Creative forces never sleep. Especially not during a pandemic. My 72-year-old mom can attest to this with her countless hours spent following art classes on Zoom and creating content for my three boys’ weekly online craft sessions with her.
For as long as I can remember, my mother, Lorraine, has loved and made art. A trained interior designer, she has played in the field of creativity in a variety of forms — most lately creating incredible paintings of women’s faces from all over the world. I admire her dedication and how she has used this time to jump on the Zoom wagon and learn online, keeping her hand agile, her mind sharp and as a way to connect with her own community of like-minded people.
The upstairs hallway by the guest room has been transformed into a studio space colossal enough that any curator would find something interesting to look at. She thrives in the middle of her paint brushes, easels and colours. Every week is an opportunity for new creations, and along with her momentum comes the need to also share this passion with her grandkids.
My mom and dad only live 10 minutes away, but we have been mostly seeing them online and we all miss each other’s presence. To connect, my mom will research and organize a weekly craft to assemble with my kids, and they follow each of her steps and instructions for an hour from our own house. It’s a way to connect, to make the same thing, to speak a language of creativity away from the heaviness of the pandemic.
Once in a while, when safe to do so, she will leave a basket of crafts at the door with stickers, sparkles, different kinds of papers that she proposes to use for the weekly craft. A form of a care package that sits in the garage for three days but then is looked upon as the special treat of the week. Art, as my mom says, is a language we all speak and understand no matter our age or where we come from. That language is a place of peace in the present moment.
We are sharing stories of people trying new things during the pandemic as part of our special CBC Quebec project Out of the Dark: Real Talk on Mental Health. If you are having a hard time coping, here are some resources that could help.
