Virtual Talk: Marking Lives, COVID-19, with Elizabeth Awalt
Category
Admission
- Free
Location
Virtual Meeting URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUocuCgrTksH92KYZ3Pet1U2bayQ_yblU5n
Description
The Cambridge Art Association, in partnership with Concord Art, is pleased to present a talk on #markinglivesCOVID19, an online, artmaking forum and Instagram account created by Elizabeth Awalt to commemorate the lives lost to COVID-19. You can follow the project on Instgram at @markinglivescovid19, or on Facebook using the #markinglivescovid19 hashtag.
In this free event, Liz will discuss the impetus for the project, as well as the ways this memorial has resonated with makers of all backgrounds. Liz will be joined in conversation by participating artists Warren Anderson, Lisa Barthelson, Gupi Ranganathan, and Debra Weisberg.
On how #markinglivesCOVID19 started, from Elizabeth Awalt:
In December 2020, after nine months of COVID-19 deaths, I woke to the unsettling statistic that 270,000 people had died. The lives lost were simply numbers on the front page. Our government did not have a plan. Testing was expensive and not readily available, and a vaccine wasn’t anything but a hope. My immediate friends and family were well, but for how long? I felt scared, numb, enraged and unable to help in any way. The virus was impossible to ignore, but at the same time, somehow unmarked.
I'm an artist who paints from nature. Out of a need to do something personal, and to understand the numbers of people losing their lives to the pandemic, I started making paintings. I set simple boundaries for myself, making marks on a page with brush and ink to honor those who died from Covid-19. Each mark represented a life lost. I counted as I created. Working toward a thousand marks, I found the process to be akin to prayer or meditation. I did not think of the final work as “art” or to judge it as good or bad. The process allowed me to pay attention to each life — each mother, child, grandparent or father who had left this earth. Surprisingly, the limitations freed me to explore color, type of mark, and image.
Finding it compelling to mark so many lives, 1,000 to 5,000 on a page, I thought maybe others would feel the same way. I posted some of my images on Instagram and invited painters, fiber artists, printmakers and an architect to join me. To my delight, they sent me wonderfully varied images to post, along with expressions of gratitude for the opportunity to honor the many victims of COVID. It was the beginning of “Marking Lives COVID-19,” an exciting project that is growing every day.
Artists who have made work for the project include: Stacey Piwinski, Mark Cooper, Roz Sommer, Adriana Prat, Holly Harrison, Jenn Wood, Ellen Weinberg, Linda Bond, Barbara Grad, and many, many more!
This event will be hosted live, on the ZOOM platform. While this event is free, registration is required. Reserve your spot by clicking on the Virtual Meeting URL and completing your registration.
Interested in making art with #markinglivescovid19? Here is how you can participate:
The Directions, for artists of all ages: Most people start with a piece of paper but some have used fabric, collage, pom poms, seeds. Use whatever material you love to work with.
- Make a mark with a brush, pencil, marker, finger, crayon, stick, needle and thread or any tool you would like. Use paint, ink, watercolor, pastel, pencil or any material you have.
- Post a photo of your completed work to your social channels using #markinglivescovid19 and #eawalt and invite others to participate. If you're posting on Instagram, you can also tag the account @markinglivescovid19
- On a regular basis, Liz reposts artwork from artists who have used the hashtag, on Instagram and Facebook.
- As participation expands, Liz plans to create an online or live exhibition to share the community effort to honor those whose lives have been lost.
Elizabeth Awalt lives in Concord, Massachusetts and Swans Island, Maine. She received her BA from Boston College and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and returned to Boston College to teach and was awarded tenure.
Elizabeth Awalt’s work is rooted in the natural world, particularly landscapes of raw beauty or those affected by environmental change. The artist has been awarded fellowships and grants from Massachusetts Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts. Residencies include the Fine Arts Work Center, MacDowell, Yaddo, and Millay Colony. Elizabeth’s work has been shown in Boston area exhibitions including the Museum of Fine Arts, Decordova Museum, Rose Art Museum, and McMullen Museum. Solo shows include the Danforth Museum, Matter and Light Fine Art, Clark Gallery, Soprafina Gallery Thomas Segal Gallery, GW Einstein Gallery and Caldbeck Gallery. In April 2019 the artist exhibited in the Thirteenth Havana Biennale in Mantanzas, Cuba.
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