Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 2020)
Continued from Page 2 broad base, from high school graduates to retirees. She said she hadn’t seen many of the chosen artists before. The idea for a vir- tual gallery was less of an opportunity for people to create art and more of a place to share it, Eskelin said. Plenty of pandem- ic-inspired art was already being created ahead of the exhibit, in turn creating a place to consolidate and display it. Heather Hirschi, Anya Hamilton, Erika Olsen and Sid Deluca are among the many artists featured. Hirschi, an Asto- ria resident, created “Medusa in Quaran- tine,” a colored pen- cil and watercolor painting of Medusa with a collaged frame. She uses Medusa as a totem to symbolize the isolation of quar- antine and the invisi- bility of the virus. Defl ated snakes surrounding the Greek goddess’ head amplify “the idea that we have this unknown threat, a threat without a face. When you’re in iso- lation, there’s nobody ‘Mental Health Mantra’ by Anya Hamilton. coming at you,” with transitioning into adulthood. It has also Hirschi said. Hamilton’s piece, “Mental Health Man- helped her fi nd composure through a breakup tra,” expresses a variety of emotions. Faces rather than “sulk in lonesome behaviors,” she with teary eyes and anxious mouths are dec- said. orated with a scale of color that bleeds from “I stepped out of my comfort zone with- one hue to the next. The top of the canvas out stepping out of the house, and somehow reads “silence, stiffness, spaciousness.” the world hasn’t ended, contrary to what I Hamilton, of Clatskanie, uses art to cope would’ve believed months ago,” she said. Other works in the gallery feature por- traits, nature and places familiar to those on the North Coast. Olsen, an Astoria photographer, portrays the feeling of helplessness and sorrow in her image “Desperate Times” of a man kneeling in front of St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catho- lic Church in Astoria. W hen she saw the man Download The App See Page 5 music first iPhone 4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM stop and kneel in the street, the feeling of desperation resonated with her own experi- ence during the pandemic. “I don’t know his story or who he is, and I don’t know what he was asking for, but I hope he found it,” Olsen said. Android
