This week, I looked for “found materials” to create a work of art. My idea stemmed from the piling up of disposable gloves that I saw often in parking lots due to the pandemic. It was strange to see the little in the street turn from a collage of items to mainly gloves of white and blue varieties carelessly disposed of on the ground. This sparked the idea of creating something out of them. However, instead of picking up the ones from the floor, in fear of infection and becoming a traffic hazard, I decided to use the ones I had used which had begun to pile up in my car after removing them to get in and forgetting them in there. And so was born my Sea of Pandemic.
In a perfect world, I would have taken the time and proper protection to collect and work with all the gloves I saw out and about on the street to create this artwork. Although, I feel as though a similar message was achieved with what I had. More gloves may have had a more shocking effect but my finished product shows the short term waste created by one person. My choice of materials forced me to: one, be more aware of what I was touching and having a sink nearby and ready to be able to thoroughly wash my hands afterward, and two, have to work with a three-dimensional medium for the first time. It was strange to try to make something out of something that already has its own shape. I managed to make something that resembled waves, and for a person who normally doesn’t create art, that felt right.
In this project I thought about how little these gloves lasted. A quick trip to the grocery store where I was hyper-aware of not touching my face, then their use disappeared. The gloves lasted less than a day. An hour or two perhaps. A kiss should last a few seconds if anything. A great meal should last an hour. A marriage, under the right circumstances, should last a lifetime. A human life should last as close to 100 years as possible. A work of art? That should last as long as its appreciated. Although we can never know if something tat is not appreciated now may become part of history long after our lifetimes, so it is hard to say how long these pieces should last.
The fact that some things live in a finite amount of time should absolutely affect the way we experience them. It is important to cherish life. Every moment of it. Life, in this state, happens once for us. We don’t know what happens before or after for certain because we will only every be conscious now. A temporary work of art should be cherished, like a setting sun. We never know when our last experience will be, so it is important to be in the moment we are in. Although we may not last, we need to leave a long-lasting future for our descendants. We should make water, air, and land sustainable so that others may appreciate a large pine tree or a crisp drink of water or a full breath of fresh air on a new morning. We as individuals can contribute in our own little ways to diminishing problems like climate change, but can also protest large organizations that refuse to do so. There is hope.
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