2 Dimensional Arts

First place

Audrey hyvonen

"Stay Home" is a portrait presentation in fiber which depicts a plague doctor style masked figure with the words "stay home" overlaid in shadowed writing. The dominant colors are grey and light green. It measures approx. 9 x 11 in . and is intended for wall display. The details of the textures on the face and letters are created with stitched quilting lines.

valerie bassett

This painting was done as a therapeutic response to the loss I've experienced since the start of the pandemic. I grew up dancing in the Berkshires and had recently returned to ballet as an adult to help me deal with several emotional and financial challenges occurring in my life. The pandemic further complicated things, needless to say. Dancing freed me from worry just for just awhile...

Dance studios closed in March, leaving many of without our creative outlets. I decided to paint this sculpture to help alleviate the loss.This sculpture is located on the grounds of Ventfort Hall, a Gilded Age museum in Lenox. It beautifully captures the free spirit of dancers.

I look at often to remember that freedom and joy.

Lyn Horan

Mixed Media watercolor collage - watercolor, acrylic, ink, rice paper, photo.

"Canary in the Coal Mine" is part of a series I'm doing called COVID-19 Diary.  Each page (date) deals with a different impact of COVID-19 either in my individual life and/or in the impact of the larger community. "Canary in the Coal Mine" is from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.  March 2 was the date of the first case of COVID-19 in Massachusetts. In this piece I have used the microscopic image of COVID-19 like a cloud, gradually creeping towards me and the state of Massachusetts. I have Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and 2 other immune system diseases, so I'm at great risk if I get this virus. That first case of COVID-19 was like the "canary in the coal mine", the first warning of what was about to come. 

Every day of this pandemic has revealed some new perspective on the way that COVID-19 has impacted the lives around me, and as an artist this visual diary has been very therapeutic for me as it keeps me focused in my studio during a time of fear and the unknown.

Ron Maggio

Bending the Curve" is a suite of 3 mixed media drawings I did as a response to the virus early on. I felt as an artist, I had to make a statement about the virus in order to get on with my work in the studio.

elizabeth parker

During COVID, I have been strongly moved by the images and stories of vulnerable people who are isolated in places such as nursing homes, unable to connect with their loved ones, who are such a vital source of love, and an integral link to their identity. I have felt sad about their loneliness, but also hopeful that families and friends are still Knding ways to connect, even if only through a window pane, illustrating that nothing can defeat the power of love. My friend shared a photo she to took of her mother on her 89th birthday, as my friend and her daughter visited through the window of her mother's nursing home, and in the photo, the reflection of my friend and her daughter appeared along with her mother. I was struck by the inter-dimensional quality of the image, and decided to do a graphite drawing from this photo, striving to depict with realism the mysticism I saw.

LAURIANNE WYSOCKI

In April I was scheduled to have an exhibition of my paintings at the Hope and Feathers Gallery in Amherst. The show was cancelled at the end of March because of Covid 19. At the same time I was informed that the tours I lead for Road Scholar would be cancelled for April and May. With a house full of paintings that wouldn't be seen by anyone and with a lot of time on my hands, I began working on a 36 x 48 inch painting, one that would eventually become the centre of a triptych. I was reading a book entitled Night Circus and felt that the initial stages of the painting were subconsciously influenced by the imagery in that book.

But as the weeks of isolation turned into months and the number of Covid deaths and social injustice cases began to rise, so did my sense of hopelessness. The painting began to change as well, that is, when I actually had the desire to work on it. I felt immobilized - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Anxious and unable to concentrate, the painting sessions shortened and seemed unproductive. I watched as the colors became muddled and dull; the motifs sharp and angular.

Yet I carried on. And then one morning, a version of Beethoven's Ode To Joy came up on Spotify. It was light and airy. Uplifting. I reacted to it on some level and acknowledged a sudden mood change. What is this I'm feeling? Joy? I discovered other renditions of the song and played them back to back. I looked up Ode to Joy and learned that the poet Schiller wrote it in response to war and desperation wanting to prove that there can be freedom and peace between all peoples. The triumph of the spirit will prevail! That's when I began working on the two flanking pieces of the triptych. Immediately I noticed a difference. The colors were more vibrant. The motifs were softer and more fluid. (With acrylics it's very easy to paint over what you don't like so I began to rework the center painting). Without truly knowing where the painting would go, the same way writers say that their characters develop themselves, mandalas, spinning disks, and a tree of life appeared. Ahaa! I thought to myself. Just because the world is falling apart I can still have joy in my heart. This is my personal triumph of the spirit over the things I can not control. I can do my part. I can choose to be optimistic, hopeful, and positive - not gloomy, fearful, and negative.

second place

lynn peterfreund

I do drawings daily and during this period, many of the drawings honor people or describe the intense situations we are living in. Any number of drawings can be posted or exhibited, and form a personal and often communal journal of time.

Toby Barnes

This piece is composed of 9 smaller paintings that are 16 x20 inches each. It expresses what under this pandemic has become, for most of us, our view of the world. Interacting with most people Via Zoom or google meets, each day countless times for now 6 months I see the world through a grid. It’s both distorting and comforting.

I see others worlds and spaces in ways I never did, and they see mine. I let my mind drift and imagine other worlds as the grid fatigues me. I look forward to connecting with others friends, family, strangers, in this new way, our grid world.

nina ciccarelli

My mom is a doctor and works almost every day. By looking through a camera lens for me who can just see a whole other work. When I took my shot, I was thinking about the days when my mom wasn't home but them realized I should quit thinking about that and think about the days when she is home. My photo represents that even at the darkest times, you can always find the light.

Madge evers

11 x 14 inch cyanotype, 2020. I use the cyanotype process to depict a Kgure wearing the ubiquitous hoodie in silhouette, hoodie alight with Fowers (Foeniculum vulgare, Alchemilla mollis, and Hydrangea macrophylla). Through my subject, I try to explicitly connect the veracity of the Black Lives Matter movement with nature’s innate beauty and objectivity. The goal of this work is to challenge everyone, particularly those with privilege, to see beyond the distraction of differences and Knd in all contexts, the sameness that lies within each person we encounter.

nayana lafond

During this time of struggle and fear Nayana is self quarantined. Due to her immunosuppressed state the risks involved are too high for her to venture out almost at all. Nayana has been making work about her experiences in medicine, through a bone marrow transplant and seemingly endless life threatening complications Nayana has turned to art consistently to cope and express her feelings about situations. In her time in quarantine Nayana is spending her time making art. Ths is the page (click link below) where she will post finished pieced produced during the quarantine. To see the works as they are made follow her on instagram @nayanaarts 

STEPHANIE OATES

The tree represents isolation. Being a 100% caregiver to my Dad has me pretty tied to home base and have felt disconnected friends and unable to travel, even within the state to visit my son in Boston, which makes me sad.

The darkness around the edges represents the virus itself trying to invade. But there is always light, hope and good things in the world to seek and that corresponds to the radiating light behind the tree.

dara Herman zierlien

The pandemic has forced the world to stop to see the ongoing mistreatment of its Black, Latino and Asia American citizens by our government, in our work places and the police force. Most Americans have lost their jobs or forced to work, are essentials workers putting their lives on the line for others who can afford or must stay at home due to illness. Thousands of people of color have died to this virus and still are due to over crowed housing, over packed meat factories or living in multiple generational homes. Culturally, educationally the pandemic is a reflection of the differences of how white people are treated versus people of color. From slavery to systematic racism in this country, we are not united as one. As an artist it is my instinct to expose what I am seeing and feeling in the world through my paintings. This has been a hard time for an artist, and not the first time. As an artist depending on commissions, illustration work, book publications, lecturing or touring all have been canceled. Forcing me to depend on the government. I hope my art will create a small window of understanding and compassion for Americans to see people are suffering, trying to hold onto their homes, feed their families or dealing with having lost a loved one to Covid-19 and have been a survivor or victim of police brutality. 

THIRD PLACE

MEG BANDARRA

Painted in the medium of pastel, Tidal wave is a triptych that uses water as a counterpoint to breath. The three stages of the triptych “don’t”, “can’t”, “didn’t”, are my response to three phases of the pandemic that’ve had a particular impact on me: the beginning, the death of George Floyd and subsequent protests/calls for equality, and the death of my mother.

ricky darell barton

Abstract Super Flat Post Animation. Part of the Robot Paintings/EAT series.

Two themes that were present as I painted the painting in June, they are tension and the the yellow sunshine color that some how made me feel at ease. The push, pull energy is the state of the pandemic to me.

nancy haver

Hitched to Everything Else. Black and white woodcuts (18”x12”) on Kozo paper

They are hand-printed woodcuts, image size 18"x12", on Japanese mulberry paper

The imagery is an expression of my wish for connection and optimism for our broken world.

Alexandra Mahoney

Acrylic on paper. We brave the waters of darkness on our journey toward a brighter horizon. Isolation becomes solitude as we recognize our connection with all.

Alie Mahoney grew up in Shutesbury and attended school in Amherst. She has worked at Simple Gifts Farm and Sula Summer Camp.

jace “rascal” smith

Corona Normal is a piece I created within the first three months of the Pandemic while on lockdown. Finding our collective and individual footing during this era of uncertainties became a daily challenge. I found the structure of daily routine helped me work through feelings of isolation and ease the anxieties I experienced around the possibility of contracting the virus.

drew thomas

Digital painting

"Muted" is a digital painting that captures a state of being in America during COVID 19. It represents how ignoring distancing protocols hurts people, something that is often ignored because you can't directly see the impact. It also represents the feelings of loneliness and sadness that can be caused from isolation and being a part of family and friends.

.

MARY WITT

This painting was made during early pandemic times when I learned the term social distancing. Although I completely understood why it was called that, it made me sad, so I went in my painting studio and painted this piece and called it Social Closeness to feel more connected to people.

Peter zierlien

Paper-cut art poster, 11" x 17"

Fear of the novel virus disease, not knowing the unseen enemy, uncontrolled infection rates and learning about the different ways covid19 can take down healthy people in a short amount of time produced this sense of panic, nervousness, and unease in me. Like a hypochondriac, each time I felt slightly off, or felt a headache, or felt queasy in my stomach I thought I might be infected and it's only a matter of time that the disease will take me down. In that constant state of unease I conceived of the papercut poster "Most Infected"

3 Dimensional art

POETRY AND WRITTEN WORD

DANCE AND MUSIC

FILM/VIDEO