I wanted to illustrate how painful connecting to technology, screens, social media was and is as our primary means of connection. “This self portrait reflects the time and space of August 2020 and was made in response to Seymour Fogel’s piece Despair 1936 created during the Great Depression. That is a bit like what happens with ideology in the 21st century, although perhaps we are too close to step back and see how those amorphous ideas that seem to be unrelated merge into coherency when seen from afar.”Ĭharcoal, pencil and acrylic on wood panel,đ2×16 NFS However, those abstract shapes resolve into concrete images as the vantage point changes. In my own work, I like to explore the edges of concrete imagery, creating abstract shapes that assert themselves at close range. A John Singer Sargent portrait exemplifies this up close, it is a flurry of abstract shapes, while from a distance it resolves into something that appears to be concrete.
Visually, I have always been fascinated by the visual tension between the concrete and the abstract. I want to explore that and find ways to express it. While I have not felt especially surprised or agitated myself, perhaps as a continuation of a life filled with surprise and uncertainty, I can sense the surprise and agitation of those around me. I love doing portraits that express an emotional state, often showing people in reverie or bliss, but lately I have been drawn to images of surprise or agitation. My image, “How Did You Find Me,” is a bit allegorical death finds us all, no matter how well disguise ourselves. “The past two years have ushered in many changes for me as I have watched a steady stream of relatives and friends leave this world. Pigment Print on Paper, Signed, Open Edition, 20×20 $70 Unframed Lastly the way this brooch was built was using a technique I learned during a virtual metalsmith class showing that humans can adapt and even thrive under adverse circumstances.” Items included in this piece represent how I experienced COVID.… From the plague doctor who represents the uncertainty, stress, guessing in the beginning the image of the virus that filled our screens and news reports locks of my hair that represent all the time spent at home, including home haircuts and meals to the technology that was a lifeline, a way to both be informed, to connect with others, even to celebrate holidays. Life became busy again only in a different way. Facebook Live events and virtual art fairs popped up. We socialized online, we worked online, we attended classes online.… Our art was sold online rather than at art fairs. Virtual classes, meetings, and parties went online. All of our technology became a lifeline from that isolation. We isolated.… Then we found a new way to be social.
The 1918 Flu Pandemic was spoken of as a model for how bad COVID could get. Images of historical plague doctors circulated. There was lots of uncertainty, speculation, and comparisons to other pandemics.
“In the beginning we knew little about COVID. Julie Raasch “How I spent my covid vacation.”
You’ve looked, shared, and purchased so much of my work that I can barely keep up. You’ve reached out with words of encouragement and support. Or in everyday English–being able to say thank you is more important to me than ever. I’m working to amplify the impact of gratefulness as changing norms disrupt my comfort zone. Yet, pandemic and political mayhem somehow provoked a new level of focus, determination, and inexplicably, joy, in my art practice and small business, as well as my spirit. It took a while for me to gain some footing in the “new normal.” That footing is still precarious, as most of us understand by now. While many of my artist friends were sharing mounds of new work and creative inspiration, I felt oddly thick and stuck. The gut punch was that instead I felt as disengaged from myself and my work as I’ve ever been. I’d been expecting a relatively unchanged routine as a highly self-motivated artist, who loved nothing better than spending hours alone in her studio or out exploring the wild countryside. That’s what I do every day in my studio.” “When the pandemic began, I thought to myself, “Isolation? No problem. Acrylic on canvas,Ė5×72, unstretched $4,695 Unframed
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