In a year when individuals were often isolated, a community of artists came together to continue to collaborate and teach, and ensure the exchange of creative ideas didn’t die out.
At the Jaffrey Civic Center, on the first floor display cases, an exhibit of artists from Sharing Arts and MAxT Makerspace’s Project SHOWcase displays works by artists who produced work in classes throughout the pandemic.
Kimberly Kersey-Asbury, a coordinator for the exhibit and a education and exhibition coordinator for Sharing Arts, said the exhibit shows just what can be done with a collaborative spirit.
“We wanted to show off what we managed to do with arts education programming, despite losing nearly everything,” Kersey-Asbury said.
Kersey-Asbury isn’t talking just about the pandemic and lockdown. Sharing Arts, which has been providing community art classes as a way to fill the hole left by the closing of Peterborough and Sharon’s Sharon Arts – “Sharing Arts” being a deliberate play on words.
Sharing Arts was only in its infancy in early 2020, and like many organizations, had to find new ways to collaborate when March of 2020 sent residents into lockdown.
But, Kersey-Asbury said, they weren’t willing to give up. After all, the creation of Sharing Arts was specifically because local artists recognized the need for “community.”
“I don’t think you realize, until you have its absence, the value of a group,” Kersey-Asbury said. “There are many artists that could paint by themselves, but to be able to share ideas and techniques, and also just a sense of community, is important.”
Sharing Arts continued classes throughout last year, holding them out-of-doors and in other safely socially-distant ways.
Julie Rizzo of Dublin, who has one of her drawings featured in the showcase, took her first forays into a drawing class among the pandemic, with classes held outdoors at MacDowell Lake in Peterborough. She said though she’s experimented with other art forms, mostly self-taught, the drawing class was a “big experiment” for her.
Marcia Pilch of Fitzwilliam is also featured in the show, with a clay sculpture of a frog on a lily pad.
Pilch said she recently moved to the area from Virginia, where she had taken some pottery classes, and was interested in continuing to take classes in the area, when she found Sharing Arts online.
“I’ve been looking for something to do. I was just sitting at home, and I was tired of sitting at home,” Pilch said.
Carter Hammond of Peterborough, a member of MAxT Makerspace, who has some of his print screening designs featured in the showcase, said the pandemic was a tough time to be creative. While the MAxT Makerspace did find ways to allow artists in to use the space’s equipment, through reserved times and online classes, there’s no replacement for interaction between artists.
“It wasn’t easy,” Hammond said. “It’s been a challenge. But it’s a testament to how many people are investing in having a creative community that we’ve been able to carry on.”
Hammond said when working at the Makerspace, particularly, there is a free-flow of ideas between artists of different mediums. A drawing, for example, in one-dimensional space, can become two-dimensional or three-dimensional with use of wood working, etching or 3D-printing.
“To have an idea, and be able to talk to someone about ways to realize that idea through different mediums, and looking at different work-arounds, getting to push each other and cross disciplines, that’s what a community is about,” Hammond said.
The display cases feature drawing, pottery, textile art and various media created over the past two years. They are available on the first floor of the Jaffrey Civic Center through Sept. 4.