“As I watch the news and see the great suffering happening across the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, it has been difficult for me to continue painting. I ask myself, ‘Do I have any meaningful skills for this crisis?’ In these moments of doubt, I walk around my garden and look very closely at the electric green growth emerging from the tips of branches, the astonishing ruffled pinks and jewel-like purples unabashedly blooming. I hear the perpetual music of birdsong carrying on as if nothing has gone horribly wrong. In nature there is death, decay, and the potential for dangerous imbalance, and yet there is also incredible beauty, hope, and continual renewal.”

— Laura Wooten (Charlottesville, VA)