Contact Revisited
“The Garden Within.” All original artwork/Paula Smiles.
By Paula Smiles
Contact looks different since the COVID-19 virus descended on the city, state, country, and world. I am quite comfortable being a bit of a hermit. I’m not a ‘crowd’ person. I retired January of this year from many years of working teaching special needs (mostly severe and profoundly disabled) children and as a hospice social worker, both careers involving close contact and not much physical distancing. My plans were to focus full time on my art work and to do more hiking and exploring the wilderness, state and national parks.
Planned air travel to visit friends and family has been cancelled and I am still concerned about our plans to help celebrate my mother-in-law’s 90th birthday next February in Miami Beach . . . another virus hotspot. I've 'attended' Zoom birthdays, etc. but they're not the same . . . no hugs. My own father panned the idea of a big party for his 99th birthday saying that he'd wait until his 100th and then died five months before. Time isn't always on your side.
In the meantime, I've continued to use the phone and computer options to stay in contact. I've learned a bit more of the technology stuff but as my husband says, “if you don't understand it, it's magic;" for me, much of it remains “magic.”
Following the news too closely sends my blood pressure up and is not productive so I opted to volunteer at a food pantry starting in April. The need has grown unbelievably since COVID-19 has left businesses closed and people without work. I go two days a week in order to help out in some small way. Most of the time I'm stocking shelves and making up food bags, which are loaded into trunks of the constant stream of people coming for help. Contact is limited to masked talking through the window of the cars . . .no handshakes, just a wave. The homeless people and walkups get more one-on-one contact; they are not always wearing masks but the volunteers do. It just makes me feel sad. I've also chosen to donate 20% of my art sales (however small) to a food bank.
Becca (Instagram)
I've been lucky enough to continue to hike and do some exploring of the wilderness and parks within a day's round trip. One can easily 'physical distance' from others and still enjoy Mother Nature's gifts (limited mostly by the extreme heat). Most of the visitors centers are closed but the parks are open. It used to be fun to have others go along to share the experience, now it’s mostly just my husband and I, and contact is limited to a wave to random hikers. I post pictures online to share with others who can't be there, it’s not the same but will have to do for now.
I've been doing life drawing since age 14 at the Young Artist Studios of the Art Institute of Chicago, so I have quite a body of work. It's given me time to explore and 'play' with the figures and backgrounds. I try to create work that will be enjoyable to view, make people smile (there’s enough sadness in the world). As a figurative artist, I also draw on maps, sheet music. and prints of my own photography, combining my love for nature and life drawing. While I am unable to share the full body of my work here, you can find a greater representation of my artwork and celebration of the human body on my personal website and social media. There you’ll find more of my work of nude models, and from life drawing workshops.
Life drawing workshops were closed down shortly after the pandemic started. I began revisiting sketches and drawings I have done in the past. I received a message from a life model from Chicago, seems he was reaching out to the wrong contact. Lucky for me, as we reconnected briefly, he shared that there was a group/studio in Chicago doing figure drawing sessions via Zoom (thank you Delawn). I found that it was a viable alternative in the interim but drawing figures that are about 5 inches tall has been a challenge. This contact led to several other online life drawing sessions all over the world . . . London, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Argentina (the only 'hitch' was the different time zones), as well as a number of models who kindly posted reference photos for artists to work from. I used to hesitate to draw from a two dimensional photo but with the limited opportunities, I've made some adjustments. Part of the ‘new normal.’ I've made some 'new contacts' including a wonderful modeling couple in Leeds, UK and even invited them to join us for a bit of touring should they actually get to Vegas. Had it not been for the lockdown I would never have made these connections so I am thankful for there being a bit of positive to this dark cloud that looms over the world.
Ruth and Richard “TOGETHER” (Instagram)
In August, an in-person, life drawing workshop started back up at Left of Center Gallery, with limited attendees wearing masks. It gives one a new appreciation of what it is like to draw a three dimensional life size model. We are still physically distancing/wearing face masks but it's wonderful to share time with other artists, having some contact. Several galleries have opened but I still haven't ventured out to visit on First Friday as I choose to limit my exposure to others and have never been fond of crowds.
Line Drawing from Left of Center Gallery Session (Instagram)
I continue to post/sell my work online via Facebook and Instagram and maybe when technology isn't so 'magic' to me, I will actually update my website that was initially set up by someone who knew what he was doing.
Becca “NOT IN THE FOREST” (Instagram)
As I used to say to the patient's families after a death, one has to get used to a new normal. I hope that the world will be able to open up safely, that we will have a new normal that is kinder, more equal, and peaceful.
As a youngster, Paula Smiles attended different drawing classes and at age 14 began life drawing as a result of mishearing the word ‘nude’ for ‘new’ and signed up for a drawing class with new/nude models at the YAS-School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received a BS from Northwestern University and MSW from University of Illinois and worked the past 40+ years as a teacher of special needs children and as a hospice social worker, but never stopped drawing. Paula moved to Las Vegas five and a half years ago and is currently a full time figurative artist showing her original drawings at Art2art Gallery in Tivoli Village and on Instagram @paulamsmiles, Facebook at Paula Smiles Art, and on her website.
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