Our twenty-ninth post of the series, Artists in the Time of Coronavirus includes Jeff Carpenter, Ali Williams, Christine Sloan Stoddard, Daniel Kathalynas, Adil Writer, and Janice Merendino! Thank you for all who submitted! And if you want to participate, send your statement (250 words max) and 2 photos to support@theartblog.org. More details here. Stay safe and stay positive, and come back in the days to come for more “Artists in the Time of Coronavirus.” We have a wonderful community and are so proud of being able to share everyone’s art.
[Note: We have gotten almost 300 submissions, so if you haven’t seen yours yet, don’t worry- it is coming, and we can’t wait to post it!]
Jeff Carpenter
In these days of the pandemic I escape into making paintings like writing letters to the world, paintings with implied narratives created by counterpointing one image with another, with traces of maps and text in pale glazes that you can’t fully see until you draw closer.
If you daydream a memory of a wonderful day it’s rarely just one “snapshot” that you summon, it’s many impressions – the full panorama, the light in her eyes, the wind in the leaves, something she said – all layered one on top of each other. The pleasure is found not in any one of them as much as in flickering through each of them, back and forth. I pursue that same effect on the subconscious in these paintings; to combine images in such a way that tricks the mind at first impression to flicking from one image to the next, back and forth, an involuntary response of the deepest part of the brain where we recapture those ineffable impressions of our lives, those perceptions that defy words.
These two paintings are for me like heartfelt letters written in a limbic language.
Ali Williams
I’m a local artist and public muralist. I’m interested in how visually altering a space with public art affects the surrounding environment. My work is a collaged, fabricated dreamscape of paint, mysterious beauty, and contemporary iconography. I regularly use negative space, juxtaposing methods and visuals to help tell a story.
I’m fortunate to have a home studio and am in the middle of production with a mural project. So, while my day to day routine hasn’t changed much during this pandemic, like many other artists and small businesses, my anxiety and fear of future work being scarce feels very real. I’d love for you to connect with me on instagram and sign up for my mailing list to stay updated on available artworks, classes, and other offerings. We’re in this together!
Instagram: @alimwilliams
Website: www.alimwilliams.com
Subscribe to my mailing list: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5e83c4b7b68c420026a7fc66
Email: ali.m.williams@gmail.com
Etsy: www.etsy.com/madebyali
Christine Sloan Stoddard
“Quarantine Haiku”
Exhaling clouds from
the sky of my unmade bed,
I don’t fly anymore.Bio:
Christine Sloan Stoddard is a Salvadoran-American author, interdisciplinary artist, and film/theatre professional. She founded Quail Bell Magazine while a VCUarts student and earned her MFA from The City College of New York-CUNY in 2019.
Daniel Kathalynas
I’m an artist that travels the country and sometimes the world filming my adventures on The Roaming Artist video series.
Picture this: 100 works of art, traveling from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Norfolk, Virginia for a solo exhibition called “Ascension”. I get there. I unload the dusty trailer I pulled nearly 2,000 miles, I hang the show in a gorgeous gallery….and then everything falls apart, as if time unravels and I’m standing between dimensions. The gallery closes. No opening, most of the classes I set up to lead get cancelled and I feel as though I’m stuck on a bridge with neither entrance nor exit. Never mind money.
Before I return the trailer to U-Haul, I slip a disc and crawl around in pain. Get an x-ray and pray that the chiropractor can get me walking uptight. I leave the art hung on the gallery walls and hole up on Chincoteague Island on the eastern shore of Virginia and wait to see if this blows over. It doesn’t. I get voted off the island by City Council and travel to Virginia Beach to stay with friends that are all ill.
I high-tail it back to Albuquerque with few funds, no art, and no plans.
True story…it happened and here I am today.
I’m originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania.You can visit me at danielkathalynas.com , theroamingartist.org , and watch the “Daniel Kathalynas” video channel on YouTube. I started a Facebook group called The Corona Artists so far, we are from New Mexico, New York, Italy, Virginia and other places and growing. The Group mission is: What do artists do when shut in? Share your artwork with the group. Make a post and lets get some good healing and creative energy flowing! This is a light of hope for those in the darkness of fear. Bless you all!
Daniel Kathalynas
Adil Writer
A SLIGHT SHIFT
I learnt the word “annica” decades ago at my first Vipassana retreat in India.
It is the Pali word for impermanence. Buddhism tells us that everything is in flux, everything changes…. That we are all transient beings; as is this coronaed world we are currently grappling with. The only thing we are all slowly coming to realise is that after this wave (or the next one), we too will have certainly changed.
In social isolation, I am painting away at home, away from my ceramic studio.
Luckily I have my ammo of powdered clays, washed sand, acrylics and canvases; so I am sorted out, in a way!
One realises at times like this the difference between bare necessities and cravings. I am blessed to be living in the rural environs of Auroville where the virus seems like it’s a distance away from us. But the thought and the probable reality of it creeping closer is disconcerting.
My painting, “A SLIGHT SHIFT” conceals an approaching apocalypse under veils of bright colours and neon greens; with royalty and commoners the world over refusing social distancing, hope writ large on ignorant faces…..
But what are we really looking at? How can that be a real thing which is forever in flux?
Janice Merendino
I have always believed that we only see glimpses of what is truly going on in any situation and never have a full understanding. My work takes fragmented views, layers them, and plays with my limited perspective and ambiguous feelings.
At this stressful time, there is also the additional struggle to not let too much in. But as an artist, I need to use the feelings that well up, provided I balance them with deep breaths to protect, stay calm and focused.
My most recent paintings were inspired by three decades of old family photos including those I took of my grandparent’s home in the 1970’s when visiting from college. These works respond both figuratively and abstractly to family memories in an attempt to piece together some important touchstones in my life. You can see these in the “Recollections” section on my website.
In “Memories that fall into place”, I imagine memories that bubble up, not necessarily complete, floating until they settle and sift themselves into a particular slot. You can find this piece among others in the “Abstractions” section of my website.
Through the emotional roller coaster ride of producing this work, I have realized that what started as a simple project of finding inspiration from old family photos has moved me toward a deeper need to remember, honor, and see how my feelings evolve and sort themselves.
I am continuing this series, as a respite when the present is so overwhelming. Please take care.
Website- janicemerendino.com
Instagram @janicemerendino
Email- janice@janicemerendino.com
