Cutting color chips out of packaging (e.g. cereal
boxes, 12-pack containers, consumer product boxes) and applying the color with
glue to reclaimed cardboard became a relaxation technique for me in March.
There was only a casual regard for the finished product as the initial result
looked sort of like a New York City skyscraper.
My grandson seemed to validate the process as he and his parents (my son and daughter-in-law) fled their upper west side apartment in NYC to quarantine at the maternal grandmother’s house in suburban Memphis. A series of be-deckled boxes glued together and assembled as a tower was taller than the 3 ½ year old James. He is almost always the perfect audience for Papa Wes’ folly. On the occasion of my other grandson Lawton’s 4th birthday the Covid – 19 Mosaic Art Project yielded a Octopus for him. So that piece landed in Tampa, Florida.
As I kept cutting chips, I began to sort into colors
and consider patterns but never obsessed with the idea of precision
pointillism. With additional executions, I enjoyed the process that could yield
a facsimile of a ceramic tile work made from pieces that are not ever perfect.
The metaphor of hundreds and thousands of people appearing in Zoom sessions or
social media performances or even virtual graduations inspired me too.
I’m a teacher at Great Circle, a private school
dedicated to students, K-12, with significant emotional and behavioral
challenges, communication disorders, cognitive delays or autism spectrum
diagnosis. Just as the 2019-2020 school year prepared for its Spring Break
beginning with dismissal on Friday, March 20th it was becoming
apparent that instruction modalities would be changed radically in favor of
e-learning and daily Zoom sessions when school resumed on March 31. The only
thing constant is change after all. My career path has necessitated navigating
shifts in the advertising business, marketing and corporate environments
through good economies and bad. Clearly the Covid-19 Pandemic is likely to have
an historic impact on how we interact as human beings for a long time.
The Covid-19 Mosaic Art Project started as a way to practice a sort of mindfulness while the world seemed ever more uncertain. As this blog is being written, the process of creating and sharing art, for me, relies on readily available materials like packaging, school glue (Elmer’s), scissors and cardboard. As a lifelong self-described art junky I must admit my process pays homage to pop art, found objects, deconstruction, ready-mades and the realization that a there is inspiration in the very act of doing.
Covid-19 Mosaic Art Project and the Artist – The works
displayed in this blog were all created in March, April and May of 2020 ©
Wesley A. Morgan 2020.
The front page of the New York Times on May 24, 2020 as the Covid - 19 death toll approaches 100,000.
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