Staying Inspired
Artists face unique rewards, challenges as they shelter in place,
Like any other practitioners of the creative pursuits, artists now face a challenging and potentially inspiring time to get down to work in these days of COVID-19 and stay-at-home quarantine.
Artists often work in isolation in their studios, so perhaps the pandemic seclusion is not atypical of how their lives often work, but then again the inspiration and nurturing that comes from everyday life may hit artists differently now. The social aspect of life may not be there to provoke artistic ideas.
The Gazette talked with four local artists to see what life is like during quarantine time, and here’s what they had to say.
■ Chris Thomas: Thomas, who specializes in pottery, saw planned classes canceled and postponed until July or August but she’s made use of her clay to get busy on new projects. Because she has a grandson on the way and family to see, she must stay healthy; therefore, she’s put herself under self-quarantine.
“I kind of went in knowing that this was going to be a long haul,” Thomas said. “I’m very fortunate that I have a home studio and I have 1,500 pounds of clay.”
She ordered the clay in January, and it means she’s set and ready to go. She’s had other plans for it, but it’s a good feeling to have it around. Many places aren’t making clay now, she said.
“I’m not sure what the future holds so I’m making sure that I am thoughtful about the process with what I’m doing with the materials I have on hand,” Thomas said.
Just a week before isolation started, she received a commission to complete a large sculpture of an angel. “While I was working on that and a few other things, it just kind of worked out that the name Sisters in Solitude became part of this body of work,” she said. “That commission inspired me and led me in that direction, and so I made my first novena with what I call my novena of sisters.”
It’s her business, hobby and passion.
“I’m very fortunate in that way that I can continue working during isolation, obviously. It’s just that creative outlet, as well, something outside of myself to be working with and getting me up,” said Thomas, who’s happy to sport her workout clothes in the studio. Staying casual is a positive thing.
The other positive development she’s been forced to make happen is a website. People had asked her to do this, so she set up shop at ChrisThomasPottery.org.
“I really don’t not have time to get that done,” she said. It’s part of getting chores done to support her business as an artist.
■ Cindy Holmes: Holmes, a painter who’s forever pushing the boundaries with her work, describes herself as a hermit anyway, but this quarantine, stay-athome time hasn’t yet brought her extra inspiration. “And now I’m totally a hermit,” she admitted. “I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed getting out when I did get out.”
She’s had little inspiration and desire to paint, although she has tried and went through two other paintings she painted over completely because she was dissatisfied. She completed a new one, which she titles “Camera Obscura,” willing herself to do it.
“This one that you just saw I started it and I’ve painted over portions of it off and on as I worked on it, never feeling like it was really working for me, I guess. It’s just been a totally uninspiring experience,” Holmes said.
The isolation works differently for everyone. She’s seen others inspired and posting their work on Instagram, but not her. “All I’m doing is going to see what else do I have in the fridge,” Holmes said.
“I think it has given me the excuse to hide in my house and do nothing, watch TV and eat,” she said with a laugh. But she did get to a point where she she got off the couch and pushed herself to work. In her opinion, this new painting may not work as well as it should, but she got through something. A breakthrough, in a sense.
A while back a visit with her grandchildren made her realize that photographs inspire people to change their personality as they pose. In some ways, we obscure our personalities as we pose for the smartphone.
“Pretty much all my paintings these days are inspired by a personal thought or what’s happened to me lately or something that’s going on that has connected something in my brain that makes me think, you know, there’s something else going on here. And then I might paint about it,” Holmes said.
Getting through this latest painting may mean a determined Holmes is back at it. “This painting has been like a painting of OK, I suffered through this one and I got through it, and maybe I can actually work again,” Holmes said.
■ Gary and Gabrielle Bachers: Gary Bachers is known for incredible colored pencil drawings marked by symmetry, precision and vivid colors. His wife Gabrielle makes scarves and also helps Gary with selling his art; after a stroke years ago, he was afflicted with expressive aphasia. Together, they travel the country to visit art fairs and festivals and sell work.
“Gary really does miss that. He does love summer and we love to travel and it’s all part of a big package of fun. You make a lot of friends at the shows, other artists that you tend to be around most of the time,” Gabrielle said.
She hopes it resumes soon, but they’re fortunate to be making prints while Gary’s doing commissioned work that’s a bit “out of the box” for him.
“He’s enjoying that,” Gabrielle said. “He’s always working. Nothing changes for him.”
Shipping art takes a bit of time, but she says her husband is forever patient with his work. He maintains a daily routine, same as ever, she said. “He does sleep in until about 6 a.m. now,” Gabrielle said. Post-breakfast, he starts work at 7 a.m. He may feed his fish outside, too, and read.
“It’s a simple routine but that is his routine. He’s essentially been on lockdown since 1987,” Gabrielle said, referring to the year of his stroke. “For him this is nothing new.”
With her elderly father living with them, she’s thankful she doesn’t need to be rushing away. “From that sense it works out. A few months, and we’ll see what happens after that. I do have this time and it’s good,” Gabrielle said. This also means, though, she needs to be careful and not bring the virus back to her family.
“I think in some ways it’s a great time for artists because they can be not rushing to do anything, just have all the time to devote to art,” Gabrielle said. “They do have to eat, too, so we’re grateful for even the small things that people buy.”
■ Aly Dwyer: Aly Dwyer’s day job involves work deemed essential at an industrial pipe repair business, so she’s still working like normal. She started the job a couple of months ago, so she made the transition right before everything hit the fan, she said.
But in her spare time, Dwyer enjoys doing comic art, and with evening free time she’s been able to get back to it, even for commission work.
“It’s more a way to stave off boredom. I’m not a huge TV person so I can’t just sit and watch Netflix like the rest of the country is doing currently. Even when it is on, I’m a busybody so I’ve got to do something with my hands,” Dwyer said.
She’s done comic art before, selling it between jobs, but did find she had no time for it recently. Now, though, she has the extra time, often at night while her boyfriend whips up a meal or after the kids go to bed.
“Since we can’t go out to eat or go watch any live music or anything, I can still watch live music but I’m doing something else as well,” she said.
Her boyfriend Allan tattoos and plays music live in town at local venues, so both those pursuits are out; in that sense, he’s had the opposite pandemic experience, she said. But she’s thankful she’s getting back to the comic art.
“Some of them are just my favorite characters that I’ve always loved. Jim Lee is probably my favorite comic artist,” Dwyer said, “and so I find myself replicating a lot of his stuff. I like his style. I’ve loved him since I was a kid.”
Now that she’s “kicked this up again,” she said, she’s had friends ask her for commissions, even for a video game she’s never played. Via the barter system, she’s able to trade art or get some wine, and she gets to expand her artistic horizons at the same time.
“When somebody gives me a character that I have no idea, then I have to start doing some research. It’s fun. It gives me something something else to do,” Dwyer said.