The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Artist shares love during tough times
Heart-shaped art brings love, hope to virus-ravaged spots
Images of intricate hearts made from vibrant sea glass are flowing back to schools and hospitals.
FALMOUTH, MAINE >> Donald Verger has been putting heart into his art during the pandemic.
And images of those intricate hearts made from vibrant sea glass are flowing back to schools and hospitals that have been hard hit by COVID-19 during the pandemic.
“The hearts hit a sweet spot for people,” Verger said. “People love sea glass, the color, the patterns.”
Across the country, many artists find themselves struggling during the pandemic, but they’re also finding ways to give back during a health crisis that has claimed more than 465,000 lives in the United States.
Verger’s efforts represent his small but colorful contribution to the effort to bring people a smile, or maybe a moment of calm and peace, amid the isolation of the pandemic.
He’s sent about 25,000 postcards of his hearts and landscape photography to schools and hospitals. He delivers them at 1,000 or 2,500 at a time. Employers and teachers give them to staff, students and patients.
Recently, he’s donated at least 10,000 with LOVE superimposed on them. Another 10,000 had HOPE superimposed on them.
“It seems like a great privilege to do something that supports happiness and some sense of hope,” said Verger, whose studio is in Falmouth, Maine.
In Boston, Shriners Hospital Administrator Eileen
Skinner was handing out cards with hearts with the word LOVE to more than 400 workers ahead of Valentine’s Day.
“You have to be in a health care organization to understand the COVID fatigue,” Skinner said. “It’s just encouraging to the staff that somebody is thinking of them.”
Verger, 72, grew up in New York but considers himself a New Englander. Living in Massachusetts, where he raised his family, he founded the Children’s Discovery Museum and Science Discovery Museum in New England, in the town of Acton, Massachusetts.
As a photographer, he’s renowned for his stunning images of landscapes and lighthouses in New England.
His best known photo is “Dawn of Peace,” which depicts sea smoke greeting the sunrise on a subzero morning on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, Maine.
He merged his photography
with colorful sea glass that he began collecting on the coast of California. He began arranging the sea glass into images reminiscent of a Monet or Renoir painting.
His first donations came about after a brush with a tornado in Missouri while photographing the dramatic storms in 2011. The storm chasers became the ones being chased by a massive tornado that left the town of Joplin, Missouri. More than 150 people were killed.
After returning to Maine, he put some of his images meant to soothe and to calm onto postcards with a message and the name Joplin. All told, he sent about 25,000 of them to the Red
“The hearts hit a sweet spot for people,” Verger said. “People love sea glass, the color, the patterns.” — Artist Donald Verger
Cross, schools and other organizations.
During the pandemic, he’s sent postcards to schools and hospitals. He recently donated to Northern Light Mercy Hospital in Portland and other facilities, in addition to Boston Shriners Hospital for Children.
Skinner and Verger first met in Maine, when he donated framed photos to be used at Mercy Hospital when she was CEO.
“Donald is a warm and generous person,” she said. “He shares what he does best.”
Jonathan Ratka’s vivid imagination proved prophetic.
Entering the night session for the Division II SPIRE Sectional on Feb. 12, the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin standout sophomore had a time in mind for the 100-yard backstroke.
Ratka wanted a 53 — and he got one. In a dynamic swim, Ratka won his session and recorded the fastest 100 back time for the day, hitting the wall in 53.75 seconds.
Encouragement from splits and improvement year-overyear abounded.
It marked a .95 drop from when he took seventh last winter at the D-II Cleveland State District. It featured a 25.33 opener, which was 1.73 faster than his D-II SPIRE Sectional runner-up swim a year ago. A 28.42 closer was .53 better than a first-class swim during a quad late last month, also at SPIRE, to close the regular season.
All of that noted, one would be hard-pressed to find a swimmer walking out of SPIRE after D-II competition more buoyant.
“Honestly, I’m just very happy with what I did tonight,” Ratka said. “The first 50 was exactly where I wanted it to be. And just coming off the 200 freestyle relay, I can definitely say I can put a lot more into the second 50, I think.
“What really helps me getting into it is the mindset. If you’ve been having a great night, your mindset going into that 100 backstroke — you can’t match it.
“It just helps you so much to know exactly what you want to do and how fast you want to go. Like in my mind, I told myself I was going to go 53. That’s exactly what I did.”
With COVID-19 safety protocols in mind, this year’s D-II SPIRE Sectional was split into a morning session and night session. Times would then be combined together from both sessions as if it were one meet.
Hawken was part of the morning field at SPIRE and
inflicted its usual damage.
A highlight swim came from Hawks senior Michael Butler in the 500 free.
The returning first-team News-Herald boys swimming and diving all-star, who was fourth in D-II at state in the event a year ago, recorded a 4:49.05, the fastest among the two sessions.
Of particular note was a back end featuring a 28.83 sixth lap to start, good for a .80 drop vs. when he was D-II CSU District champion in 2020. Butler rode that into a 29.58/29.40/29.56/27.90 sequence to close.
The 4:49.05 is a 2.17 cut from his D-II SPIRE Sectional-title
swim last winter.
“It was just a fun race,” Butler said. “Every time I get to race (teammate) Will Dietz — he’s my Lane 8 buddy (in practice). It’s always a great time.
“We swim it a bit differently. He always takes it out. I attack the back half of it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t work. But I really want to credit Will for sort of being my training partner and being there on my good days and bad. It was great.”
On the girls side, 2020 News-Herald girls swimmer of the year Jessica Eden logged a solid double, capturing the 200 IM
and the 100 back.
The Hawks’ dynamic junior took solace with a 57.85 in the latter, including a 29.59 closer that is a .26 drop vs. her winning swim in this meet in 2020.
Her IM was punctuated by a 31.49 back split, a .48 drop from sectional a year ago, en route to a 2:05.68.
The reigning D-II 200 IM state champion and 100 back state runner-up will gladly take those baselines into district next weekend in the same pool.
“I thought (my 100 back) was good,” Eden said. “I went around the same time at a dual meet this year, and this swim felt a lot better than that swim.”