Lockdown Artist: Responding to the pandemic

This body of work was created in response to the Covid-19 Lockdown in 2020. I usually create work in response to visual stimulus, often landscapes, so this challenged me to work in a completely different way. How could I positively use my feelings of confusion and worry to become a Lockdown Artist? The charcoal drawings were created at the start of the pandemic by me repeatedly writing words which described my feelings at the time, the darker areas contained my negative thoughts and the lighter areas my more positive and probably more rational thoughts. The more hopeful thoughts gradually seeping into the darker ones. The ‘Stay at Home’ series are paper sculptures I created to represent the home we were all told to stay in. I really enjoyed photographing them in different lights and was amazed to see that one of the shadows created body-like shape. This body shape has inspired both a collagraph print and a piece of framed textile art. Click on any image to enlarge.

Lockdown I

£175.00

We went into Lockdown, we were told to stay at home and Lockdown II was made in response to the government instructions. My work is usually made in response to places that I am visually drawn to but this situation required me to work in a different way. It took me a while to feel my way into this type of working but I really enjoyed the process.

You can read more about the story behind this piece in my blog.

This image sums up Lockdown to me. The home, a structure where we need to stay and yet does not physically constrain us. Being unable to meet others or to go about our life in the normal way, left me feeling a shadow of my former self.

‘Lockdown II’ is made of hand dyed and printed fabric. The background fabric is hand dyed using a method that creates a variegated pattern and the paler areas look remind me of clouds. The structure was printed onto the fabric using a collagraph plate and is heavily stitched to add interest and form. The shadow is stencilled on with oil stick.

If you have any questions about the work, then please contact me and I’ll be pleased to help.

Size:

46 x 30cm

Materials: