A few weeks ago, I wanted to say something profound about art and hope in the time of the pandemic. I wanted to say how in times of fear and uncertainty we prefer a "certain type of art" (call it "beautiful", I do!) over images of chaos and rage, which we are getting enough of from real life, thank you very much. I wanted to say something interesting about how we are refocusing our time and creativity. I wanted to say a lot of snarky things about how much pressure there is to even be creative and how hard that is when one is frightened...etc etc...but? The feeling has mercifully passed! I changed my mind about writing all that stuff--too much work!
I have been taking a lot of walks. Often I am really paying attention to birds and nature. I saw a Downy Woodpecker and an Ovenbird! I see a lot of lovely spring plants. Sometimes it looks and sounds (no smell with that damned mask on) almost like being in the woods.
But I also see evidence of human artistic activity. In South Philly, there are a lot of homes with displays of objects in the front windows. There are potted plants, vases of live flowers, even more vases of fake flowers. There are just plain vases and ewers all by themselves. There are children's drawings. There are lots of Marys and Jesuses and angels and cherubs. And lotsa lotsa figurines: wild animals, domestic animals, gnomes, cute animals and humans. I got particularly interested in the regular females.
As I took pics and as I did so, some parameters arose. For example, I wanted them to look enclosed behind glass, so the reflections were important (I AM a glass artist after all!). I broke my own rule and included a Madonna because the way the refection cut off her head was just too good.
I'm no photographer, but it was fun. And the top photo was hard to take because she's behind plexi, not actual glass, so apologies for the poor quality.
So here's my photo essay I call; "Ladies of the Pandemic" Enjoy!
