Helaine Soller - 2018 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
Developing my art under Pandemic lockdown I had a new sense of freedom and abandon, with few distractions. Inspired by local environments new themes emerged in bolder synthesized forms from walks in isolation. A heightened sensitivity to natures’ drama and beauty lead to the paintings Downed Tree with Fungus  and Neighborhood, my new series of work evoking life cycles, environmental concerns, and recycling in suburbia. In the painting Tree, Rocks, Stream I escaped into my memories of Weir Farm. My paintings’ organic forms translated into a playful open-ended statement of nature found at a moment in time. Home transitioned into my art studio all 4x6 ft of dedicated space. My apartment a newly appreciated environment evolved into a sustainer of life. I reached out to exhibits, curators, and galleries, successfully on social media.

Ira Soller - 2018 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
As I aged, I knew my world would shrink, but I was unprepared for the accelerated effect of Covid. Photo opportunities became limited locally, or to one’s imagination. My 3 images examine Covid impact on our behavior and physical presence - helping me to laugh a little. Covid reactivated dormant Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal genes, resurrecting Duane Hanson like Hunter-gatherers. Gloves, WW1 goggles, and Shamanic ceremonial masks are worn, decorated with totems protected by K95 and KN95 incantations. Synthetic gathering baskets replace woven grass. (Image1) Transporters supersede pack animals to deliver/maneuver goods gathered from Silk Road civilizations. Mine, non-powered, sports a bell and flag but lacks handlebar tassels. (Image2) Turning inward, I sought imaginary worlds devoid of Corona. The one shown, the result of acute hunger, required thermodynamic transformation, parchment paper, a secret methodology, and a Martha Stewart ceremonial object. I intend to explore these worlds in more detail. (Image3)

Kathy Stark - 2017 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
The first paintings I did after the pandemic began were a series of paintings titled “COVID”, they reflected the fear and confusion around COVID-19. A painting from that series is included in this submission. By late Spring early summer I was able to focus on the series I had been working on prior to March 2020. My palette had been subtle, soft and harmonic as in “Looking Out from Behind the Clouds”. By the end of summer I was working on a new series where the color choices were much wilder and bolder “The Desire for Extravagant Moments”. This choice of stronger colors is a result of feelings about the pandemic – anger, fear, helplessness…The pandemic and being forced to remain at home is  difficult but I am so very thankful to be an artist, to have my studio and to have my work to be engaged in.

Marilyn Turtz - 2004 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
This has been a period of stress, sadness and separation from the people and institutions which give our life meaning and support. It is the practice of painting en plein air that has sustained me through this time.  Outside, in the timeless beauty, power, and resilience of nature, I am transported, as I experience the presence of the sublime in ordinary visual reality. Grappling in paint with infinite variety and constantly changing light, I experience engagement and respite from the anxiety and sameness of our currently limited day to day existence. The sense of timeless meaning that painting in nature provides, centers and empowers me through the days of this challenging time.

Josette Urso - 2003 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
Just as we all began to shelter in place, I started a new project, which for me has provided a good combination of comfort and challenge. Along with an extensive collection of found images, as a compulsive archivist, I also save color tests and telephone doodles as well as snippets from failed drawings and paintings. Revisiting and incorporating these images and materials into new orchestrations has been a lifesaver, providing focus and direction during the stress and sadness of this frightening time. In many ways, I feel I have been planting new seeds and in turn cultivating a new garden.  

Mary Vaughan - 2017 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
I think creative work thrives on isolation and what time with few obstacles can mean to the process. The Pandemic has been a gift of slowing down with unmatched focus. Having said that, artists also need a sense of connection to the world. Something of their subject is connected to others no matter how hidden away making art is. You have to make the painting or write the novel. No one does it for you. Yet, it is somehow about the link to others, or lack of that link. The harsh circumstance of the world and why the disease started with bats in China has had a huge impact on me. All of my work deals with Man versus Nature. This could have all been avoided if we took better care of the environment. It was bound to, the way we have been going. These concepts enter my work often.

Sally Veach - 2020 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
2020 was filled with anxiety, solitude, and soul searching. I spent the year in quarantine soaking up nature’s beauty and healing qualities at our mountain cabin in Old Fields, WV. On long walks in the wooded hills with our dog Bella, I gathered inspiration for the body of work Vetus Agri (Latin for Old Fields). These paintings are small; created from observation, looking out my small studio window or en plein air from the porch. Using the frame of Nature’s beauty, through my gestural, tortured mark-making, I aim to communicate our uniqueness among animals: the ability to question our existence. I’m grateful that Nature allows us to heal and restore. The land has become a source of spirit, grounding, meaning, love, and tolerance. The living things within it—trees, grasses, and animals—are precious. We are a part of that. We are at our best when we remember that.

Martha Wakefield - 2018 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
When lockdown began, I switched from classroom teaching to online. I learned to create videos, managing lighting and camera angles. In the early days of Covid, my studio practice offered structure, escape, and purpose. As the pandemic continued, I switched from painting to photography; the medium’s immediacy provided a better venue of expression. Shooting, printing, and scanning my images into digital composites reflected my concerns and grief. Shooting a red slip in the landscape reinvented a prior series of paintings done in reaction to another loss. This new series sees the slip is captured in foreboding, vast landscapes revealing our fragile existence. I recently began a series of abstract paintings celebrating the possibilities of light and hope returning. However, time will tell of the pandemic’s influence on my art as the wolf is still out there.  These three series are ongoing; I have barely scratched the surface of 2020’s potency.

Shiao-Ping Wang - 2011 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
During the pandemic I continued the work I did before. They are abstract painting on themes of connectiveness, often expressed in the forms of knotting and weaving motifs. Having always enjoyed this work, the theme of connection became a source of solace during the unsettling time. When using lines, colors, and shapes to make connections in a painting, I feel hopeful that our world will continue to be connected if we put our intentions out.
The slower rhythm of life in isolation also affected how I perceive space within my own being. With less activities and more time, I wondered into the intimate part of being, noticing the foundational aspects of life, and became curious of its mundane nature. My life is forever changed, the future of my art will be enriched by the new understanding of beauty in the tiny things and feelings of this special time. 

Charlotta Westergren - 2009 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
My work has been dealing with loss for some time. When COVID hit its content seemed relevant. After my art dealer died in 2015, I began an oil painting series of empty interiors. She lived in a modernist house surrounding herself with art and beautiful things. I started to think about what that space would feel like without her in it. I thought about the history of spaces - the lives lived within. These paintings were about loss. I thought about emptiness and quiet. In “Carolus Linnaeus” I thought about space as a character - a stand in for a figure. “Joseph Frank” pays homage to the modernist designer by reproducing one of his prints in a large scale. In “To be titled,” I channeled the memory of my grandmother’s living room in Sweden. In this painting, like the others I use multiple source materials and create an amalgam of spaces.

Wynn Yarrow - 2017 Artist-In-Residence

Statement:
My work is nature based, and has been for two decades. The pandemic heightened two longstanding themes: the need to care for the environment; and the healing power of nature and nature-based art.  During this crisis, we have turned to nature for joy and comfort: gardening, watching birds, and walking in parks. Decreasing our use of fossil fuels, we saw brilliant blue summer skies instead of the haze we once falsely attributed to humidity, reminding us how much we are responsible for clean air and clean water.  My work during this time has continued to focus on love of the land and providing comfort through art in healthcare. Both needs, the need to protect the environment and the need to comfort the sick have been amplified this year. The pandemic has not changed the trajectory of my art, rather it has strengthened my focus.