Art in Isolation

A view from my studio

I honestly couldn’t decide what to write about this week until I read an article from the L.A. Times this morning. It was on David Hockney’s response to the shutdown. He made several statements in the article that truly resonated with me.

I live about 8 miles outside of town on 15 acres of prairie and woods (and in a good year- a pond, too). We do have neighbors but our houses are comfortably distanced. I know how fortunate I am. I made a solemn promise to myself when we moved here just about 30 years ago to never take this land for granted. And I have kept it. I have a special place on my morning walks that daily reminds me to give thanks back to the land.

In early 2014, after I had closed my yarn shop in town, we had an addition built onto our house for studio space. The best part of this was - is -  that I no longer have to leave the house to do my work.

I don’t like to go to town. I don’t like the necessary interruptions of daily life. I’m reminded of a quote by Georgia O’Keefe in which she expresses the essence of my feelings in the book by Laurie Lisle, “A Biography of Georgie O’Keefe”, pg 315. 

“One works because I suppose it is the most interesting thing one knows to do. The days one works are the best days. On the other days one is hurrying through the other things one imagines one has to do to keep ones life going. You get the garden planted. You get the roof fixed. You take the dog to the vet. You spend a day with a friend... You may even enjoy doing such things…  But always you are hurrying through these things with a certain amount of aggravation so that you can get at the paintings again because that is the high spot - in a way it is what you do all the other things for….The painting is like a thread that runs through all the reasons for all the other things that make one’s life.”

In the L.A. Times article referenced above, Hockney talks about how visual artists aren’t dependent on others to get their work done. We don’t need an audience to thrive like actors or musicians. In fact, however, our work IS dependent on a certain amount of isolation. 

Do read the article. None of his new work is featured, but several pieces from a previous show at Paris’ Galerie Lelong are - featuring pieces from his 2019 immersion in Normandy’s landscape. I especially love his “Apple Tree.” 

The Art Newspaper, however, does have a number of articles on Hockney and the work he has been doing this year. Works with titles like  “Do remember they can’t cancel the spring”  -  and later “Remember they can’t cancel the autumn either.”

So I know I am not in the majority of my friends - or extended family - or most likely most reading this, but I’ve welcomed the isolation this year. I’ve relished in the focus and the opportunity it’s given me. 

So hang on to this- no matter what the year brought to you. They can’t cancel Spring.