives.
COLLAGE
In working small, I made multitudes of collages on cardboard from food packaging. This also gave me an opportunity to sort through the paper collections I had sitting at The Asylum. I even solicited magazines from friends. I haven’t used magazines in a long time. I generally find imagery on line and work with it in photoshop, then have it printed at the UPS Store. Not leaving the house required revering to past methods.
ROBOTS
UFO “Take Me To Your Leader” Robot Art Exhibition had a Grand Opening Reception: July 17, 2021 My old friend Jerry Beck put out a call for Robot Art for a show he was curating at the Maynard Art Space gallery at 63 Nason Street, Maynard. Its an awesome space that was formally a hair dressers and has floor to ceiling windows around two sides.
The show had a festive reception on a very raining evening. It was a year and 4 months into the lock down and people were ready to gather. Many dressed up as UFO’s. I produced 10 little robots framed in 5”x 8” thrift store frames. To make them I pulled out all my tiny pieces and sorted them by if they looked like appendages, heads, wings, eyes etc. I invented adorable little characters with personalities, including girls with pig tales, a Balinese dancer, dogs, a robot angle and one that resembles Anne Wintour, the editor of Vogue magazine!
There were 80 Robots in the show - large, small, 2D, 3D, some with with moving parts, and a mural of the surface of Mars painted on the wall!
