Art in the Time of COVID exhibit graphic, via SVC website, artist not listed.
Katie Palmer
Skagit Valley College has the occasional art gallery exhibit on the Mt Vernon campus. This gallery consists of art from local artists and students. Of course, during the times of COVID-19, it is not possible to have an open exhibit for students to come see. So how are local artists supposed to display their art at SVC?
The answer is the digital exhibit. “Art in the Time of COVID”. This exhibit is available for viewing on the Skagit Valley College website. It currently features six different artists, Marcus Badgley, Persis Gayle, Micheal Laboon, Kristen Loffer-Theiss, Roger Small, and Maria Wickwire.
The variation of art in this exhibit is one of the main things that sticks out about it. Each artist has 2-3 pieces available for viewing. Pottery, clay sculptures, photography, digital illustrations and more come together to create a diverse palette of art to scroll through.
This exhibit was created originally to show the contrast of how COVID-19 had affected local artists in the Skagit Valley area. Christ Theiss, the man behind the exhibit, and the art gallery director talked about his experience in the creation of the exhibit. “I’m an artist myself, I’m married to an artist,” Theiss started, when asked about the idea behind the exhibit. “and I know there’s so many artists that took a hit during COVID-19, not only financially, but with exposure as well. The opportunity to get their work seen with art shows and gallery work, those just weren’t happening. An online exhibit was an obvious choice, since we didn’t have any in-person classes, nobody had access to the buildings so people couldn’t see the artwork. I started working with someone who worked with the gallery website, and we posted our previous shows on the website. I figured we could post a new one as well, all about art during COVID.”
Theiss went on to expand on this point. “I thought it would be interesting to see what type of artwork we were seeing at the time, and how current events might impact the work we’re making right now. I thought it would be interesting to see if people are reflecting in their work, or just escaping into it, and how that would specifically affect the objects and images people are making in our local area.”
Theiss described his experience creating the exhibit. “To be honest I was really disappointed. I think I have really high expectations; I go into everything with high expectations or I won’t do it. When I put out posts online with social media, I knew there were so many artists that were putting out work. I was surprised to find out those artists didn’t respond. If I’m an artist and I haven’t had the opportunity for my art to be seen, I’m going to take it. Any opportunity that comes around, I’m gonna say yes to. The people that submitted (to the posts about the exhibit) were people I’ve known over the years, active in the area. Overall I just expected a bit more, is all.”
The online exhibit format offers lots of advantages and disadvantages. With the work already being online, it creates a much easier flow from viewing the exhibit to finding the artists online. Like Maria Wickwire’s, website, where you can view her work, her art associations, and contact her. This easier flow is beneficial to artists, and that’s one of the main benefits to an online exhibit.
Theiss described his feelings on the pros and cons of an online exhibit. “I think it’s a great format. Well, I guess it depends on how you phrase it. To show art, no. It’s just not the same as showing in person. It does depend on the work, some work will translate really well, some won’t. In a lot you’ll lose all the detail and subtlety. But for exposing work, it’s a wonderful platform. So many people these days search art, buy art, all online through their computer screen, they aren’t walking around looking for it. So, it’s great because it reaches a broader audience. But in terms of seeing it (the art) in person, it’s just not a substitute for standing in front of an art piece.”
Theiss went on to conclude that while setting up the online exhibit was certainly interesting, with seeing all the different art that artists made during COVID-19, he hopes he never in a million years has to consider the possibility of an exhibit about a worldwide pandemic.
While an online exhibit isn’t the best way for showing art, this exhibit has provided an otherwise unavailable space for artists in the Skagit Valley area to display their art during this global pandemic.
