Day 13

January 13, 2021

Keeping Dream Alive in the

Age of Pandemic

 

The year after I left GCC, in 2012, I began developing and idea for a visual arts house that could hold a gallery, workshop rooms, a printer studio, a photo printer studio and places for artists to work together. With a group I searched for space and funding and worked on policies for a cooperative art space.  But it was bad timing.  I needed to heal from the end of my literacy career and I needed to figure out how to work in the world being disabled.  

It took me a couple of years of working hard on the disability issue to get the resources I needed and to learn my body's new limitations.  I needed to learn how to take care of myself so I had energy to work on my projects.  In late 2018 I began to work on developing a new photo show of my own and to refresh my work on a poetry manuscript.  

At the same time some friends started working on their dreams of having a performing arts studio center.  They had decided to open in February 2019 and asked me if I were willing to put together a show on the local environment.  I did.  I called in My Franklin County and we opened the first weekend in February and an art opening for me was one of the events of a long first weekend.

It was really successful.  The Lava Center was on its way to being a vibrant space for local theater, music, poetry and dance.  It was exciting and I was really happy to be involved.  I spent the month of February holding gallery hours and I actually sold a few photos, which was inspiring.  I had two other venues ask me to show, one in June and one to be scheduled.

And within 5 weeks, bang, we were shutdown because of COVID.  Live performances were no longer a possibility.  We left my photos hanging on the walls so it wouldn't be too bleak and we all went home supposedly only for a couple months.

2 months turned into 5.  In late August Vanessa, Manager of Lava asked me if I was willing to spruce up my show and help do an outside Saturday Salon Series.  She had vendors interested and some demonstrations in discussion.  I got involved and volunteered to help.  I organized a Community Art Show and co-curated it with a couple artist friends and I got more people interested in doing a Covid safe Salon at Lava, first outside and then inside, too.  We developed a community of vendors and artists selling their work at a slow steady intentional rate.  

Paintings by Charmae Bartlett

On January 2 we opened with 2 new artists work and we planned an 8 week series of demonstrations and activities to draw people into see the work of Cara Finch and Charmae Bartlett.  And then we were closed down again because of the difficulty in keeping the air quality balanced in the colder weather and a resurge and new spike of Covid cases.  It is the right thing to do, but it is so hard to once again stop the momentum and the excitement one builds from creating and developing dreams.

At least for the month of January, if not January and February I am stalled again. This week I have been having a hard time finding that energy to push forward with new projects.  I have to go back to doing my lone projects instead of having the small community of people to work with.  Covid  has hurt a lot of people in these ambiguous and ethereal ways.  I can't wait to get vaccinated, I can't wait until we have a handle on it.  It makes me sad.