Hera Gallery

#FoodforThoughtCreativeQuarantine Artist Rebecca Siemering shares her practice during the pandemic. Within the first month of the current crisis, I was reading how it was important to document the  time we are in for historians. With being at home, conducting school at home, and working,  there has not been much time to use my hands for my art practice, much less write. As an artist  I need to keep my hands moving to feel ok or I get agitated. In times of stress, I often write  haikus to settle my mind.  Traditional haiku references nature and specifics to the season, drawing out a view of the inner  self by being reflective upon a moment. I think of the crisis of COVID19 as a temporary season  itself. I found a small notebook and set some limitations to begin writing a poem a day. I find  limitations in mediums to be freeing. You have to work against them to express your idea and  that can lead to greater creativity. In my f...

#FoodforthoughtCreativeQuarantine Hera artist, board member and past president, Barbara Pagh shares some cellphone photo editing experiments she has been making. At one of Hera’s first Food for Thought Saturdays, Uli showed us experiments she was doing using a Photoshop app on her cell phone. We uploaded it on our own phones, but I never used it. During this quarantine, I’ve been walking the dog as much as I can in different local wooded trails and I started photographing during the walks. For Earth Day I decide to use the app and posted one result on Facebook and Instagram. It’s kind of gimmicky, but I love the different shapes and patterns that emerge, so I am trying it with more of the images. There is also something soothing about the symmetry.

#FoodforthoughtCreativeQuarantine From Hera Board President Uli Brahmst: some days I am overflowing with gratitude I feel the planet breathing love and care pouring out blessings all around other days I find myself in a dark vortex of dread exhausted hospital workers mask imprints on their teary faces wrapped bodies in dismal isolation meatfactories endless lines at food banks rapidly climbing unemployment numbers lies, betrayal, a true sense of horror and most days I fluctuate between both A month ago, on March 27th I committed to post a daily drawing on fb for the duration of our shelter in place order. The drawings are my contribution to the larger creative response to our shared Covid-19 reality.

#FoodforThoughtCreativeQuarantine Today's Hera  artists  Sonja  Czekalski shares her #whatwomenwear project and what she has been thinking about  during  the pandemic. In the midst of this global pandemic, quarantine, social distancing, virtual learning, and extra studio art time world that has been thrown at us I have been focusing my energy on creating and embedding positivity and inspiration to those I can reach. I have spent the last two weeks creating a virtual art curriculum… I have had fun taking on the challenge of this role. It has forced me to think of lessons and ways to teach that I do not think I ever would have otherwise.  I have been meditating, channeling, and spiritually connecting with others to spread positive energy and high vibrations across the nation. And of course I have been taking advantage of the privilege of all this extra studio time!  This week I finished the  Self Portrait- Diana Corset  for...

#FoodforThoughtCreativeQuarantine Today Hera Board member and past President, Barbara Pagh shares a video from her studio. I have been working on these collages of handmade paper that are memories of colors as I look out at the sky and water in Matunuck at different times of day and weather conditions. Compositionally they go back to my minimalist roots with straightforward horizontal bands of color and texture. I find these collages meditative to make and a necessary respite from the news.

#FoodforThoughtCreativeQuarantine Hera artist Molly Kaderka installed her solo exhibition at the Jamestown Art Center right before social distancing and school, institution and business closures happened. Today she is sharing images from the exhibition. Enjoy! You can find information about the exhibition below the photographs. A Mythic Pause  Jamestown Art Center, Jamestown RI https://www.jamestownartcenter.org/exhibitions   March 5- April 25 Artist: Molly Kaderka  (IG handle @mkaderka ) Contributing Furniture: Kit Howland (IG handle @kithowland ) Short Blurb A Mythic Pause  creates an immersive environment with large-scale, site-specific paintings laminated directly to the walls. Using a combination of printmaking, drawing and painting, Kaderka depicts two different realms: the celestial and the terrestrial. Framed by a tactile printed rock surface, the circular compositions ac...

#FoodforThoughtCreativeQuarantine From Hera member, Susie Matthews The current pandemic is causing terrible things to happen to many, many people.  While I do not want to underemphasize the severity of this tragedy, I am finding some beauty and joy during this time, especially on my walks and in my garden.  Sharing this bit of inspiration cannot heal the sick or grow the economy, but I hope it might bring others some happiness.                                                                 Spring is always a miracle.  I am awed by the magic and strength of new growth rising up from the ground. The contrast of fresh, soft leaves coming out of hard, dull branches or earth exhilarates me.  O ne of the earliest plants to emerge in the spring  is skunk cabbage ( Symplocarpu...

#FoodforThoughtCreativeQuarantine from Hera Member John Kotula An Old Artist on the Road In this Time of Contagion; three drawings, a photo, and reflections          My wife, Deb Drew, had been planning to hike the Appalachian Trail for a long time. This year was the year! We left Rhode Island on March 13th, Friday the 13th, headed for the beginning of the Trail in Springer Mountain Georgia, where she would begin a six month, solo, through hike. The plan was that I ’d drop her off and continue on to Florida to do some volunteer work. As we started out, news of the Corona Virus epidemic was intensifying, but we saw no reason to change our plans. As we drove south, everything began to unravel. First my volunteer plans, which included living in close quarters with a group of people from across the US and working in agricultural communities began to feel like they posed too much risk of exposure. I cancelled and decided to bum ...

#FoodforThoughtCreativeQuarantine From Hera member Kathie Florsheim I am an inveterate gardener. Sometimes I grow plants I want to photograph. This amaryllis is one I grew this winter.   Seeing it today makes my heart sing, its rich color is an urgent reminder that all is not lost.     Sometimes my work rescues me.

#FOODFORTHOUGHTCREATIVEQAURANTINE A post from Hera Board President, Uli Brahmst on the transformative power of art. "The transformative power of art is so obvious each time an exhibition goes up or down. Empty spaces get completely and magically altered.  " The images above are from Uli's recent exhibition as UMASS Dartmouth CVPA gallery,  On Being a Woman, the first shows the exhibition in the space and the second shows the space after the exhibition was taken down. January-February 2020 These two images show Hera gallery during the opening reception for and during installation of our bi-annual children's exhibition. February 2020