My Project On Finding Hope And Purpose In Our Work During The Pandemic

Art in Isolation, Sheltering in Place, and Finding Sanctuary. The last six months have been a bit like a hazy daydream; time has become elastic and hard to follow. We’ve all retreated to our nuclear families and had to adapt to the “new normal,” finding small personal comfort zones amid the COVID 19 Quarantine restrictions. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan meant being under severe limitations in the spring and now a significant spike this fall. As a working artist, I regularly self isolate to do my work, which comes perhaps more naturally to me than to most. My husband has worked from home for a decade, so I wasn’t bothered or bored by being told to stay put, and we were used to working at home. It was the children who had to adapt to remote lessons.

We all found ourselves constantly feeling under siege over the ever-changing information landscape, immediate and extended family needs, who needed support, whether with schooling, navigating the new digital landscape, or procuring food and necessities. Barraged with images of the virus itself, charts, and graphs of its speedy progress affecting the world, I felt overwhelmed like most people. I’ve had a home studio for the last decade, feeling crowded and encumbered by familial responsibilities and detritus of home life. Recently I had begun imagining space outside the house again, now that my children are getting older. But suddenly, I found myself instantly counting my blessings – a studio at home enabled me to retreat in the middle of all the new demands placed on us -right to my sanctuary. It was part of my compound, and I was living in it. I was able to dive deep and channel my anxieties into work.

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