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In NHPR's series, The Show Goes On, we check in with different artists across the state to hear what inspiration they've found during the pandemic and how they're making it through.Have you been creating art during the pandemic? If you'd like to share your art or creative hobby with NHPR, send an email to voices@nhpr.org, or tell us about your latest project by leaving a voicemail at 603-513-7790.

The Show Goes On: The Art You've Made To Get Through The Pandemic

Rhys McKinnon painted watercolors during the pandemic.

During the coronavirus pandemic, many of us have turned to art to help us get through these hard times. As part of a spring series focused on how artists found community and inspiration during the pandemic, we asked our audience to share their creative pursuits.

We heard from students and parents, engineers and retirees -  all people who have used their time at home to create artworks of all kinds.

Here's what they shared:

I am a young artist who has just started doing digital art during the pandemic! I am in online school and 14 years of age. This piece is unfinished, but it is supposed to signify how acne is actually beautiful and unique on everyone, almost like stars scattering our face like a constellation. Everyone’s constellations are unique - you could have scars or wounds on your face or stretch marks and spots on your body. Everything is beautiful in my eyes, so I wanted to show that through art. In the woman’s eyes, you can see some stars, showing that she can see the beauty in people along with seeing the beauty in herself. She doesn’t try to cover up her stars, but instead shows them off, and knows how beautiful she is. — Luca Callnan

I decided to make each of my two young granddaughters a quilt to commemorate this historic time in our lives. Every day I couldn't see them, I made a little house block. As those days turned into months, eventually I made enough little house blocks to make them each a quilt. It was a labor of love, and it gave me a way to connect with them and let them know how much I missed them and loved them. — Maureen Seppa

I'm an engineer and never considered myself artistic, but slowing down during this pandemic has allowed me to try so many new things. I took pottery classes, am currently taking metalsmithing class, which I love, and learned to weave baskets. — Ellen Brooks Inanello

This project started because I wanted to make a set of Johnnie Walker glasses for myself. Those bottles are square and hard to cut, so I started practicing on whatever glass I could find: marinara sauce jars, other liquor bottles.  I love the problem solving I have to do to learn new cuts. My friends saved their empties for me, and then they started buying the completed glasses and requesting certain brands and cuts. It’s been almost two years now - things got off to a slow start, but I’ve had much more time during the pandemic. — Ernie Bisson 

During the pandemic Stay at Home order I was teaching from home and looking for a long project to keep me occupied and keep me focused. I decided to create a temperature blanket using crochet and cotton. The scale ranged from above 94? all the way to below 25?. Every day of 2020, I recorded the high temperature for Nashua, NH, which coordinated to a color on my color chart, and then crocheted one row for that day. The result is the perfect blanket for my child when she becomes a toddler. I’m very proud of my 365 days of science combined with craft. — Elizabeth Collard

I started painting peg dolls for my children as Christmas gifts in 2020. Ever since I’ve started sharing my work on my personal social media pages, I've been asked to make more for friends, family and a couple of local preschools. I try to paint every day while my children are napping and I've found that carving out a little bit of time each day has been essential to reducing a bit of my pandemic stress. On top of having my kids play with less plastic and more meaningful toys, the best part about this newfound outlet for me is making others smile. — Melissa Woelflein

During the pandemic I had virtual painting classes with my daughter, taught by her mother in law. This is my latest "masterpiece," with apologies to Vincent! — Margaret Doody

I got a Singer sewing machine - built in Bridgeport, CT in 1904 - up and running again.  It originally belonged to my husband’s grandmother.  I sewed two baby quilts on it, for new babies that are her great-great-great-great grandchildren.  It is such fun to sew on a treadle machine because it takes rhythm to keep the wheel turning forward, like dancing and sewing at the same time. — Sandra Sonnichsen

The pandemic project I’ve been working on is an engine house for the model railroad club I am in, in Wakefield Massachusetts. It’s built from a kit, but with lots of modifications. — Ben Dibble

I make modern embroideries inspired by nature. This is the third piece in a series of embroideries done on this awesome vintage fern fabric. — Leah Chulack Murphy 

During COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, I taught myself to weave, and accomplished this in 2021. It’s been a great way to spend a pandemic, there’s always something to look forward to. — Pat DeGrandpre

These people shared their art with us by emailing voices@nhpr.org — send us an email to get in touch with questions, story ideas or to share your own art photos.

Zoey Knox is NHPR's newsroom engagement producer. Prior to joining NHPR, she held a programming internship at Radio Milwaukee and worked at college radio stations in Madison, WI, (WSUM) and Seattle, WA (KXSU).
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