Art in the Time of Covid
by
Elizabeth Indianos
Yes, we know, everything stopped—except my Shapeshifter skills in every area of my life, still the only way I know, currently inspired by Creative Pinellas’s belief in my ability to build a futre landscape in this crisis, one that will renew and flourish. I’m on it.
After 20 years of producing Student Exhibitions every semester, please now enjoy Student work in our very first, inaugural, online exhibition. Join in with us tomorrow night for our very first online, Live Opening at the Leepa Rattner Museum of Art… at 5pm. Why not on a Saturday night? (link enclosed to see the exhibit and zoom join us at 5pm).
On the personal front, while in costume and safely distanced, I make my grandchildren “Dance” for treats underneath a magic box I painted. When they dance enough, they can open the box! Thrilled at their old toys (recycling people!) and sugared treats (let the parents deal with them the rest of the day!) Then, Off I go to the studio. I have work to do. There is NO, KNOW NOTHING to consider; work to do- costumes, paintings, writing, video, drama, music… till tomorrow.
INTRO: ART in the Time of Covid: 2020 Spring Charrette Exhibition Leepa Rattner Museum of Art
“This has been a unique semester…in the middle of it, teacher and students become Ninjas in freefall, suddenly jumping out of an airplane we didn’t know we were in; altogether overloaded and overwhelmed, feeling around for a parachute chord we’d never used before and didn’t know how to work.
“Class” is now beyond grades and tasks; “Teaching,” becomes more than knowledge and experience—now is the time for leadership, inspiration and the promise of Hope.
I tell my students:
“’The world wants and needs to see what you are creating. This is a lifetime event with your lifetime responses, in a lifetime exhibit, during a time that will long be remembered. What you feel and have to say will matter to people now and later. Everyone is counting on you.”’
Please, enjoy our 2020 Student Charrette Exhibition, Art in the Time of Covid.
The parachute opened and we’re floating… floating… floating towards a landscape of vibrant renewal, ready to flourish, buoyed by works that are powerful stories, a mix of sadness, fear, inspiration, nostalgia and yes, Hope.
Elizabeth Indianos
*Much appreciation and heartfelt thanks for the hope and vision of Tarpon Springs Campus Provost, Rod Davis; Program Director, Kevin Stanley, Director of The Leepa Rattner Museum of Art, Teresa Wilkens, and of course to my colleague Linda Berghoff and our students, who carry the torch.
