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Made In Quarantine — 7/20 to 9/20/2020

The Galleries at Lynn Arts is proud to present a collection of artwork made during the Safer-At-Home shutdown for the global COVID19 pandemic. It has been an intense time, and it inspired me to make an intense painting.

My creation for the Made In Quarantine show was inspired by my anger at President Donald Trump’s almost complete lack of leadership during the pandemic and his intense politicization of the unprecedented disaster it has caused our country. So many people dead and suffering, so many jobs lost, so many businesses and schools shuttered, yet Trump treats it like an afterthought and dangerously confuses US citizens with daily lies about COVID19.

The painting is called Taking Note. It is painted in acrylics on a 12″ x 24″ gallery-wrapped canvas. The background of the canvas is white with orange type-font lettering. Superimposed on the “typing” is the word “LIES” written three times in stenography. The shorthand words are dripping with the blood of Covid’s many victims in the US — blood that could have been saved if he had done his job.

I payed for college by working as a secretary, taking shorthand and typing letters. Most secretaries were women, and stenography is basically a secret language of women. Donald Trump has been dangerous to all Americans, but he has been especially awful to women. I thought it was appropriate to remind him that I, and other women — certainly the millions that marched together the day after his inauguration — have been Taking Note of the mess he has made.

This painting is a stark contrast to most of my paintings. Usually, I try to reflect the beauty of the world that God has given us. I try very hard to see the good in life and not paint ugly or unhappy subjects, to leave the world better than I found it. But sometimes something happens that is so bad that it must be remembered and trumpeted. Trump’s careless handling of this health disaster moved me to do so.

New gallery hours: Fridays 5 – 8 PM, Saturdays 11AM – 5PM and the last Sunday of the month 11AM – 4PM. To accommodate the needs of safety of our community we will allow 10 people in the big gallery, 2 persons in the small community gallery and no more than 4 in the shop including cashier at any time. Masks are required inside the building of course.