The Art Show II! Submissions from Far and Wide! A Shorter Introduction!

(Art Show #1 was a huge hit!  Scroll for more.) 

As famous kid wrangler (and brother-in-law) Nate McClennen once said, “boredom is the crucible for creativity.” I think many of us can relate to the boredom part right now (my big excitement for the day was driving on the highway for the first time in three weeks). But shape shifting that boredom into creative masterpieces while on lockdown is a little more complicated than just having the time. Many of us are moving through our COVID 19 days carrying an emotional weight that can make it hard to be productive at all, nevermind creative.  And while quarantine life has gifted many of us a bit more free time, I find my time filled with unexpected tasks, like disinfecting groceries, tracking down yeast, unloading the dishwasher again, and simply just working out the details of how to coexist in a small space all day long with three other humans. And then there’s the millions of emails...

That’s why I was totally delighted when some of my favorite people responded to my second request for art with more really great art, and this time the submissions come from around the country: Napa, California; Jackson, Wyoming; and Madison Wisconsin (as well as good old Jericho, Vermont).

Featured Artist #1: Sydney Sears, Jericho, VT

Featured Artist #2: Delilah Kramer, Jericho, VT

Featured Artist #3: Taya McClennen, Jackson, WY

Featured Artist #4: Maia, Madison, WI

Featured Artist # 5: Jackson Waters, Napa, CA

Featured Artist #6: Donovan Waters, Napa, CA

Featured Scientist/Artist # 7: Ben Waters, Napa, CA

Featured Artist/Baker #8: Aidan Verdonk, Jericho, VT (the Scone/Donut—the Sconut)

Featured Artist/Baker #9: Kai McClennen, Jackson, Wyoming 

Featured Artist #10: Finn Verdonk, Jericho, VT

Featured Artist #11: Local Vet Tech/Essential Worker Lupe Sears, Jericho, VT

Essential

I awake from a restless sleep, resisting to pull on my scrubs, can I handle another day like yesterday?  I drive from the quiet comfort of home, my sleeping children. The dog yearning for another walk.  The almost baron highway keeps me focused on the newest milestone of deaths in one day which saturates the channels I used to sing to.

My heart aches.  I am considered an essential worker, a hero.  This is not what I thought a hero feels  like.  

Work is bustling, not with the laughter of my co- workers telling  funny stories of after work gatherings or new recipes they tried, but of cars parked in front, waiting anxiously for their pets to be seen.  I dawn my mask and gloves and fear what lies beyond the locker room doors, only knowing all to well what the day will bring.

I wave to my co-workers, we are separated by invisible lines to avoid cross- contamination. Everyone scampering to do the work of five, knowing they are one.

I hear the fear on the Life's of the clients, see the desperation in their eyes as they hand me their pet not knowing if they will see them again.

I hurt, wondering if the tears they cried have evaporated enough to hug and comfort the frightened animal they're trusting me with In my arms.

Anxiety radiates; the receptionist fielding the multitude of concerned calls, the ICU caring for patients with multiple procedures and only one of them.  The ER, Oncology. Internal medicine teams all in their bubbles trying not to implode, looking at the desperation but not being able to help.

We are the essential, we go home, wash our scrubs and hope tomorrow will not be like today.

The Art Show (and an extended introduction)

(Feel feel to skip to the end for some great art and poetry)

We are all feeling the weight of what is going on in our world and especially in our small community, and I thought it would be a good moment to share some art.

First, some backstory: Delilah alluded to this in her previous post, but I want to say a bit more. Once (or “Waaaanse” as Berkeley might say) I went to a baby story hour with Finn who was maybe eight months old.  I met a few moms who convinced me to feed my tiny baby an entire piece of cereal (meanwhile their babies were eating full hamburgers).  Finn didn’t choke, and our families have been fast friends ever since.  These connections have really meant a lot over time, and I love seeing how all the the different relationships have evolved.  One of our best ways of connecting lately has been game night (and a quick shout out to Delilah for keeping that going during quarantine).

It feels urgent to maintain these connections right now, and I am especially grateful for the ways in which we are able to transcend the limits of our quarantine.  I am also grateful for the connections that are unconditional, not tenuous in the least.  I saw this recently, and it seems appropriate to share:

After one of our virtual game nights, I was thinking about all this and wrote a very quick poem.  The others shared a few things.  (And, by the way, this was also interesting: Social Distancing Haikus).  So after a really long introduction...

Welcome to the first (of at least a couple, I hope) VFFC Virtual Quarantine Art Show:

First featured artist: Berkeley Sears with a poem and an drawing:

                                                                    We Ask

the silent city streets, once bustling with life, sing a sorrowful lullaby, easing us into hibernation. how long? we ask, how long until we wake? how long until the earth may rise from its slumber? when? we ask, when will we be freed from these eerily familiar prison cells that isolate us from one another, prohibiting us from seeing the faces of our closest friends and family? Our own homes grow less and less comforting as days turn to weeks turn to months. This damned disease has taken too many, craving our attention until everything, media, news, all of it reeks with the same sickening smell, the same word echoes through our heads like an endless drum beat; coronavirus, coronavirus, coronavirus. 

And her art:

Second Featured Artist: Delilah Kramer

Though Vermont is under house arrest,

We all are still doing our best! 

We play games and bake food,

Spend more time slightly nude

Even though we are all kind of stressed.

Third Featured Artist: Me

                                              Between Sleep One and Sleep Two: Thoughts at 2 a.m.

During a global pandemic

Too enormous to wrap our heads around

So much depends upon the little things

Discovering a forgotten box of mini ice cream sandwiches in the basement

And a meticulously designed Pictionary game on the internet

The details so carefully planned

So we could just see your faces, do funny hair, laugh,

And draw turtle horses and lizard zebras

Fourth Featured Artist: Finn Verdonk

                                                                       Hemorrhage 

a round ribbed mouth rejects liquid glass

a trickle of spit against brittle wintered stems

breaks and bends them

listen to the sound of melting

small stones have taken to littering their way along the underbelly of the creek

a damp underbelly already rife with sediment

smooth dirt like a slab of sooty marble

untouched by the water above in some strange act of naturalistic avoidance

but all at once a foot descends to unsmooth the marvelous polished flatness

submerged mushroom clouds ascend

fumes pour like the milk at the bottom of the cereal bowl

sludgy grainy farrago

tranquility snapped like uncooked spaghetti

sharp and uneven

the deep crater

the bullet hole

the wound

seeps thick brown blood sickly

diffuse ink like octopus

spiraling down the river

not necessarily pollution

but something more like the way my head is feeling these days

Fifth Featured Artist: Lupe Sears

Online Activities by Delilah

Hi! Delilah here. Although I am not experiencing Quarantine Living at the Verdonk Family Fun Center, us Kramers, along with the Sears family, have been doing our best to stay connected. Since we cannot get together for our usual game nights, here is a list I made of some other fun games to stay connected with friends.

• Spyfall! Spyfall is a completely online game (similar to The Chameleon for those who know that game). It is free and requires no log-in or anything. Rounds are short, typically under 10 minutes, and it is easy to learn. Play it over a zoom call to be able to see and talk to everyone! 
• Pictionary! This is playable simply by using the whiteboard feature on a zoom call. Pair it with an online word generator and a one minute timer and you are set! We played this the other night and laughed a lot. 
• Although I personally haven’t played, there are a lot of sites to play online uno! Uno is a classic that everyone knows, and doesn’t require too much focusing. You can play with a zoom call to chat, or just with the game if you are more interested in winning than connecting, I guess? 
• Although Bananagrams isn’t digital, it is possible to play with anyone that owns the game. Do a group video or phone call, and play with your own set. However, to end the game at the same time, either nobody dumps, or everyone has to. Also, make sure everyone has the same amount of tiles- if 2 people are playing with one set, and just 1 with the other set, that 1 person will need to split the tiles in half to have an equal amount. 
• Secret Hitler is a favorite for our group! Although you need to create an account, it is free to play online! You should definitely pair this with a zoom call, as it relies heavily on being able to tell who is lying. 
• If you are into all the board games ever, this website has a lot of online games, most of which are free. So far we have not played anything from this site, but it seems really cool! 
• Forbidden island/desert is playable if one person has a board, since it is so collaborative that there aren’t really secrets, and one person can move all the pieces. Pair it with a zoom call, and a phone connected to the zoom call showing the board. 
• My teacher played Settlers of Catan over a zoom call, where both people had the board and arranged it the same way. Sounds fun, but requires too much time/focus for me these days! 
• Boggle! Online boggle exists, and use zoom to screenshare, or take a picture of a physical board. 

Although they are not games, here are some other online ideas and things I have been doing or want to do:

• Authors are doing read alouds! Some go live on instagram to read, some have youtube videos up, some read full books and others just chapters. Books are usually middle grade or picture books. It is very calming to listen to a book, and the variety available is fun. Plus, it is cool to hear it read by the author! It would be cool to do a read-aloud zoom call with some friends where we read a few chapters out loud and then discuss. Like a book club, plus a read aloud! 
• Instagram live videos have become more popular among my friends. One friend did a livestream while painting her nails and we all suggested how she should paint them and had a fun chat. I have occasionally been doing livestreams of goat kids. Also, a clothing brand that I follow is doing yoga class livestreams, which I would enjoy if I did yoga. 
• Lunch chats! Both Asa and I have been doing occasional just for fun lunch zoom calls with our schools. It is nice to connect over lunch still. 
• Lots of museums have virtual tours or lessons available online. I’ve only done one, but it is a neat thing to do when bored that kind of makes you feel like you’ve gone someplace! 

Although social distancing is not very fun at all, I have enjoyed the challenge of finding online ways to recreate in-person connecting. Plus, you can do all of these activities on your couch in your pajamas! I think it is very important to stay connected and set aside time to just have fun. I hope these ideas help meet that goal.