Between Art and Quarantine is inspired by the Instagram #tussenkuntsenquarataine which started circulating in late March 2020. It was followed quickly by the Getty Museum Challenge on social media and numerous others.
The idea was for people to recreate famous works of art in their own homes, with whatever objects and costume bits they had available to them. The results were fascinating, comical, and heart warming. A way for people to interact with creativity, art, and museums found its way through a world-wide pandemic and lock-down.
We began to notice, here in Norman, that our very own creatives were quickly finding their own ways through the lock-down with their own versions of quarantine creativity. This exhibit features works by Norman artists Joshua Boydston, Cody Giles, Brad Stevens, and Shevaun Williams — all of whom found ways to create in isolation. Many of these works made their way to social media locally and beyond, and for the first time, thanks to funding from the Kirkpatrick Foundation, we are able to exhibit them in real (if socially-distanced) life.
When Norman Arts Council Executive Director Erinn Gavaghan and artist Giles first began discussing this exhibit in May of 2020, Gavaghan asked Giles, “What do you think? Will this still be relevant in November? Will people be over this and have moved on?”
Giles, in his infinite-future-seeing-wisdom said, “Nah. I think people will still want to see this.”
Neither could have imagined that the entire world would still be struggling with COVID by the time the exhibit opened.
In addition to the four Norman artists, Between Art and Quarantine will also feature over 70 images of life during COVID-19 in Norman’s Sister Cities of Seika, Japan and Arezzo, Italy taken by the citizens of those communities.
The exhibit will open with a digital showcase during the November Virtual 2nd Friday Art Walk on Friday, November 13 and be available for in-person viewing beginning on Wednesday, November 18 at MAINSITE Contemporary Art from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each Wednesday through Saturday through Saturday, December 19.
pARTner Support for the Norman Arts Council provided by Mid-America Arts Alliance, Kirkpatrick Foundation, Oklahoma Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, The City of Norman, Fowler Automotive, Armstrong Bank, Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, and Valir Pace.
Fashion Masking by Shevaun Williams (Model: Jahruba Lambeth)
Pía by Brad Andrew Stevens
Pandemic Family Portraits by Cody Giles
When A Fire Starts To Burn by Joshua Boydston