Sarah Valente
“My Pandemic Oasis:
Rooster in the Sun”
Description
“My Pandemic Oasis: Rooster in the Sun”
2021
11" x 14"
Ink on Paper (Block Print)
“It’s been a a year now that the COVID testing site opened up across the street from my home. Big top tents with carlines, hazmat suits, and crying kids generated complicated feelings of hope and despair. My mental health swung like the curves of the tents and case numbers. I strove to create an oasis among all of the chaos which inspired my interest in gardening.
This piece shows the fruits my container garden labor in the form of sunflowers, my favorite flower and a personal symbol of strength and beauty. It also features my pandemic puppy, Rooster at rest among it all. By watching the fauna and flora breath and grow as the carlines get shorter I am able to find some peace.
”This is my pandemic oasis.”
- Sarah Valente
Artist Statement
“Val lives and works in Boston, MA. She recently moved to the "garden suburb" of Boston, Roslindale. She was immediately drawn to the guerrilla gardening efforts of the neighborhood. This along with more time at home due to the pandemic inspired her to keep a container garden of her own in addition to supporting sustainable local guerrilla gardening efforts. Her work explores identity and connection in print and paint mediums.
Val is a graduate of the Brandeis post-bacc Fine Arts program and staff at the School Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University.”
- Sarah Valente
Pandemic and Practice
“COVID-19 impacted my ability to show and sell work in person in public. It has pushed me to further develop my online presence online and on social media. I was working with photo exposed silkscreens prior to the pandemic and my access to equipment drastically decreased. My work's subject matter has grown from explorations of individual identity to work that seeks to connect with individuals.”
- Sarah Valente