MIDDLETOWN—Exhibiting artists recently talked about their work in “Apart and Connected,” on view at the Middletown Art Center (MAC) until June 20, both virtually and in person. The Zoom event “Conversations with Artists” took place Saturday and the audience had an opportunity to interact with the artists followed by questions and commenting about the pieces.
Lisa Kaplan’s signature is using land in her creative process. She said COVID did impact her and her work. “I work with figures. I’ve been working with mud or with earth clay and straw for about 10 years. That’s a connection to the earth. I’ve been extremely busy working on making sure that MAC can sustain itself during this difficult time of being pretty much closed,” said the Middletown Art Center director, who is also taking part in the exhibition.
Art teacher Darren Jekel has two pieces on paper that are on display at the MAC frames. “Normally, I work on canvas, but it’s interesting to work on paper because it’s light, quick and disposable. These particular pieces are beautiful examples of process painting, which is kind of a postmodern aesthetic that has to do with the process of making the art; and what happens is as important as your original intentions, to begin with,” said Jekel.
Jekel also talked about how he coped with the pandemic and his teaching job: “It really affected me, big time. I think we’re coming out of a great period where it was a very invisible and unseen threat.”
Marriage and family therapist Kim Baughan Young described her artistic activity – paintings – as psychological resilience that comes from combining the deep psyche with art making. “I work as a psychotherapist, so I happen to specialize in recovery from trauma. For sure, this pandemic is a collective trauma really worldwide,” she mused. Her art pieces started to be created at her home, from where she has been working. With more time to paint, but being apart from family and friends and not able to travel, things that she would normally do, combined into a lack of stimulation from the outside world – “I decided, then, to go inside and internally, especially in the winter. It is such a long winter not being able to see anyone.”
Lake County Poet Laureate, Georgina Marie Guardado, said she recently held a workshop inspired by all of the artwork on “Apart and Connected.”
“The participants and I wrote poetry based on the artwork. The prompt was to choose your favorite piece of art in the studio,” she said.
According MAC co-curator, Nicola Chipps, the Middletown Art Center has been looking at alternative paths to innovate and take different approaches through this pandemic, using virtual tools. “We’ve been actively working on ways to connect with people. When the gallery has been closed, we’ve gone through an unprecedented time of not having the community access that we rely upon so much. This is a way that we hope we can bring more artists to the forefront, and we’re certainly very fortunate to have ever been a part of those as well,” she said.
For an interactive virtual tour, please visit middletownartcenter.org/connected
To view and purchase work from “Apart and Connected”, please visit artworkarchive.com/profile/middletown-art-center
The exhibition can be also visited in person from Thursday to Monday, from 10:30 am to 5 pm, at 21456 Hwy 175, in Middletown.
