Resilience Reflection Rebuilding: Artists Respond to COVID-19 (Exhibition Catalog)

The arts have the remarkable ability to create a sense of togetherness, belonging, and community. They can help decrease stress, loneliness, and anxiety. They can provide opportunities to reflect, process experiences and feelings, imagine what our future might look like, and connect us through our common humanity.

In this exhibit we’ve asked local artists to create a reflection of their experiences and feelings during the Covid-19 pandemic and to consider the pandemic as a catalyst toward change.

This exhibit has been created in partnership with the Arts Council of Johnson County and the Johnson County Museum. Art exhibits are a proud program of the Johnson County Park & Recreation District.

Table of Contents Devin Graham, Chief Curator ..............................................................................................................................................................5 Andrew Ordonez, Jason Piggie & Kwanza Humphrey, Curators .................................................................................................6 Allison Bowman, Curator & Sarah VanLanduyt, Executive Director, Arts Council of Johnson County ................................7 Mary McMurray, Director, Johnson County Museum ....................................................................................................................8 Lonita Cook, President, Johnson County Museum Foundation ...................................................................................................9 Andrew Gustafson, Curator of Interpretation, Johnson County Museum ................................................................................10 Tim Bair, General Exhibit Design, Manager, JCPRD Fine & Performing ..................................................................................................11 Vote Now! ..............................................................................................................................................................................................12 Artists ................................................................................................................................................................................................13-14 Rita Guile ..........................................................................................................................................................................................15-16 Kenneth Lander ...............................................................................................................................................................................17-18 Gloria Gale ......................................................................................................................................................................................19-20 Rachel Deutmeyer .........................................................................................................................................................................21-22 Renee Wetzel .................................................................................................................................................................................23-24 Lee Geisler ......................................................................................................................................................................................25-26 Katie Zemel ....................................................................................................................................................................................27-28 Casey Martin ..................................................................................................................................................................................29-30 Amanda Vahle ................................................................................................................................................................................31-32 Brad Friedman ................................................................................................................................................................................33-34 Danny Bowen .................................................................................................................................................................................35-36 Zac & Adam Bendrick ...................................................................................................................................................................37-38 Kevin Sytsma .................................................................................................................................................................................39-40 Emily Sipp .......................................................................................................................................................................................41-42 Sherri Jacobs ..................................................................................................................................................................................43-44 Christi Roberts Bony ...................................................................................................................................................................45-46 Ryan Sikes .......................................................................................................................................................................................47-48 Eric Pape .........................................................................................................................................................................................49-50 Heather Inich ..................................................................................................................................................................................51-52 George Utter ..................................................................................................................................................................................53-54 Daniel McLean ...............................................................................................................................................................................55-56 Rose Burgweger .............................................................................................................................................................................57-58 Rusty & Paula Leffel .....................................................................................................................................................................59-60

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Nina Kulikov ......................................................................................................................................................................................61-62 Brittany Noriega .............................................................................................................................................................................63-64 Kevin UmaĂąa ....................................................................................................................................................................................65-66 Adrian Marsh ...................................................................................................................................................................................67-68 Smitha George .................................................................................................................................................................................69-70 Roy Inman ..........................................................................................................................................................................................71-72 April Marie Mai ................................................................................................................................................................................73-74 Megh Knappenberger .....................................................................................................................................................................75-76 Chris Clink .........................................................................................................................................................................................77-78 Sara Sally LaGrand ..........................................................................................................................................................................79-80 Valery Johnson .................................................................................................................................................................................81-82 Sean Ponder .....................................................................................................................................................................................83-84 Cindy Brendzel ................................................................................................................................................................................85-86 Gayle Baddeley ................................................................................................................................................................................87-88 Christopher Leitch .........................................................................................................................................................................89-90 Catherine Kirkland ..........................................................................................................................................................................91-92 Robert Castillo ................................................................................................................................................................................93-94 Blaine Scott ......................................................................................................................................................................................95-96 Mary Ann Coonrod .........................................................................................................................................................................97-98 Jean McGuire ..................................................................................................................................................................................99-100 Nathan Baergen .............................................................................................................................................................................101-102 Justin Border .................................................................................................................................................................................103-104 Michelle Pond ...............................................................................................................................................................................105-106 Mila Geisler ....................................................................................................................................................................................107-108 Leah Shay-Zapien ..........................................................................................................................................................................109-110 Dorene Manvitz ...............................................................................................................................................................................111-112 Sailor Herron ...................................................................................................................................................................................113-114 Krystal Anton ..................................................................................................................................................................................115-116 Ada Koch ..........................................................................................................................................................................................117-118 Jonah Fish ........................................................................................................................................................................................119-120 David Biegelsen & Melissa Forinash .........................................................................................................................................121-122 Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to Covid-19 exhibition layout .......................................................123-124

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It was a Saturday afternoon, March 8, 2020, when I returned home from the hospital with my husband and newborn son. At that point in time, Covid-19 was still a distant thing. It was just another illness. Another cold. And talk of it was minimal. It was only a matter of weeks before the world stopped.

Cannot have a birthday party. Cannot go to the movies. Cannot go to the gym. Cannot go to the barber or hair salon. Cannot eat at a restaurant. Cannot go within six feet of another. Cannot visit grandma. Cannot go to school. Cannot go to work. Cannot leave home.

For many, this experience that is Covid-19, and its impact, has been a broad one, a spectrum.

There has been a mourning process…denial, anger, bargaining, depression…as we have coped with so much loss in life’s important moments as well as life itself. For all, this experience has been everything but accepted.

Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to Covid-19 was, and still is, an opportunity for artists and non-artists to paint, draw, sculpt, write, compose, sew, and process this time in our history. A time when many people have had the ground fall beneath them as our collective society has coped with job loss, educational disruption, financial struggles, food shortages, and mental health struggles amongst so much more.

This sensation of feeling ungrounded is everything that is right now.

It is for this reason, that this exhibit highlights that sense. A yellow line traces the walls at standard eye level, while each piece sits above and below it, never quite sitting in the right way. The work of art may be off slightly, and this may bother you, just as this pandemic has disturbed each of us in a unique, yet unified way.

The reality is that nothing is okay right now… but, it will be.

This exhibit also features incredibly bright works, even amidst this dark time. A brightness which speaks to the hope that is present in everything we do right now. This time is not forever, nor is it the “new normal”. It is simply the now, for there is much we can do even within so many cannots.

Can enjoy a meal in a family that is typically on-the-go. Can grow tomatoes. Can adopt a pet. Can play in the rain. Can take the time to call and check on a loved one. Can support small business. Can create. Can connect from near and far. Can snuggle up for a movie. Can celebrate the pause.

It is for this reason that we will rebuild. And we will be okay.

This exhibit is, undoubtedly, one of the most impactful exhibits I have had the privilege to work on with our incredible partners and co-curators. It is from the bottom of my heart that I thank all artists, partners, and contributors for seeing this exhibit to its completion. So, take the pause. And see the light.

Devin Graham, Chief Curator

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Curator | Andrew Ordonez | is a visual artist living and working in Kansas City, Missouri. He received a Painting BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2013. His interdisciplinary practice currently explores the nature of erasure and artifact conservation through sculpture, installation, and photography. He is currently a Charlotte Street Foundation 2019-20 Studio Resident and a former Drugstore KC resident from 2017-19. Ordonez has recently exhibited work in gallery spaces throughout the Kansas City region such as the H&R Block Artspace, Front/Space, the Kiosk Galley, Open House, and Leedy-Voulkos Art Center. He has also exhibited nationally at the Coop Gallery in Nashville, TN, and at the Mexic-arte Museum in Austin, TX for the 23rd annual YLA exhibition. In addition to his studio practice, he is a visual arts instructor at the KCAI Continuing Education and a Program Supervisor at Imagine That KC. Curator | Writer/Director/Producer/Photographer/Cinematographer Jason Piggie | was born in Kansas City, MO. Graduating from the University of Missouri— Kansas City (UMKC) with a B.A. in communication, Piggie also attended Lincoln University where he further obtained a background in theater, photography, music and writing. Jason Piggie has written and directed 9 short films including “ Bad Dream”, “Mattie’s Song”, “Agent C” and “Domestic”. In 2009, Piggie won 1st place at the 3/5/7 Film Festival in the 5 Minute Category for his short film entitled, “The Stuff” and won 1st place at 2012 Arts KC best in show for the short film entitled “The Bum”, and a recipient of Rocket Grants Award in 2019. Jason Piggie currently lives in Kansas City Missouri, but has done some work in other parts of continental USA. Curator | Kwanza Humphrey | Like many, I began drawing at a very early age. Drawing was a medium I could get lost in, with my imagination and thoughts. Painting for me is a natural extension of that process. While it is a completely different medium, the emotion I bring to it is the same. As with any medium, it is a form of expression. I have been painting for over 25 years. I grew up here in Kansas City, graduating high school from Lincoln Academy. It was there I was encouraged to pursue art as a profession from Ms. Claire Martin-West. I attended Missouri Western State University where I took several painting classes from Jack Hughes. His approach was very hands off unless you were really needing help. I appreciated his approach as it allowed me to develop my own voice. I graduated from there in ‘98 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Commercial Art with an emphasis in painting and illustration. My first exhibition was at the Albrecht Kemper membership show in ’96 where I won best of show for my painting “Blue Funk”.

My painting “Ms Flora” won an award in the 35th Annual River Market Regional Exhibition, curated by Mr. Curlee Ravon Holton, Executive Director, David C. Driskell Center.

There is a method to what I create. I start with a pencil or charcoal drawing on paper as a guide. Sometimes it’s just one drawing.

Other times it’s several, but it’s always in black and white. I reserve color for painting. I like the spontaneity it can bring to the canvas. I use color and deliberate brushstrokes to create character, conversation or a feeling. I rarely mix colors when I paint. I like to use the raw color and have them mix optically. I enjoy creating a contrast between what you see far away and what you see up close. When I paint, I try to capture an emotion and feeling that you wouldn’t normally see. Painting is an emotional experience for me, so much so that it’s hard to put into words the way I work. Sometimes I have a conversation with myself and shape a feeling.

Other times I just let go and let my subconscious take over where color and brush are the medium I use to communicate.

The human form and face is the subject that I gravitate too. I enjoy people and scratching below the surface to show the essence of humanity. We all present a mask to the world to protect ourselves from the unknown. I’m looking to get past that façade and show the human connection we all share. I try not to explain everything visually. I try to paint so that you look at something and see the emotion in it. I think we all bring something personal to the table. Your experience will allow you to see something no one else does, or you may have a similar connection with your fellow viewers. My goal is for my work to resonate with you in some way.

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Curator | Allison Bowman | is an oil and acrylic painter who focuses on abstracted botanical environments. As a Kansas native Bowman grew up surrounded by the Flint Hills. From when she was a child, she remembers walks through the Konza Prairie discovering different species of plants. The natural forms made by native prairie life are what initially inspired her abstract compositions. Recently Bowman has been studying plant forms from the undergrowth of the Redwood Forest in Northern California.

After graduating from Kansas State University in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in fine art she moved with her husband to the Kansas City area. Bowman currently works as the Administrative Assistant for the Arts Council of Johnson County and teaches art classes at the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center in Overland Park, Kansas. Before becoming a teacher, Bowman worked in private art galleries as an assistant curator and preparator.

Bowman was recently accepted into the Artist INC Advance program through the Mid-America Arts Alliance and is currently working on a project titled “Sacred Spaces: Cultivating Hope” that focuses on raising awareness for mental health and advocacy through the arts.

In challenging times, the arts permeate and strengthen our community in many ways; they unify us, support community health, cultivate empathy, and help decrease stress and loneliness. During Covid-19, community based artists are using their unique skills to help us both tell our story and while also sparking important conversations about our communities’ experiences.

Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to Covid-19 is as much an opportunity for us to listen to our community as it is for our community to reflect and know that even in a time of physical distancing we are not alone.

As you view the artwork we hope the exhibition helps you reflect on your own experience, that you find some commonality in the words and feelings shared by the participating artists and that you’re inspired to imagine what our future might look like on the other side of the pandemic.

Sarah VanLanduyt Executive Director

Arts Council of Johnson County

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In the first week of April 2020, the Johnson County Museum team gathered for a meeting. It was my first as the new director of the Johnson County Museum. I didn’t know what to expect. The museum was closed to the public, but history was happening right outside of our doors. How would the team respond to these challenging times?

The answer immediately became clear. The team decided we must serve the community in the best way we knew how: by sharing stories from our county’s past to inspire and embolden them.

Thus began a six-week process that took us from an idea to an incredible temporary exhibit, Rising to the Challenge: Suburban Strength in Difficult Times. The museum team delved into research on crises Johnson County has faced in its 165-year history and, more importantly, the skills and traits Johnson Countians exhibited to meet the challenge every time. We came to see that the characteristics crucial to our county’s perseverance in the past were the very same traits we were seeing exhibited in our county during the pandemic: sacrifice, adaptation, innovation, awareness, preparation, resilience, and strength.

Researching what we called for a long time “our Covid-19 response exhibit,” the team also learned that after each crisis, whether it be war or a natural disaster, the community came together to reflect and to remember.

We see examples of community commemoration and grief in celebrations of life, parades, memorial fountains, monuments, and more. We began to wonder how we as a community would process our Covid-19 experiences?

What collective opportunities to gather, reflect, grieve, process, and rebuild would we have?

At the same time as we were asking those questions, our building partners at the Arts Council of Johnson County shared literature about how the arts have been used to help communities following crises. It quickly became clear that the Johnson County Arts & Heritage Center could provide a great public good by providing a forum to collectively process these historic times trough artist responses to the pandemic. Our partners in the Fine Arts Department ran with the idea, putting out an incredible call to artists and guiding artists of all backgrounds and experience levels through the submission process.

The result of this collaborative initiative is the collection of art and artist statements included in this book, all of which were proudly displayed in the Johnson County Arts & Heritage Center Commons beginning in August 2020.

Recognizing the historic nature of these times and the power of community-based reflection, the Johnson County Museum Foundation joined the initiative, funding a cash prize for one community-selected piece of art to become a part of the Johnson County Museum’s permanent collection.

These are, indeed, historic times. It is our hope that combined, the exhibits – Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to Covid-19 and Rising to the Challenge: Suburban Strength in Difficult Times – serve as reminders of Johnson County’s long history resilience, an opportunity to reflect, and a catalyst to the rebuild together.

Mary McMurray Museum Director

Johnson County Museum

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The Johnson County Museum Foundation is delighted to support and promote the Johnson County Museum. We raise awareness and funds to back the award-winning exhibitions, educational programs and special events at the Johnson County Museum. Our contributions also extend to strategic initiatives including diversity, outreach and collecting efforts.

In the Spring of 2020, Museum Director Mary McMurray approached the board with an interesting request. The Museum asked the Foundation to provide a cash prize so that the Museum could acquire a piece of contemporary art for the Museum’s collection. Wow. The Foundation certainly champions collecting, but contemporary artwork? Oh, that’s not our typical target.

Through hearty discussion, we realized that the prize we were asked to fund was meant to capture what resonates with our neighbors. This prize would help the Museum capture the community’s response to Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to Covid-19, a piece we agree speaks to the public. More items collected as part of the Collecting Covid-19 Initiative would further contextualize this contemporary work.

The Johnson County Museum Foundation is proud to partner with the Johnson County Museum, Fine Arts Department, and the Arts Council of Johnson County to engage our public and preserve this time for posterity. We look forward to seeing what the community selects through in-person and digital voting, and to working with the Museum’s Collections Committee to properly review the piece prior to accepting it into the collection.

History is happening all around us. We are thrilled to be a part of it and in fresh, exciting ways. Join us!

Lonita Cook

President Johnson County Museum Foundation

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Looking to the Past for Inspiration The Johnson County Museum’s special exhibit, Rising to the Challenge: Suburban Strength in Difficult Times, was born out of the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2020. Typically our exhibits are scheduled up to three years in advance, but it was obvious to staff that the museum needed to respond to the history being made around us, and serve the community in the way we are best able: sharing the history of Johnson County. Rising to the Challenge is filled with stories of our community rallying together in the face of economic hardship, natural disasters, war, and health crises in the past. As staff researched along those themes, what became clear was the way in which Johnson Countians responded to those hardships, how the community banded together to overcome the obstacle at hand. Time and again, Johnson Countians have met crises with personal sacrifice, innovation and adaptation, strength and resilience, preparation and awareness, and then come together in reflection and remembrance. Here are three examples from Johnson County’s past to inspire you in the present: We’ve been here before. | Reece Hospital, a small rural clinic located in Gardner, alerted visitors that patients were sick with scarlet fever using simple paper signs announcing a quarantine. Johnson County reported several dozen cases of scarlet fever each year in the 1930s and 40s, with spikes of 217 cases in 1936 and 326 in 1937. The disease primarily affected children under 10, and deaths were rare. Dr. Reece’s signs helped make the community aware of the danger and limited the spread of scarlet fever.

Small things can make a big impact. | During World War II, the U.S. Treasury sold a series of War Bonds that averaged in posters hung in workplaces. A photo taken at Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in northwest Johnson County shows plant workers who did their part, sacrificed a little money, and invested in the country’s war effort and future.

Innovation and giving your all matters. | During the Covid-19 pandemic, staff at the Black and Veatch MakerSpace in the Johnson County Library – Central Resource Library in Overland Park began 3-D printing plastic parts for medical face shields for use in local hospitals. Six printers could produce 12 mask parts every eight hours. MakerSpace staff took turns working in order to keep the printers running 24 hours per day. Their sacrifice and innovation helped keep their local medical community safe in a moment of real need.

By sharing stories of community resilience like these, museum staff hopes that Rising to the Challenge will inspire visitors to recognize their role in the community’s larger effort. And visitors have a chance to tell their personal story, too. The exhibit intersects with a collecting initiative the museum launched, “Collecting Covid-19.” As the community reflects on the Covid-19 era in the coming months and years, museum staff invites folks to take the time to submit their thoughts and ideas for photos and objects. With the community’s help, the Johnson County Museum’s collection and future exhibitions will be able to tell the story of how Johnson Countians overcame yet another challenge.

Andrew R. Gustafson

Curator of Interpretation Johnson County Museum

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The world feels so many ways right now.

Out of Focus.

Unbalanced.

Off Center.

Not... grounded.

The yellow line in our exhibit represents center.

Grounded.

Balanced.

Right now... nothing seems as though it is.

That speaks to us all differently.

Let’s look forward to a time that balance, peace, joy, mindfullness... is our new normal.

Tim Bair General Exhibit Design Manager, Fine & Performing Arts JCPRD

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Which piece of art most speaks to you?

The Johnson County Museum wants your help choosing a piece from Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding to add to our permanent collection!

The artwork – along with stories, photos, and objects the public is sharing with the Museum as part of the “Collecting Covid-19” initiative – will help future generations tell the story of this historic time.

The artwork that earns the highest number of votes from the public will be presented to the collections committee for review and accession into the Johnson County Museum’s permanent collection. The winning artist will be awarded a $500 honorarium, generously provided by the Johnson County Museum Foundation. Cast your vote today!

Artwork is also available for sale and 100% of the proceeds being retained by the artist.

Support local!

Unless otherwise noted, all pieces are for sale. Please contact Devin.Graham@jocogov.org for details.

Visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/artistsrespondtocovid19 to cast your vote. Voting will be live August 1-31, 2020.

Scan this code to vote now!

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Artists

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Rita Guile

Graceful Healing Acrylic on birch

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Rita Guile Many trees have survived a great deal in history. They have stood tall, permanent, and resilient through wars, plagues, and adversity. Therefore, we look to them as symbols of strength and healing. In addition to their endurance, they inspire and comfort us with their beauty and mystery.

“Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf,” Albert Schweitzer.

There is also much beauty in the leaves of a tree as if they hold the secrets. Trees inspire me and so I paint them. I attempt to emphasize their power and represent their beauty. My work takes liberties with their details by playing with the shapes and colors. Trees provide hope and inspiration, and I look to them for solace during these difficult times.

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Kenneth Lander During the last seven years, I have explored various genres in my painting (landscapes, seascapes, still life, reproductions, abstract). During the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, I have felt the need and inspiration to concentrate on scenes from nature. This has given me comfort and calm in the midst of stress and uncertainty. The scenes I have painted are quiet, tranquil places--a retreat for restoring a sense of safety. My hope is that other viewers of these scenes would also find some measure of comfort and harmony.

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Kenneth Lander Autumn River Oil on Panel

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Gloria Gale

And So I Rise Acrylic

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Gloria Gale Cloistered inside for what seems like years has had a definite impact on my creativity. Living life as an extrovert means I flourish when around others. Lapping up the energy from being around people then shunted inside has forced me into a quieter, more reflective demeanor. As a lifelong artist, the human condition is my source for much inspiration. And what a time this is. Two crisis rift with conflict – one man made the other perhaps not. Ample fodder for my two submissions. My inner voice aches for those afflicted by the Covid-19 virus. I ask, have we advanced that much further than plagues from the past? Still loss, still suffering, still sadness. And with a nod to of all those lost souls, I paint a picture of me, teetering. It’s my fragile balance as a high-risk senior, astonishingly still resilient. Grateful doesn’t begin to explain how I rise each day to greet whatever begs discovery.

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Rachel Deutmeyer Celebration of Life Archival inkjet print

Rachel Deutmeyer In a time of discord and uncertainty, natural surroundings inspire reflection on both harmony and difference. The earth and sky hold their own space and meet in rolling horizons. Plants can be strong and resilient but still bend with the wind. These works share an exploration of color, collage, and multiples in response to the ever-changing nature of everyday life.

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Rachel Deutmeyer Dwell Archival inkjet print

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Renee Wetzel

Break Paint on Canvas

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Renee Wetzel This piece was created towards the “middle� of the pandemic, around March/April, when quarantine was beginning to sink in and I felt on the edge of breaking. I love clouds and painting them, and these cotton candy clouds framed by a yellow sky was how I envisioned a happy time in life. The cloud pieces breaking off and trickling down into a black nothingness mirror how I felt my life was during that time. With life turned upside down, changing jobs, working from home, and re-planning a pandemic wedding, I very well felt like crumbling.

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Lee Geisler

Self-Portrait Wearing Mask with Twin Acrylic on canvas

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Katie Zemel

Self-Portrait Acrylic on canvas

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Katie Zemel This self portrait is an expression of Katie’s frustrating moments while working as an essential worker thru the Covid-19 crisis. Katie works in ceramics, watercolors, and has recently been designing facemasks. She is very gifted at capturing subtle details in animals, plants, and whatever she chooses as her source. Katie works at the JCDS Emerging Artists Program for adults with ID/DD twice a week.

She would like to encourage artists to keep trying new mediums and to not give up during Covid-19!

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Casey Martin Casey is working from home during Covid-19. He stays active sharing his art on twitter and communicating with family and friends. He is a digital animation artist, but his foundation is in painting and drawing. Casey’s art often combines an inanimate object with an animal like the Girraffle Tower or the Tacoyote. His whimsical creations create a new character unto themselves. Casey started at the JCDS emerging artist program in 2019 and has shown his artwork in a myriad of exhibits since!

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Casey Martin

Self-Portrait with Mask Acrylic on canvas

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Amanda Vahle

Amanda, Self-Portrait with Mask Acrylic on canvas

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Amanda Vahle Amanda is constantly making art. She uses an interesting variety of brushes, balloons, and sponge. She uses tape to make abstract compositions and also enjoys working from source imagery of animals and fruits. She works at the JCDS Emerging Artist program for adults with ID/DD Art Studio. She has designed lamp shades, face masks and hand fans this year that are available for purchase. When Amanda is not making art, she is involved in a wheelchair dance group and hanging out with her family.

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Brad Friedman

Pet Protector essential worker Grocery Store Clerk Acrylic on canvas

Brad Friedman This piece is about the importance of wearing masks to be safe during Covid-19. The dog in this painting is happy because he is a professional artist like myself. Before Covid-19, everything was going well. I had been on a birthday vacation to Hollywood, and the Chiefs won the Superbowl; then Covid-19 happened. During Covid-19, I took 10 weeks off to make art at home with my sister, Lori. She helped me by giving me daily prompts. Then when I returned to JCDS Emerging Artists, I was able to use these drawings to work on my paintings. Lori helped me to work on drawing female faces because that is one of my goals. Art is helping me during Covid-19, because I was able to donate a Super Brad piece to the Salvation Army, and it felt great to give back. I am very pleased to be back at JCDS Emerging Artists, working on commissions and prompts. Looking forward, my goal is to make a full-color book of all my paintings for my next birthday.

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Brad Friedman

Super Brad Fights COVID-19 Acrylic on canvas

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Danny Bowen

Self-Portrait with Mask Acrylic on canvas

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Danny Bowen Danny Bowen IV enjoys weaving, dancing and painting. He is new to the JCDS Emerging Artists art studio for adults with DD/ID. When he’s not making art, he works in the community garden with his family. He is open to trying new projects and learning about new ways to express himself.

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Zac Bendrick

Zac Bendrick

One Man Band Acrylic on canvas

The year 2020 has provided some interesting time for me as an artist to continue working and creating portrait abstracts. When the shutdowns started happening it was all very surreal, and I like many others lost my job due to the virus.

Painting was and has always been a way for me to express myself. I was lucky to be able to find this unique and timeless pastime. Art in itself is and has been a way to document one’s life or a time period. I am sure many years from now, I will be able to look back on the many pieces I created in 2020 and pull something more from them. Right now, they stand as a way to bring people together online and in person. My goal has always been to paint what I want and what I feel. The pieces submitted show chaos, uncertainty, fear and enjoying each day as they come.

Without this unusual gift of time, I do not think I would be where I am today with my work and future projects. My only concern as of writing this is that we are only beginning to feel the effects of the shutdown. Work is still uncertain, and people are very hopeful that life will continue on and return to normal. In my personal experience between the protests, rioting and political news coming from Washington, the immediate focus and severity of Covid-19 has almost been forgotten. People need to work and make money to take care of their families. 2020 has and will prove to be a very chaotic and weird time for us as Americans, and I wanted to showcase what I have processed and created so far during it.

This piece is a picture of somebody who is doing it all. I completed this around mothers day 2020. One of my first paintings with instruments in it, I created this piece because I wanted to have fun and listen to music. It also got me thinking about Mother’s Day and how Moms have so much on their plate and work there is the hardest to do. Inspired by my Mom and her do-it-all spirit and the playlist I was listening to at the time, I finished this one quickly. Painting quick or slowly to me is like music. You have slow parts and you have energetic fast sections. Both are chalk full of energy and emotion and that is what I wanted to capture with “One Man Band.”

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Zac & Adam Bendrick Dinner and a Show Acrylic on canvas

This was a collaboration piece with my brother Adam. I love doing this kind of work and seeing how people solve the problem of creating a picture. We split the painting up into two sides and worked our way into the middle. We wanted to create a piece that evoked happiness and a good time out on the town, since it seemed perfect with the mass shutdown of bars and restaurants. - Zac “Dinner and a Show” is really the first piece of canvas I’ve painted on. My intent was to imitate Zac’s unique line and color style while also putting my own, more “simplistic” spin on it. Not only was this a fun project to work on, it also gave me a new perspective on how difficult the artistic process can be.” - Adam

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Kevin Sytsma

Close Contact Oil and Alkyd on canvas

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Kevin Sytsma My art has taken a dramatic shift with the impact of Covid-19. Prior to Covid-19, I used art as a way to help relax and relieve daily life’s anxieties.

There was an emotional connection, but it was more of an unconscious process with no end product in mind and completely fluid. After the first lockdown from Covid-19, everyone’s realities changed significantly and my art did as well. I have three small children and the threat from a disease that was spreading unchecked brought unknown fears. The fact that it could strike anyone regardless of age and you could catch it from friends, family, or strangers was unnerving. While staring at a blank canvas and paint tubes, on a whim I scooped up some oil paint in my bare hand and smeared it across the canvas. It was kind of a eureka moment and I wondered why I did not try it before. I found I had more control over the amount of paint applied, especially applying large amounts compared to brushes or palette knives. All of the paintings applied with my hands have been made since Covid-19 started.

My paintings made in this manner I refer to as “living paintings” because they quite literally contain my DNA and are in a way a part of me. My current abstract paintings have themes incorporating the fears from the time of Covid-19. Large dark, foreboding, ill-defined figures are prominent in my new work and represent the unseen threat from Covid-19. After experimenting with painting without tools and just my hands and my arms, I found that the 3-4 foot canvases I was using were not conducive to my new style, especially with the size of my new tools. During Covid-19, I have been experimenting with progressively larger canvases measuring up to 6.5 feet tall and 9 feet long. These large canvases allow me to make large strokes with my hands and arms not possible in a smaller scale. During this period, I have drawn inspiration from abstract progressionist artists Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock.

Pollock’s pre-drip painting “Mural” has been the one painting I have drawn on the most with its nondefinitive figures marching across the canvas. I have derived aspects of this process of intentional and unintentional painting actions into my current work.

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Emily Sipp The painting I created, titled, “Strength Endures,” displays how humans stay close to each other during hard times in life. To bask in the sun and nature around them during this time is important. As the Covid-19 pandemic made it so people had to stay inside and close to home, the painting represents the joy and celebration of family and nature. To hold hands and to stay strong and to continue to take each day as a gift. The bright colors I chose creates a sense of strength and happiness. I chose a family holding hands to show the strength in the painting, to cling to your loved ones. I chose the nature in the background to represent how things can be rebuilt and regrown to be resistant to things in the world that may be taken away or torn down. The bridges and buildings in the painting represent the resilience people need to stay strong and grounded through tough and unknown times. Rays of paint were added to each of the family members to show how each person is shining and giving hope to one another. To create a positive artwork during the Covid-19, was a chance for me to get to inspire others to try to take the good things in life, instead of focusing on the negative, during this hard time.

“Schools closed, businesses closed, what must we do now? We let the sun hit our face, we progress, we invest in home and loved ones. We run through the grass and let our feet feel the earth.

Frightened ones, enlightened ones, confusion on your face. We live each day sunshine to rain, what will the next day display? Will we wake up from this nightmare and choose to be happy during this time? Hold on to your loved ones, no one knows what may come our way. Stay positive, be alert, don’t let this bring you down. You have each other and you have the strength to reflect on the good times that were created. To love to the deepest depths of your soul will take you to a place that will feel safe and secure. To be resilient to know there will be a day that comes that the world will be strong again and devoid of the virus.”

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Emily Sipp

Strength Endures Watercolor, Acrylic, Prismacolor

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Sherri Jacobs

Home Needlepoint and acrylic on wood

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Sherri Jacobs As an art therapist in Overland Park, I have had a front row seat in observing the rapid shifts in our culture, brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement. My work has offered me a glimpse into the collective human experience of uncertainty and resilience throughout this season.

The initial tumult of Covid-19 activated trauma responses in many of us as we walked around in a daze, making sense of a new relationship to time and home. The quest to be productive in the first few weeks in quarantine proved futile, as many people found themselves unable to function at optimum levels. I observed a wide spectrum of themes ranging from extreme loneliness in people living alone to high stress in families. Therapists found themselves in an unusual role of having to stay steady and strong to meet the needs of our clientele, while experiencing a parallel emotional journey.

My tiny, needlepointed image of a house reflects many themes related to the pandemic, especially the need for comfort and order at home, while protecting oneself from a chaotic outer world.

I encouraged my clients to engage in very tangible, creative endeavors with concrete endings to replicate a sense of control. Lowering our expectations for our output mitigated much of the shame in how we as Americans do time, offering a space for people to settle into being present with each day. People appeared to quickly acclimate to their new realities with amazing grace and grit.

The opening back up of our communities has proven far more challenging than the closing down phase. I observed people falling back on old and unhelpful coping tools including relapsing and selfharming behaviors. I introduced the idea of a compass to many of my clients, encouraging them to use their gut instinct to choose how to navigate through the world, as the guidance was erratic at best from governing bodies across the land.

This is a challenging time in our nation’s history, and for many of us the most unpredictable time of our lives. Uncertainty and confusion continue to unfold at a breakneck pace. As we embrace 2020 as a year of disappointments and radical change, we must dig deep in our reserves to maintain an equilibrium. Creativity is a powerful catalyst for cultivating resilience.

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Christi Roberts Bony “Beach Day” Unable to travel, or stuck in a foreign country, witnessing the horror on the television every night on the evening news of a “healthcare workers on the front line” brings back memories of Covid-19 being World War III. My father was in the World War II Europe Normandy beach raid, surviving with a Purple Heart medal and talking incessantly about his experience, experiencing posttraumatic stress.

For our anniversary celebration, we had a trip planned to go to Europe: England, Portugal, Gibraltar, Spain and Morocco. Planning and trip purchases were finished, and we were able to take advantage of last minute bookings, strolling the airfare prices.

Reflecting: the blessing this last-minute booking of NOT going to Europe because if we went at the end of March 2020, the odds are that we would have passed on or been in Spain for 53 days like others and bankrupt. Resilience: “Beach Day” is my fortunate circumstances not getting the trip opportunity, an escape and fantasy trip to Portugal. Portugal has the largest waves on earth and has surfing competitions. Rebuilding: Painting a trip for the future helps coping with the status today and symbolizes restructuring how we might travel in the future.

By mid-April 2020, the Covid-19 crisis affected my financial wellbeing as paintings promptly quit selling, and there were no exhibitions, events, or opportunities for teaching. All income ceased. My savings are depleting. I am invited to Virtual Art shows, working on a new business plan and maybe...

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Christi Roberts Bony

Beach Day Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

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Ryan Sikes

Untitled Acrylic on Canvas

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Ryan Sikes Ryan is a prolific portrait artist. His portraits tend to reveal deep emotions through mark making and color choice. He works in the JCDS Emerging Artists program in Johnson County, Kansas, an art program for adults with ID/DD. He is inspired by people who are live their lives authentically. Usually, he prefers acrylic paint, but lately Ryan has been designing his own line of facemasks as well. Ryan hopes that artists turn to artmaking during Covid-19 to put their energy into moving on through this time with one eye on the future.

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Eric Pape Eric has worked in a grocery store during Covid-19. As an essential worker he uses art to express his insights, confusion and frustration. He works making art at the JCDS Emerging Artists program once a week. He enjoys sharing his work online and making connections with his paintings. He loves to work with glitter and everything shimmery. Eric works in abstract, collage, and mixed media.

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Eric Pape

Emojinal Wreck Acrylic on Canvas

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Heather Inich

Untitled Paint and Photographs

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Heather Inich For my piece, I went way out of my comfort zone and did something with mixed media. I used photography and paint to express what I’ve felt and the different changes I’ve seen since Covid-19 started. I’ve also included a quote as well as some stats to reflect how Johnson County, the State of Kansas as well as the US have all been affected by Covid-19.

Some may find it jarring, but it’s supposed to express that. As my mother-in-law stated: “A jumble of emotions, fears and new experiences, shortages of items, social distancing, working from home and empty office spaces.” The different colors are sporadic and randomly chosen because that’s how I have felt with my emotions. Sadness, anger, anxiety, fear and just an overall sense of being unsettled in these “new normal” times. But then there has also been hope and some calm as well. Yellow has represented the hope that we may be able to return to some sort of normalcy. Blue has been the ups and downs of my anxiety. Green is sadly, envy for those that haven’t shown or felt much anxiety. Red is for anger. White represents some of the calm moments, albeit fleeting. Black is just the unknown.

The impacts for me personally, have been numerous. We had to quarantine after our spring break vacation, for two weeks. Johnson County and the entire state of Kansas went into quarantine and I was, thankfully, able to work from home during this time. Wearing masks when out in public, constantly using hand sanitizer, helping our son with online, distance learning for school and just not being able to shake hands or give hugs freely are some big changes that affected me. Seeing how sad our son is that he can’t see his friends in person really brings sadness to the forefront. I personally know some people that have been affected by Covid-19, and it’s scary. They’ve recovered and some are still in quarantine but should be okay.

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George Utter George is an abstract artist that is fascinated by color and light. Each mark made is an exploration of these two elements colliding. George attends the JCDS Emerging Artists program. He is known for looking out for his friends & co-workers. He is also known to wear a headlamp when he works. George enjoys doing commissions for regular clients. Right now he is working on a mural in his home.

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George Utter

Self-Portrait with Mask Posca Acrylic Pens on Photo Print

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Daniel McLean

Our Three Selves Acrylic on Canvas

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Daniel McLean Daniel entertained his neighbors over quarantine with throwing pottery on a wheel in the middle of the cul-de-sac. He works in many mediums including metalsmithing, wood working, ceramics and painting. He attends the JCDS emerging artist program two days a week. He has also designed face masks, hand fans, and lamp shades. He is always excited to learn new ways of making art. His personal motto is: “I came, I saw, I made it awkward!�

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Rose Burgweger The Summer 2020 Issue of Discovering De Soto was a compilation of “Navigating the Pandemic.” This is a graphic collage that was also part of the “Navigating the Pandemic” Issue. A timeline of events is shown, beginning with the celebrations of Super Bowl in Kansas City, while the pandemic begins throughout the world. I’ve included a visual/graphic overview of the Pandemic with Life Stopped / Life Restarts/The Many Faces of the Pandemic and Vocabulary.

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Rose Burgweger

Navigating the Pandemic Photographic Collage, Graphic Design, Essay

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Rusty and Paula Leffel

Masks Protect Us All Printed Image on Watercolor Paper

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Rusty and Paula Leffel We are in a pandemic. This is real. People are sick. People are dying. Even in our own Johnson County, Kansas. We would like to miss it. We would like to be able to continue an “old” normal. We would like not to have to be “inconvenienced” with the hope that Covid-19 would just “magically disappear” like some tell us. The spring breaker in Florida summed it up for too many: “Let’s Party!” But the day to day, the grueling toll on our humanity and our world can not and must not be ignored. Our world is wrapped in the black web of this disease that has redefined what it means to be “essential” as a front-line worker in health care and everyday work keeping people functioning, fed and alive. We’ve learned that masks stop the spread of the disease but then masks became a lightning rod on whether or not to care about “me” or care about “others.” Ultimately, the deaths became our national grief as thousands turned into 100,000, with the New York Times honoring all through a page listing a clause of remembrance of 1 in a 100 of those. As artists, we use our yard along Tomahawk in Mission Hills as a “canvas” for art installations looking at these and many issues. Our submission for this exhibit…(shows one of the ways) we have been speaking out through our yard and on social media with the hope that people will come to know we are in this together and it will take all of us to protect each other.

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Nina Kulikov As a graduating high school senior, Covid-19 not only affected the end of my high school career, but also how my future was going to unfold in every way. It is almost inexpressible the amount of confusion and anxiety towards what lies ahead. It is up to my generation, and those after us, to stay strong in the light of these unknowns. To innovate, create, and imagine our world and what it has yet to become. To cherish life and understand what it means to be human in the 21st century.

When a photo of Deveonte Joseph in his graduation gown at a Black Lives Matter protest surfaced, it struck a chord with me, thus inspiring this piece of work. It is nearly impossible to explain the current situation of our country to someone who has not experienced it, but I believe this does as best a job as ever. This painting is the amalgamation of what so many students lost due to a worldwide pandemic, the civil rights we are still fighting for, and the change that we are demanding in both social injustice and equal, affordable healthcare.

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Nina Kulikov

Sign of the Times Oil Paint on Hardboard

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Brittany Noriega

Never Let Go Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas I wanted to tell a sort of coronavirus love story with this painting and express the emotions that so many of us felt in the beginning of this pandemic. Uncertainty, confusion, fear, loneliness, sorrow. I think back to so many people on the front lines or in the essential jobs separating themselves from heir families or loved ones for fear of spreading the virus, and the at risk members of our community closed off from communication and human touch, something that we rely on as a basic human necessity.

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The death of George Floyd sparked a movement worldwide, and people around the globe came together again. In the middle of a pandemic people took to the streets to express themselves and create change. The need to be heard outweighed the risk of getting sick, and that in itself is a powerful message. The painting also addresses loved ones coming back together, reuniting, never letting go, and the associated emotions‌ Fear, anger, hope, healing, rebuilding.

Brittany Noriega NEVER LET GO. Let go.

Stay home.

Distance.

Loneliness breeds sorrow, They promise healing.

So we let go.

I. Can’t.

Breathe.

Hatred breeds injustice.

We promise a revolution.

Never let go.

Never let go.

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Kevin Umaña In recent years, I’ve been striving for a change in my practice. A change where I’m able to experiment with integrating industrial design with fine art. I spent my early years’ training as an architect and have always felt enamored by living spaces. My work utilizes a mathematical approach to modernity, exploring the essential relationships between form, composition, and color. These concepts are then utilized in analyzing the concept of experience and perception in the form of time and memory. Subtly adjusting and reworking these connections, I am able to highlight materiality, space, and point of view.

Due to the amount of time I’ve spent in self-isolation, Covid-19 has me rethinking my approach on life and art.

Recently, I’ve been questioning the role of race and how it has shaped my experience as a minority. This new fascination has led me to further investigate my heritage and childhood and reflect upon my upbringing as a Latino living in El Salvador and in America. I am reflecting on the awareness of natural systems, social systems, and social signs in art and the world itself. This sudden revelation has inspired new ways of integrating my various experiences into one single creative expression. My work has been focused on employing an abstract vocabulary, which gives the viewer the unique ability to draw upon their own experiences and associations. By perceiving my paintings as implements of transformation, the viewer is able to rewire their own modes of thinking and alter the way they see the world around them.

I believe this residency can be the bridge between my existing studio practice, and one that I haven’t had the chance to explore yet. Last year, I started working with ceramic and in the process of glazing my work, it has shown me what can happen if I relinquish some control and allow the medium to take its natural course. Tests are where a lot of interesting things start to happen, and I want to try a new approach and more innovative ways of using digital technology to create three-dimensional objects and push my work into a new realm. Ceramics has been the first step toward a new medium for me, and I hope to have the time and space to discover more about it. An interest in sculpture and industrial design has led to linking my current body of work with a participatory approach to art. By immersing myself in my research and design. I aim to explore wearable sculptures that create an atmosphere of work through site-specific installations that will bring focus to functional artworks.

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Kevin UmaĂąa

Concrete Block, White Plastic Roof Glaze on Red Stoneware

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Adrian Marsh

A Never-Ending Battle Graphite, Watercolor Colored Pencils, Colored Pencils

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Adrian Marsh My name is Adrian Marsh, I am a twenty-year-old artist currently living in Johnson County. I went to Blue Valley High School and am currently taking art classes at Johnson County Community college. My dream is to transfer to an art school to pursue a career in either illustration or animation.

During difficult times, art can help ease the pain. This pandemic has taken its toll on everyone in some way, shape, or form. As someone who has asthma and lives with a large group of people, I had to take a leave of absence from my job, and all of my college classes were held online for the rest of the semester. At first glance, getting to stay home all day sounds amazing, but as life slows down, it leaves more time to take a closer look at what is going on in the world and all of the suffering caused by this. We tend to be so caught up in our own lives that it takes times like this to truly reconnect with our communities and understand the suffering of others.

After George Floyd’s tragic death and the outcry for equality it caused, I was overcome with emotion, and felt as though it was my duty as a white person to join the peaceful protestors at the Plaza. This experience inspired this piece, because I was able to see firsthand both the impact of the virus and the deep hurt the African American community is facing all in one place. Every protester was wearing a mask, trying to stand their distance from others despite limited room. I assume many people wanting to protest were not able to over fears of the virus; it’s sad to see it setting back such an important movement. It was also empowering to see the bravery and determination of the American people, overcoming multiple obstacles together, people of every race and background coming together to stand against injustice despite their own fears.

When I got home that day, I knew I had to make a piece to reflect on this historical time period, something people could look at in the future and clearly see what was going on. The man portrayed is meant to represent both the protestors on the streets and the doctors and nurses battling this virus, with George Floyd’s final words written on the mask.

We have the power to use art to portray important messages and spread awareness; now more than ever is the time to use this as much as we can. As bad as things may seem, I know that our communities will come together and be stronger than ever during hard times. It’s amazing to see the good that can be done when Americans facing hardships band together. to help one another. Once the dust settles, I hope to be a new, better, equal America.

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Smitha George As the world was moving on oblivious to the lurking invisible danger, each to their own, rising up each day to face one’s own challenges, winning one’s own battles and at times riding high on one’s own claimed success, believing that they and they only were responsible for themselves and their perceived successes, a day came when the world was literally shutdown. The news of an invisible enemy having claimed many lives was enough to bring down all these individuals riding high literally to their knees. Just when human frailty came to the fore, same time did the indomitable human spirit rise at this eventful time. This collective human spirit led each person to lend out selflessly one’s hands to build a strong human barrier against this ever-rising and seemingly indestructible force known as Covid-19 (the main face reflects each one of those who tirelessly came together). The fact that there was no known cure did not discourage these CORONA warriors, and battle they did. Rising each day not bothering as they cared for the sick that in-turn they could fall sick too. Not knowing the ones they served could be their link to bad health. These silent but strong warriors have given hope to the multitude that not only will we defeat this virus with pure human ingenuity with the help of science but we will also give each other hope and strength each day with small acts of kindness, through thought provoking and literature and pieces of art. Iris, butterfly, and the images gathered from around the world and the bright abstract colors in the background represents each of these aspects. This artwork is dedicated to one and, especially the frontline workers and to each individual who with their talent maybe as simple as drawing an uplifting message on the sidewalk to keep us going….

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Smitha George

The Impulse Mixed Media on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

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Roy Inman

Elbow Bump Digital print

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Roy Inman “…health officials believe the virus may not be able to be contained at the border and that Americans should prepare for a ‘significant disruption.’”-Centers for Disease Control, February 25, 2020.

We were warned but many were still taken by surprise. Some still deny the impact. Regardless, all aspects of our lives were and continue to be disrupted in ways we could not imagine back in February.

As a photojournalist, I felt an obligation to document this epic pandemic, unlike anything this country has seen since the Flu pandemic in 1918. I went into the streets the day after restaurants, bars, museums and retail shops were ordered shut down. Although the city was eerily quiet and mostly deserted, there were omens and the few others who were out were essential workers and journalists, two from competing television stations that I found doing what was then considered a safe greetingan elbow bump.

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April Marie Mai

left, Lift Acrylic on Canvas right, Blue Lights Acrylic on Canvas

April Marie Mai My artistic practice has always been defined by periods of self-reflection and viewer engagement. From creating and showing pieces, to my interactive art, and teaching workshops, I’ve learned how much those interactions mean to my process as we’ve all gone without them. The art world has ground to an absolute halt, removing a lot of opportunities to network and have our work seen, both by viewers and potential sellers.

We are cut off from the world in many ways, and it is disquieting. I miss the days of sharing studio space even more. My living room is full of canvases. I create art that is in some sense a dichotomy — both brightly colored, fun pieces, as well as socially profound work that uses the bright patterns to make emotionally charged content more readily consumable for the audience. This difficult and unstable climate has adjusted the way I work. Brightly colored, cheerful pieces, such as my Color Explosion series are taking center stage, as they provide my followers and me with a beautiful escape.

Color Explosion pieces are simply a joy for me to create. It’s highly tactile and gestural, using impasto techniques and a palette knife to create canvases covered with a variety of colored rainbows. They’re therapeutic for me to both create and view. I love getting lost in them. In a world where everything is upside down, I take comfort in putting a smile on viewers’ faces.

Teaching art workshops is important to me, and I have rescheduled all of them due to the novel coronavirus. I miss them greatly. I love to watch people who felt intimidated by art become confident at making it. For so many people it is a release and a way to take joy in the moment. To make up for missing that, I’m working on crafting an extremely thorough free video art workshop series. It will cover all of the elements and principles of art and design, as well as a variety of other things that are important, and will be a series of 30 workshops. We’re all doing what we can do adapt to our new reality, however long it may last. For me, that looks like it will mean relying on tips and support from people who enjoy the things I create, so that I may continue to make content. It’s a different experience than I’m used to, but I’m eager to rise to the challenge.

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Places that are still finding a way to promote art in a safe manner are pivotal for us artists. I’m so thankful for the people doing what they can to support artists. It makes a difference!

April Marie Mai

Garden Acrylic on Canvas

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Megh Knappenberger

Stream 1 Acrylic, oil crayon, graphite, charcoal and marker on paper

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Megh Knappenberger Covid-19 has been a strain on my art business, to put it mildly. Like all of us, the constant barrage of changing news and our inability to get things under control is a burdensome mental load.

But I also am newly home full-time with my two kids, ages 5 and 18mos. Before Covid-19 hit, I had made a conscious choice to continue working and developing my career as an artist full time while they both went to school and daycare. With the more “normal” of our two jobs, my husband has continued on in his day to day which has placed most of the childcare responsibilities on me and effectively paused my business.

While I hate falling into any stereotype, I will admit that, as the artist trope goes, I am a big feeling, emotional, and introverted individual. The absence of time alone has worn on me in new ways during this time, beyond that of maternity leave or long vacations.

I have found myself working the least I have in over 5 years, both because of the lack of time and ability with my kids, and the lack of energy left for creative endeavors. In the absence of that regular release mechanism of painting and making, I’ve found it is building into these messy, manic explosions like these submissions here. All of a sudden, I have to grab whatever paper I have nearby and whatever drawing or painting tools are handy and just let it go. Often with my five-year-old son at my side, I have had to verbalize the process in the moment like never before. I explain that sometimes when I feel frustrated or sad that I just need to scribble and draw and let it come out of my body through my hands. He thinks it’s funny and draws at my side, adding a levity to an otherwise intense process.

My usual work, while messy and textural, is typically planned and researched meticulously and most always figurative. I am well known for a licensed collection of Jayhawks and other KU pieces, and a painting of Wonder Woman that was bedazzled in real diamonds and raised $54K for the American Heart Association last year. Additionally, my sunflower and bison work has helped establish me as a Midwestern and Kansas City anchored artist. This work is outside my normal wheelhouse. But during these times when we are all in rapid change and discomfort, we have to find ways to vent the steam. These are that for me.

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Chris Clink I am a fabricator. Normally, my creativity is funneled into automotive endeavors. However, during the pandemic, the direction of daily activities changed dramatically. In my home, I found that we as a family began to see items in a new light. The food in our cabinets was used more purposefully, games in the closet were viewed as more valuable, and improvements were made to the home that were easily glanced over before quarantine forced us to pay closer attention.

With extra time on my hands and my imaginative mind running wild I knew I needed to focus my desire to create. My attention turned to unused silverware that sat in the pile of donations. I knew I could mold the items and began to transform them in my mind. As I worked with these kitchen utensils; the animals, insects and flowers showed up in everything. A sherbet cup became a daffodil waiting to be twisted and cut into something fresh. A fork’s tines became the toes of a frog poised to jump or the delicate wings of a bird. Everything was something new.

As with most of my art, my daughter joined me. We share an artist’s mind and even though she is more of a traditional artist, she loves to work with me, and work with metals or other mediums. We found a small dessert fork and turned it into a ring. My wife got involved too, she wanted to transform her windchimes with a new weight, and so I made her a dragonfly to replace a broken piece of wood.

The possibilities were endless.

When I read the announcement about the exhibition it rang true to what I have been doing: rebuilding. Rebuilding both the family bonds and the items that could easily have been discarded. The joy of reinvigorating these items is a tangible reminder of how our family used this time to learn more about each other and grow closer in our resiliency.

(I hope that) others can see how regular items and even trash can be reused and repurposed to create joy and make connections both artistically and in relationships. So easily, the negative aspect of a current situation can mask the beauty and opportunities that are in any circumstance. Thank you for your consideration.

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Chris Clink Lily Silverware

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Sara Sally LaGrand Shelter Glass, cement

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Sara Sally LaGrand I have been a glass artist for some years, working most recently to incorporate flowers and fish inside glass orbs with as much precision as possible. When the stay at home orders became real, and my normal job of running a busy glass art studio came to a screeching halt, I began making the glass spheres everyday, instead of as time allowed. It was a way to feel busy. Eventually, I began to put myself inside the bubbles, as an expression of safety. The world began to slow down, hunker down and flatten the curve. Those months were stressful but also comforting in the safety of inaction became more apparent.

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Valery Johnson During this time of isolation, uncertainty, disconnection and sometimes panic and fear, I have been compelled to remain in my home and sit with those unfamiliar feelings. Life that we once thought stable, now seemed to balance on the end of the next newscast or government edict. As the isolation continued, we all sought solace and comfort in the familiar to express the unfamiliar mix of emotions. For me, making art is my familiar method of expressing feelings that may not even be understood or recognized. When words are absent, I can speak in the languages of color, texture and form. This piece was created from 3 components knitted in a freeform style on circular needles with pure wool yarn. Each piece was then felted with hot water, agitation, and soap in the washer giving the surface a smoother look and the body increased stiffness to hold the form.

The circle is a frequent form in my work. The circle mirrors the pattern of life and nature that I find comforting. In this piece the three concentric circles of color and form represent the smaller and smaller circle I found myself in during this time of isolation. I felt removed from, my community, my country, and the world. There was just me with time for reflection and introspection. I was removed from the real. People’s voices and faces came to me as digital representations.

In making this piece, it provided several things that soothed my soul. The tangible and tactile feel of the natural fiber of wool. The rhythmic, repetitive motion of knitting. The vibrant colors that reflected the inner peace I was seeking from the unpredictable and environment and world outside. It was a way to take the time for introspection and to find my inner strength be able to look to the future one day at a time. The Covid-19 pandemic had given us an unexpected gift. A gift of solitude and time for self-reflection and introspection. This gift that can result in deeper understanding of who we are and how we relate to the world outside of ourselves. Each of us will choose to take what we have learned about ourselves and adapt it to our life as we go forward--forward to a life with the current restrictions and beyond.

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Valery Johnson

Introspection 100% Wool Fiber, Knitted and Felted

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Sean Ponder

Reborn Micaceous Clay, Mica

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Sean Ponder

Phoenix Micaceous Clay, Mica

Sean Ponder In March 2020, my life was turned upside down with the middle of the night phone call you never want to get. I unexpectedly lost my sister-in-law, and my brother and niece were both in the hospital. My wife and I immediately flew to be with our family. While we were in California thinking that life couldn’t possibly throw any more curveballs for awhile, Covid-19 officially came to the U.S.A. This suddenly extended the cloud of chaos I was lost in to encompass not only our nation, but the world. My wife and I are artists, and both of us lost work; we were thrown into survival mode, transitioning jobs we always thought had to be done in person into the virtual world. Funeral plans had to be downsized, and then downsized again, and again. We cut our trip to be with family short in fear that we would not be able to get home to Kansas City. Like everyone else, our world completely shifted.

Time at home turned out to be a blessing. It was a joy to see my creative coworkers come together to make the best of this new situation. It filled me with pride in my community to see how people worked together to flatten the curve and protect our vulnerable citizens. I was able to spend more time with my wife and dog and working in my home studio.

“Reborn” was created in response to Covid-19 due to what this pandemic has taught me: nothing is lost forever, things just evolve. Like my experiences prior to and during the pandemic, I had to be transformed. Life without loved ones is very difficult, but its the experience with loss that has rebuilt me into what I am today. “Reborn” and its use of clay portrays this transformation of self. “Reborn” uses clay that was hand dug by myself from the mountains of New Mexico, refined, processed and made into what is seen on display: a work of art. Like humans, when life beats us down with the unexpected, this work of art was built from the ground up into what you see today.

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Cindy Brendzel

A Glimmer of Hope in a Downward Spiral Hand-dyed and Commercial Fabrics with Machine Stitching

Cindy Brendzel A Glimmer of Hope in a Downward Spiral: I made this piece at the beginning of the nationwide lockdown in March. I intended it to be a study using a limited color pallete in earth tones. When I took the opportunity to step back, I saw that I created a dark pit! Where did that come from? I have always been a happy outgoing person. In the beginning, I viewed the lockdown as something I could handle. Stay at home they said. Now after weeks of imposed isolation I am aware of the subtle and not so subtle effects of being cut off from a normal routine filled with rewarding activities, and friends.

I know from experience darkness can come into your life so quietly that before you know it you’ve pulled back from everything and everyone. The pandemic has given us a sense of uncertainty and dread, and that is the perfect setting for a downward spiral. I finished this piece by adding the shiny, irregular star in the middle of the spiral to remind myself and the viewer to never give up hope of climbing back up.

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Social Distancing: I made this piece using two men’s button-down shirts and one women’s cotton jacket, all from Goodwill, plus one piece of red commercial fabric. The process of cutting and randomly piecing everything together created a pattern that brought to mind social distancing. Everyone is isolated from each other and left to wonder how to manage the new normal. Human beings are social creatures. I’ve always kept myself busy and surrounded with people, so in the middle of March when everyone went behind closed doors it felt like a science fiction movie. Suddenly everyone was out of reach. We are also very creative creatures. It seems every day we’re finding new ways to reach out to each other to stay in contact. I stitched little bubbles of thread between and around the faces to remind the viewer that the connections are still there. We may have to work a little harder to maintain them, but it’s worth it.

Cindy Brendzel

Social Distancing Re-purposed Fabrics, with Machine and Hand Stitching

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Gayle Baddeley 87

Then (Don’t Worry Be Happy) and Now (Stay Home) Cotton Fabric, Men’s Dress Shirts, pieced & machine quilted, fused applique, embellished with embroidery, Perle cotton, sequins and beads

Gayle Baddeley February-Part 1- “Clothes to Quilts” In February, I took a workshop called “Clothes to Quilts” with Quilt Artist Luke Haynes through the Kaw Valley Quilt Guild in Lawrence, Kansas. This was a fun, “carefree”, process of designing an abstract art quilt. We took 2 Goodwill discarded men’s shirts that we reused, recycled, and deconstructed with one contrasting fabric. With so many women creatively sharing ideas and thoughts in a group setting, this was truly inspiring!

March, April, May-Part 2- “Circles of Virus” Then came the words: lockdown, quarantine, pandemic, “Flatten the curve”, infectious disease, wash your hands, wear a mask, social distancing, be safe, and “We’re in this together!” I decided to keep adding and working on circles of viruses to Part 1 as I listened to the media. My circles then became glittery! In this unpredictable, unprecedented, worrisome, and scary time, designing and stitching helped ease my thoughts and help me focus and be in-control in an out-of-control atmosphere. In going forward, I’m still worried about family and friends and try to stay connected to them at a distance. Being creative and working in fiber is truly a blessing.

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Christopher Leitch Pandemic in Buddhist Suburbia: Any solace I seek in the studio is not conventionally satisfying or productive. My work as an artist is a relentless effort to understand our human existence. My ambivalent epistemology of drawing and writing is unlikely to reach conclusions.

When we realize that everything is a part of emptiness, we can recognize what we see as just a tentative form and color.

My work dwells in the spaces between perception and communication and understanding… it embraces inefficiencies of description conveyed through layers of image. I turn to shapes of words, and their fragments and single letters, to draw attention to the wholeness we emerge from. In this way, uncertainty is liberating and invigorating. These drawings take as their subject Buddhist ideas and teachings, such as the six paramitas, or wisdoms, of zazen. It is said that we may participate in society without being tainted, by enacting them. Such a realization does not control fear, unease or distrust of the physical world. Rather, these are gestures of maintaining repose midst the infinite flotsam of our struggles with desire and attachment that litter social life.

--- We are a long-time, newly married couple. We share a 90-year-old cottage on a densely-gardened acre in a first-tier bedroom community near a medium-sized midwestern American city. He’s an academic historian, I’m an artist with a bureaucratic day job. We’re older, and have made a quiet reflective life for ourselves. Much of society and culture can seem to occur at a distance, as Suzuki-roshi suggests: a tumult of color and noise against our background. We’re dedicated and experienced homebodies. We often say that we’ve lasted 30 years because we know how to leave each other alone.

The roar was dull, of waves of disease emerging around the globe and lapping at our western and eastern and southern shores.

We thought it would subside – like farm people do, at the sea for the first time – as many such waves have in the past. The grim novelty of governments and doctors; of foreign friends’ reports; of panic shopping and mask making; dire predictions and blithe dismissals; has become ceaselessly pounding, ominous, heavy, weighing and wearing.

The dull thrum of nervous dread, of being chased by unseen foes, awoke our memories of surviving the onset and height of the HIV epidemic. We feel at home with this remembered-not-knowing of our youths: avoiding intimacies; hungering for social support and government guidance. We’ve stretched our creaking and achy coping muscles. Sit meditation, take deep breaths when panic sets in. Follow the rules and replace ‘condom’ with ‘mask’ in the ‘always wear a ______’ inner dialogue. Keep the exhausting, unfocused long view, because we know to survive the insidious is a feat of patience, of kshanti, endurance.

My husband was on a sabbatical to write a book, when his campus shut down. We could do nothing but worry about his colleagues and imagine the distress of his students, while our daily habits selfishly did not shift. As an artist always hungry for time at the drawing table, I was not immediately annoyed by the closure of our offices. I’ve dedicated a corner of the studio to bureaucracy, but I put the laptop and notes away every night.

I have said I am more productive because I am not ambling around the office half the day looking for gossip and snacks.

He has continued to write and my work has continued throughout the shifting phases, and we have counted our many blessings of food and shelter, family and friends to love remotely, of the cultural privileges permitting our waiting it out.

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Christopher Leitch

Six Wisdoms, left to right, dana, sila, kshanti, virya, dhyana, prajna Pencil and Watercolor on Cotton Bristol Paper

In the teachings, when one doesn’t know what to do, one starts with simple chores, cleaning for instance. So we’ve sought focus and balance in the new mundane. Wash the masks. Wipe the groceries. Avoid the cleaning lady, and give her some extra, because.

I have thus framed my studio and garden lives in routines and deadlines, more than ever, since mid-March. The garden has never been better tended. Many small projects, the dozen dry-stack retaining borders for herbs and beds for instance, have been realized in this field of opportunity opened by social and professional duties erased. I’m carrying stones, watering, tending leaves and flowers. The chores and tasks fill a day to push news, unrest, discord out of focus, to give immediate purpose that blocks views of unwelcomed uncertainty.

At this moment, we cannot say where this path-through-pandemic leads us. We may be confident that there is an other side. I trust our scientists and doctors to chaperone us there. In the meantime as an artist, I must persist. Like Neruda, “escribo sólo, para no morirme” – “I only write, to avoid dying.”

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Catherine Kirkland

Fractured Conversation Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Catherine Kirkland The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our world, in terms of sickness, death and economic devastation. The arts community has not been spared.

While artists may have delighted in having more time in the studio to create, their opportunities to show and sell their creations disappeared along with those income possibilities they rely on. These past few months have encouraged me to reflect on what I am grateful for: my health, a safe, comfortable home, a loving spouse and family, and good neighbors who look in on one another. Conversely, this also prompted me to reflect on the dark side of confinement, and the impact on those who do not have the capacity to cope with the mental stresses of isolation, unemployment, food and financial insecurity. While staying home helped curtail the spread of the disease, we are just now discovering the unintended consequences of the confinement and destruction of peoples’ livelihoods. This personal introspection provided a valuable lesson, stirring me to cherish more than ever, my health and freedoms. Two of the works were painted before the confinement began, but have taken on new meaning in the artist’s eyes, in light of current circumstances.

Fractured Conversation: The title is self-explanatory, depicting the artist’s observations that we are becoming more polarized.

More dug in, in our opinions and rhetoric, with seemingly only binary choices. I’m right. You’re wrong. No conversation. No compromise. We talk past each other and don’t listen. This triptych, in bold colors and intentional misalignment, represents the heated discussions being had. The discord is not limited to political and social discourse, but rather has intensified and spilled into seemingly all aspects of our lives. The Covid-19 crisis appears to have only heightened our uncivil disagreement. We cannot even agree on whether it is safe to loosen restrictions on movement and commerce! How will this disconnect affect us as a society?

As a country? Can we do better? Are we able to open our ears and hearts to really listen to each other? It is the artist’s hope that we will rediscover how to speak and listen effectively, rather than shouting past each other, so that we may find solutions through listening, understanding and working together toward common goals.

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore: This abstract work pays homage to the iconic movie, The Wizard of Oz, with subtle symbolism.

The black and white geometric background represents the movie’s opening and closing scenes that were filmed in black and white.

The colorful, curvy paths represent the Oz scenes that were filmed in Technicolor. These also suggest the shape of the Yellow Brick Road, that Dorothy and her friends must follow in order to get home. The swirling, dotted patterns in the margins allude to the storm and tornado that were the genesis of Dorothy’s adventure. The title, of course, is a nod to Dorothy’s famous line in the movie when she and Toto discovered they were no longer in Kansas.

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Catherine Kirkland

Left, We’re Not in Kansas Anymore Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas Right, Cloudy with a Chance of Color Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

This piece was painted during the Covid-19 stay-at-home orders. During that time, the artist reflected on the surreal experience of the unprecedented shut down of the country, and the impact the virus was having not just locally, but globally. The movie motifs suddenly took on a new, deeper meaning, illustrating the artist’s discomfiture, making her wonder whether she still was in Kansas (or in the USA, for that matter), as this level of restriction of movement and commerce had never been experienced in the artist’s lifetime.

Cloudy with a Chance of Color: This hard-edged abstract, predominantly in gray tones, represents cloudy, gloomy days that inspire introspection in some and depression in others. Stay-at-home orders during the Covid-19 crisis have certainly brought to the fore, sparking the emotional impacts of being home bound and uncertain of what the future holds. The spots of color throughout the work, reflect glimmers of optimism to reassure the viewer that clouds eventually do give way to sunshine and colorful days. It reflects the view of the artist, that while clouds bring rain, cleansing showers quench our psyches as much as they nourish the flowers and all of nature.

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Robert Castillo This piece was created during the first weeks of shutdowns in Kansas City. During this time, I was very inspired to create profusely and to connect with friends through technology. This piece is essentially a self portrait of myself video chatting with friends (notice the abstract hand in the lower right holding a phone). The bloblike shapes throughout are meant to resemble respiratory particulates that could potentially carry Covid-19 and its prevalence in our thoughts and dialogue. The circular pattern of color above the center of the piece is representative of a DNA sequence. During the time of this painting I had been studying the effect of viruses and retroviruses on the human genome and wanted to include these thoughts in the painting. The element in the lower left section of the painting represents the uncertainty I felt about the present moment and how it’d affect the future.

This section of the painting continuously changed throughout the creation this piece. I noticed that as I engorged myself with as much news about the virus as I could, this section would continue to morph along with the new information.

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Robert Castillo #socialdistancing Oil on Canvas

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Blaine Scott

Untitled Prisma Color on Paper

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Blaine Scott I am an Overland Park resident, Vietnam Army veteran, and custom classic car and motorcycle pinstripe artist. Pinstriping is an art form developed in the 1950s, with straight, curved and decorative lines. My art piece for this show was influenced by my pinstriping background and incorporates a new style for me. The imagery has served as my form of self-expression during this challenging time.

This Covid-19 pandemic has been the most challenging time of my life. Living alone during this time period without places to go has been very hard, lonely, and stressful. I was taking art classes, going out to eat, going to the library and bookstores around Overland Park before this started. Losing my community spaces due to closures related to the pandemic has been incredibly hard.

This art piece is one of almost 100 I created during this season. When I am engaged in art making, I find I can get lost in the creative process, I can ignore the terrible things happening in the world, and I can get relief from anxiety, and enjoy myself.

When I begin a drawing, I don’t start with a plan, but use colored pencils and just start drawing. I then connect the lines and find a sense of freedom and contentment in the process. My pinstripe art is created in a similar manner, but on cars, motorcycles, and art panels. For this series, I used Prisma colors and small paper, so I could create art while sitting in my favorite cushioned chair in my apartment.

During this time period, someone convinced me to join an online twelve-week art group with other people in Overland Park. I was reluctant, because I had never done anything like that before. It was something I looked forward to each week, and something that encouraged me to keep producing art and engaged in the creative process. This idea of chaos and hope are the two themes I am still dealing with as the pandemic is making the world feel frustrating and uncertain. Art gives me a sense of hope.

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Mary Ann Coonrod My response to the COVID -19 is uncertainty mixed with anxiety. The virus has forced me to make decisions I don’t feel comfortable with. For example: do I go play with my friends, go out to eat, or just stay safe.

I want to escape and get out even though I know it could cost me my life. I am an abstract artist living in Johnson County. I was teaching abstract watercolor at JCCC, but for now, the school has canceled my class and I am not prepared to or want to teach online.

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Mary Ann Coonrod Breathe #1 Mixed Media

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Jean McGuire

All Broken Up Mixed Media Collage

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Jean McGuire When the Covid-19 isolation hit in early March one of the first things I did was move all of my supplies from my studio space to my home. I live in a small house, so due to lack of room, I had to convert my dining room into my studio. There is no natural light in this room, but it was the only place I had where I could work.

On top of the less than ideal physical set up, was my own mental resistance to creating. I have found that when I try to work from home I am willing to do almost any household chore (falling just short of actually cleaning the house,) to keep myself from painting. The stress and tension of the unknown situation we were living through only intensified that resistance. An artist friend shared that she had started doing collages in order to help her stir her creative juices. This appealed to me because a collage is a simple thing that isn’t as intimidating as a blank canvas. A collage also felt really appropriate given the jumble of mixed emotions I was dealing with.

After a number of collages, I became fascinated with making colored prints of my own charcoal portraits, cutting them apart, and then re-assembling them mixing up the faces from multiple drawings. I then added random shapes around the edges to off-set the primary image. The result that I am submitting, All Broken Up, is my favorite of these collages. I feel that imagery of being taken apart and being put back together again, but in not quite the same way as previously, is a perfect analogy for how I felt for the first month of isolation.

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Nathan Baergen

The Royal Sadness Digital Print

Nathan Baergen Thank you for the opportunity to show my artwork. Attached you’ll find (some) of my most favorite photos I’ve taken during this wonderful world of Covid-19.

During the pandemic I have had the much-needed time to revisit my passion for landscape photography and capturing the serenity of nature. These photos capture the pause found in this troubling time.

When things look down, there is always beauty when you look up.

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Nathan Baergen

Colors of the Dark Digital Print

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Justin Border

Google Street View, 600 N. Nettleton, Bonner Springs, KS Watercolor, Pencil on Paper

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Justin Border I began to rethink on this idea of collecting images from Google street view of all of the buildings I’ve lived in to this point. While furloughed and staying at home and after having to cancel upcoming travel plans, I had a small panic thinking, “When can we travel again? What will travel look like? Will I have to live vicariously through my computer screen and virtually visit places I want to see for the unforeseeable future?”

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Michelle Pond I had some expectations for the year 2020, but a global pandemic was not one of them. Some of my initial reactions were shock, disbelief, fear, uncertainty and gratitude that I bought toilet paper before the stay-at-home order. Then, when it came time to answer the question, “What do I do now?,” I turned to art.

First, I have enjoyed many art forms that are being presented virtually. Gallery tours, concerts, plays, readings and Zoom meetings have supplied hours of enjoyment and education. I also have participated in virtual exhibitions and readings. Secondly, I have continued creating my own art. I am a photographer and a poet. I pair original photographs and poems that speak to one another.

I am primarily a nature photographer and am attentive to the beauty that appears in front of me everyday. That is fortunate because most of my photographs this year have been taken of things in my yard or visible from my yard. I didn’t set out to make art related to Covid-19. It happened naturally. I hope you find some beauty in it.

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Michelle Pond

Confusion Photography and Poetry

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Mila Geisler

Hanging Feast Oil on Canvas

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Mila Geisler

Seaslap Oil on Canvas

Mila Geisler These semi-figurative paintings are composites of seemingly recognizable subjects and then further removed by reinventing them. I am curious how time transfigures the dialogue between familiar themes. I find that variations on familiar themes and concepts are at the heart of examination.

Coming from a classical background of painting, I have found myself parodying the genres of traditional portraiture and landscape. The surrealistic qualities allow for the unseriousness of the unconscious to surface. These characters are not mythicized in a heroic fashion rather humanized with the silliness of bulging parts and evaporated features. These new images that are at the same time familiar and unfamiliar allow the viewer a more participatory interaction. The mystery of the forms signal a seduction that is attainable to all and none. Pointing towards how identity is can both be steeped in tradition and quickly transfigured.

As for creating in the time of Covid-19, I’ve actually had mixed feelings. In addition to my work schedule changing and not having the time, additionally it’s more my mindset to create which has stifled me. I’ve not really had the stillness of mind to want to make anything. I really think the virus, economic hardship, the political divisions and protesting has compounded and made me reconsider what creating should be. Painting has usually been a meditative process where I can distill all the noise onto canvas. However with the current climate I believe a lot of people are feeling all the anxiety at once and coming out of this will be a long. I’m hoping we all had time to contemplate our personal missions and come out larger beings. What that means for me and painting, I’m not sure, as it seems a bit self-serving in the current mood to paint as I did before. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not excited to see what comes post quarantine; I’m a combination of optimistic and wonder for whatever comes.

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Leah Shay-Zapien I have worked as a barista at a coffee shop in Johnson County from September of 2017-April 2020. I took a voluntary furlough due to concerns over Covid-19 and have not been back to work yet.

My decision to stop going into work has caused me a great deal of anxiety.

After expecting to be furloughed or laid off after the Kansas City Stay-At-Home order, I was surprised to learn that we were still considered an essential business because we sold food. Each day driving into work, I would feel the nauseating pain of guilt as I saw signs on 435 saying, “STAY HOME, SAVE LIVES.” Even though me working wasn’t against the order, I felt a very strong sense of responsibility as a fellow human to stop what I was doing. I knew that by taking the furlough, I would at least be removing one person contributing to the problem of rising cases.

I am in a very lucky position where I have the luxury to be able to afford some time off work without pay. I live with my family and do not pay rent. I feel grateful for this luxury but also am dealing with some guilt in knowing that not everyone had that option.

My piece is a self-portrait illustrating the immobilizing anxiety that I have felt over the pandemic.

The figure is seated in a defeated and hopeless posture. Her thoughts have been distorted by a fog of uncertainty, and she doubts every decision she makes, making her unable to move. The ‘fog’ that I have been enduring thought the pandemic is the very palpable fear of inadvertently infecting others who are vulnerable while I am asymptomatic. I am thinking about it constantly, and worry that I will make a mistake by forgetting a step of hand-washing, mask-wearing, cough-covering, or socialdistancing. Anxiety can be a very isolating experience, and my hope is that a viewer who has had similar feelings to mine can see the portrait and not feel so alone.

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Leah Shay-Zapien

Fog Embroidery Thread on Cotton Fabric

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Dorene Manvitz

My Tears Come More Freely Now Soft Pastels, Pan Pastels, Charcoal Pencils

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Dorene Manvitz The day the pandemic became real to me I was in California taking care of 3 granddaughters. Suddenly school was cancelled. Their mother came home early from her business trip and within days my son’s office was closed and he had to work from home. I was originally supposed to be in California for one more week. However, after a family meeting, we decided that I should leave immediately while flights were still plentiful.

The day I arrived home, Kansas announced a travel advisory for anyone traveling from the Bay area, and I had to self-quarantine for 14 days. I was not prepared for the emotional impact Covid-19 would have on me. There were news reports of ICU beds filling up and doctors required to triage patients.

The news casts stated younger patients would receive priority and older adults and those with preexisting conditions that could affect survival rate might have to wait for a bed when determining who to treat.

Suddenly my active, fulfilling life came to a screeching halt. I felt expendable, useless, elderly. No more traveling to see our grandchildren. Everything was cancelled. No more yoga sessions and workouts in the gym or art classes. How did this change occur in just one week? I was becoming someone who I didn’t recognize. My mind now told me I was socially expendable, I had served my purpose, and society did not need me anymore. I became depressed and fearful of this invisible stranger stalking me and my family. I grieve for the former me. Who am I now – suddenly I’m vulnerable and fragile.

The tears came more freely. My eyes say “I’m okay,” but behind the mask nobody knows my thoughts.

I feel like the real me is fading away and a stranger is taking my place.

I count my blessings. Thank heavens for parks and long walks at dusk. I’m thankful for technology that brings Zoom into my life and yoga into my home. Through Zoom, I am taking two art classes.

We share dinners with our children on Zoom and the grandchildren put on dance shows, swim and enjoy life with us sharing their accomplishments. I have a husband who encourages my hobbies and all the messes and disruptions an impromptu art space can make. My family is healthy. The pandemic has turned many lives topsy-turvy in terrible ways. Through my tears, I know that I am blessed. Now I need to create a new me.

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Sailor Herron The stay-at-home order gave me a lot of free time. To fill the time, I decided to work on developing my skill of drawing faces. This activity gave me pleasure and connected me to society.

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Sailor Herron

Faces Colored Pencil, Pencil, Marker on Paper

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Krystal Anton

This Bill is Due Materials Sent to Home during Quarantine; Cardboard, Mail, Magazines

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Krystal Anton

This Bill is Due Materials Sent to Home during Quarantine; Cardboard, Mail, Magazines

Krystal Anton When I packed up my office to work from home in March, I thought it would be a couple of weeks before we went back and things would go on as before, being sent away to work from home was just a weird blip on the radar of routine. But as time went on, and work became a series of online meetings and too much time on the internet, I began to see the pattern of people constrained within their environments, in their homes, in their unhappy relationships, in their Zoom window during a meeting, in their jobs with little protections, or within the system they now needed to rely on for unemployment benefits and healthcare, sitting in long lines in their cars waiting for food or Covid-19 testing.

Every day without fail however, for myself and everyone else, came the mail, and with it the bills. Parcels of stress wrapped in a security pattern with your name in the window. The piece of paper that decides if you will have power next month, or a roof over your head. I decided to put faces in those windows and create a glimpse of humanity, constrained but living within that constraint as best they can, a wallpaper of security pattern offers some comfort against the external demands of life, but reality is not pretty, we are all just doing the best we can in the circumstances we are in.

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Ada Koch So many momentous changes in such a short time! I am but one of many affected in large, obvious ways – for me, all of my art classes have been cancelled for the last five months, scheduled art shows have been postponed or cancelled, so no teaching, no art openings, no income. But smaller, hidden changes affect my ability to create – no open galleries nor art museums, no visits to fellow artists’ studios to exchange ideas or find inspiration, no energy to concentrate on books that I would normally read in a few days. Buildings closed during the lockdown included my art studio, so limited access to my creative materials and sources of reference – no area for making messes which is key to my process.

The development of a new body of work didn’t come from a sudden epiphany or moment of great vision heightened with flashes of light. The new work came from acknowledgement that this is the “now”, this is what I have to work with, so I did what I have done for over 20 years. I showed up to work, sat down and got started. This time I have limited space, my small, windowless basement room instead of a bright spacious studio. I have limited materials, so I started working on paper instead of the 4’ x 6’ large canvases. The subjects of my works for the past six years were about social issues in the community. Now, I turn inward, what are my issues? What is going on in my head and life and how can I share that?

This latest body of work on paper using pens, pencils, acrylics, and transfers points to my feeling pressured and out of balance. I am inspired by David Bowie and Queen’s song “Under Pressure”: we are feeling terror from the illness, from unknown futures, from feeling alone and without love. Each of the three works I present here reflect these feelings of pressure, insecurity and imbalance.

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Maintaining Balance in a Changing World: This last simple small piece on paper shows me trying to balance my life moving from an orderly clear pillar of strength through a chaotic mess towards an even more turbulent destination, while feeling myself fade into obscurity.

Ada Koch

Maintaining Balance in a Changing World Mixed Media of Ink, Graphite, Charcoal, Watercolors, Colored Pencils

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Jonah Fish

Growing Through Photograph

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Jonah Fish The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed me into a closer relationship with nature.

Mostly the need to escape the confines of my limited quarantine space, and there being no other options, but I have found hope and inspiration in the lives of plants. Trees grow out of their own need for sunlight, but vines climb them, birds and squirrels live in their branches, grass and fungi find nourishment from their roots. Having little other way to spend free time, watching plants grow, fall, and feed each other has given me more appreciation for the ways all the people around me affected my life. I hope once Covid-19 has passed to nourish those relationships and connections like the plants nourish each other.

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David Biegelsen The pandemic came on slowly, but quickly became a worldwide crisis. The virus has affected everyone in some manner and the consequences have been devastating to many, if not all.

Since early March, I have used my work, my art, to explore the constructs of memory, time and mortality. Constructs that have taken upon new meaning during the Pandemic. I have created images to record and express the ideas and feelings that have found life amidst this health crisis. The images have many layers, textures and transparencies that attempt to create a new emotional experience for the viewer.

Photography, in its traditional way, provides a means to capture moments that become part of our collective memory. Now, however, artists have access to a vast array of digital tools to explore, capture and define our experiences, reality and emotional states. The images I created are accompanied by a musical score by my co-collaborator, Melissa Forinash.

The music: I’m not sure I can say where my composition came from. It wasn’t born from an idea in my mind. It did not come from a sophisticated planning process and did not come with a roadmap. At best, I can say that it found its birth within the emotional chaos I have experienced since the onset of the Pandemic. While clumsily traversing through denial, awareness, fear, frustration and resignation again and again, my music has allowed me to create a tangible reflection of my internal experiences.

The multi-media piece created, joins the ideas and emotions we have experienced during this difficult time. This was accomplished by each bringing and sharing our personal experiences with one another and weaving them together, to create art. This is the result.

The pandemic has heightened the feelings of loss and isolation that are a normal part of the human experience. This allows for healthy growth under normal circumstances, yet what is normal about our current reality? In a time when nothing is familiar in our world, the struggle to find beauty and structure in daily life has never been so vital.

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David Biegelsen

Untitled, Digital Still Multimedia

Melissa Forinash

Untitled, Digital Still Musical Composition

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©2020