Masks Will Give Us Wings, 2020

Completed in July of 2020 at Artisan’s Corner Gallery in Newbury, OH, the summer after being sent home from school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My high school art teacher, Mary Ann Sedivy, reached out about the opportunity to paint a local gallery window with her. I referenced a photo I took with my mom in our masks. I was inspired by Mrs. Sedivy’s mural of birds to make the masks into birds fluttering above us. I felt it was a great message; how wearing masks now will help us become free from this pandemic in the future.

Also, we did a first round of this mural using ink dye, which sadly washed away in a rainstorm that same night! So we went back and did them again using acrylic. I include pictures of both versions below, and a picture of the rain damage… I think it’s cool to see the differences!