Quarantine 8 Weeks and Counting…

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in quarantine with two elementary school age children for about 8 weeks now and they are both, as of this posting, still alive. How have we stayed sane and not killed each other? Many things, really, but high among them is art.

We’ve been in the house so long that my daughter has, since she last saw a friend in person, both made a rainbow with a pot of gold for St Patrick’s Day and finished drafts of a Mother’s Day card. My son has drawn anthropomorphic cheeseburgers with the intensity of Michelangelo on his back in the Sistine Chapel. There have been Lego houses, a diorama of a bear’s habitat, so many puzzles, peanut butter jar bird feeders, a homemade movie scripted by the children and filmed entirely on an iPad (‘Dumb Cop’ - kids these days have no respect for authority), bizarre Lovecraftian creatures made from sand and slimy detritus on the beach at Lake Elmore, shoe designs that would embarrass George Clinton, and many, many more.

And let us not forget the music! It has been absolutely no problem for us to social distance, what with my son learning the drums, my daughter owning a menagerie of noisemakers (keyboard, melocida, bloodcurdling screech), my wife’s clarinet (which is actually very pleasant) and me out in the backyard scaring away the robins with my bagpipes. Joggers cross the street even when we aren’t outside.

Art for a Balanced Life

Which is why I am looking forward to the return of River Arts so much. Every time we have been messing about with paint, scissors, a camera, or woodwind instruments we have not been in front of a screen, or missing our friends. We have been well and truly reminded of the importance of art for a balanced, well-lived life. While these times are tough, River Arts will return to provide this gift to a community that will need it more than ever. If you are struggling to find the art in your home, please keep in mind that River Arts is providing remote art instruction and events to keep your family hopefully a little saner than mine. We are looking forward to seeing you in person soon!

-Rob Schulze, River Arts Board Member