Elizabeth Fower Kohl | Pandemic Sketch II | 2021

During the pandemic and isolation at home, I began to sketch in ballpoint pen and wax pencil. My emotions were affected by the pandemic, the deaths; sensing the future, fearing the unknown and hearing about the many suffering. My personal family history involved the early, tragic death of my 28-year-old grandmother who went into a movie theatre during NYC’s second wave of the Spanish Flu, caught a chill and died three days later, leaving her three-year-old son behind. That little boy was my father. This life event imbued within me a seriousness to the effects of Covid, with immediate understanding of the dangers. My love, and concern for the health and safety of family, friends, and others around the world grew.  Realizing these feelings, I embarked on a journey in art history where times were uncertain and plagues abounded.

The drawings that I selected for Chronic Love, at this time, were inspired by artists and art that meant something to me during the pandemic. Looking back through a different lens, I see the connection to the crying and my connection to very talented artists, while I was honing my hand and skills. Pandemic Sketches is what I ought to call them. They are fashioned after famous or not-so-famous art pieces.