Covid Art

WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER

In early March 2020, our neighborhood, like the rest of the country, began the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. When we still believed that Covid-19 was spread through surface contact, I reluctantly closed our Little Library. In those early weeks, I wasn't motivated to create art, but my inner child wanted to play. We were all locked down together, yet isolated from each other. One day, a neighbor suggested neighbors could display rainbows in our windows to symbolize the unity of "being in this together." I quickly used multi-colored tissue paper to make a large rainbow for our front window. As we took our daily walks, we could see rainbows hung in our neighbor's windows and suddenly, we didn't feel so alone.

Teaberry Lane Little Library closed down.

Rainbows in our windows in solidarity.

As the pandemic months rolled by, I began to think of how much we were all missing, especially the children who were missing their friends at school. One day, I came across a small rabbit family of Calico Critters that were left behind among our daughter's childhood things. I had an idea to create a diorama of a rabbit family in lockdown. This little rabbit family would need a weather-proof home. Thanks go to my wonderful woodworker husband, Sigurd, who built a one-room cedar house and brought this idea to life. I added some furniture and had fun making other small items so the rabbit home would feel cozy. The rabbit family passed their time working on puzzles (like we did), cleaning with clorox, keeping a supply of masks and toilet paper on hand (paw) and of course, supporting Biden for President (all the things we did too). The rabbit family reminded anyone who happened to walk by our house, that we were indeed, "in this together.".

Rabbit Family at Christmas

In 2021, we were used to lockdown life and in the mood to celebrate. I decided the rabbit family would celebrate Christmas with a tree and presents. I repurposed a tiny Christmas tree that I'd once sent to our daughter to decorate her dorm room during her first year of college. I added more items from her childhood dollhouse and tiny fairy lights so anyone passing by on a dark winter night could enjoy the rabbit family celebration.

Rabbit House Expansion

By 2022, with the help of Sigurd's woodworking skills, we expanded the rabbit family home from one to four rooms! The expansion included an open-concept kitchen and living room, a dining room, an art studio, and with rabbits doing what they do, a nursery for lots of baby rabbits. Upstairs, the rabbit family bakes cookies, watches Charlotte's Web on TV and roasts smores in the fireplace. Downstairs in the art studio, rabbits paint and do homework, while in the nursery, young rabbits play.

More smores, please.

In the art studio, above an acorn sculpture, is a poem my mother learned as a child and taught to me..

Beneath the tall and spreading tree,

birds and squirrels drink their tea.

Each one takes a dainty sup,

from a tiny acorn cup.

~ Author Unknown

Woodland Village

During lockdown, the rabbit dioramas soothed my inner child, but I began to think about a place where neighborhood children might stop to actually play. That led to the idea of a "Woodland Village". The village has three "neighborhoods" connected by bridges so the woodland animals could cross over the bridges to play with their friends. Eventually, fairies moved into the village and peacefully coexist with all the wildlife. It's been fun to watch the interactions of neighbors (young and old) with the woodland animals and fairies. Click on the image to view details.

As the months of Covid-19 lockdown wore on, I felt despair at how we were failing to slow the spread of the deadly virus. I felt even deeper despair about Trump's MAGA movement. On the positive side of lockdown, many began to notice how the environment had begun to have cleaner air and water from the pause in human activity. Sadly, the Trump administration began to roll back environmental protections so that these gains were offset and it became clear that pollution would only get worse in the years ahead. It wasn't just fear of the virus that kept me, and many people awake at night, there were other "monsters" at the door.

In summer 2020, a few streets away from home, I snapped a photo of a life-sized "handmaid" figure in a garden. This handmaid figure was featured in Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale. This photo became the inspiration for a mixed media collage, "Monsters at the Door" which was included in the Windows Into Art Exhibit in downtown Amherst, Massachusetts. Three real life monsters are depicted: 1) the climate crisis; 2) Covid-19 virus; and 3) Trump's MAGA movement that is creating a dystopian "Amerika" of increasing violence, racism, and misogyny that resembles the fictional country of "Gilead" in Atwood's novel. NOTE: If you click on the image to zoom in, the "O" in MONSTERS is a golf ball, reflecting Trump's obsession with golf.

Symbols of Trump's "Amerika" include gun violence and bizarre QAnon conspiracy theories. This is depicted by assault rifles and the red-white-and blue "QAnon" symbol in the garden, as well as a tear gas canister in the foreground. Racial violence is depicted by a bloody, bullet ridden door and a Black Lives Matter protest sign.

"The moment of betrayal is the worst; the moment when you know beyond any doubt

that you've been betrayed; that some other human being has wished you that much evil."

~ Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale