Michelle Echenique
Artist

Mere days after the San Francisco Bay Area was ordered to shelter in place, I found myself in the studio happily focused on my work. I was able, for a few hours, to push the scary situation out of my mind and immediately realized what a gift that was. Knowing that many were suffering, I wondered if I could provide a directed, creative outlet for some dealing with the shock.

 

Though not a trained art instructor, I had led a handful of reclaimed paper collage workshops as fundraisers. I reached out to three past participants, all whom knew each other and lived in San Francisco. Were they interested in an online extension of the workshop to explore and document this time? All eagerly accepted.

 

We began with a couple of simple exercises to refresh their collage skills. After that we moved on to weekly "assignments"—ideas to pursue via collage. We meet virtually one afternoon a week to look at each other's work, comment on it and get the next week's project. It has been enlightening and inspiring for all including me, who does the forthcoming week's assignment as an example. The work is providing a disciplined method to record this unprecedented time.

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