4/14/2024 0 Comments Pine tree paint fx maya![]() The Jack Pine Project is a community-based art project designed to do three main things: 1) document the coronavirus pandemic through the arts 2) allow the people who have been most affected to tell their stories and express their feelings, with or without words and 3) help artists affected by the pandemic by paying them to teach others to make art. There is a special cruelty to a tragedy that targets those among us least able to protect themselves, or most willing to risk their own lives for others. Also deeply affected are those who have put themselves directly in harm’s way, either out of economic necessity or because they wish to help. The greatest impacts have been upon our most vulnerable populations: the elderly, those with chronic illnesses, the poor, recent immigrants, those who are incarcerated or otherwise confined in institutions. Its effects will last for years.Īnd these effects are not even. Even as we begin to recover, there are new waves of devastation, new outbreaks related to things like weddings and parties and family reunions-normally the happiest occasions in our lives. It swept through our country, and our state, like the wildfires that are now ravaging the west, leaving destruction in its path. We have seen its effects all around us, from the nearly 200,000 dead and counting in the US alone, to the many who have survived but are still recovering, to families, businesses and communities devastated by its impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic is like a wildfire of disease, death, fear, and economic collapse. This species has such tight cones that it needs one of two things-extreme heat, or extreme cold-to open them and disperse its seeds. I have always been intrigued by the Jack Pine, Pinus banksiana, a tree species native to Canada and the northernmost parts of the U.S., including Maine. An image came to mind of a tree seedling growing up out of scorched earth, bringing new life to a devastated landscape. I even started a lecture series, “Framing Maine: Conversations with Storytellers and Image Makers from the Pine Tree State,” that invited writers, musicians, artists and others to the UMaine campus to talk about how they told our state’s many stories through their art.Īs I considered the tragedy that was unfolding due to COVID-19, I thought about how to use art to both memorialize and respond to this cultural event. I also knew that artists were among those who helped shape popular views of our world. I understand, for example, the way folk music often told the stories of tragic events, like war and disaster, carrying memories of these events well into the future. I had been inspired in the past by stories of how art transformed lives, such as prisoners telling their stories through creative writing and veterans expressing their feelings through music, usually with the help of inspiring teachers and mentors.Īs director of the Maine Studies Program and Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine, I am aware of the importance of art in society. I also wondered if there was a way to use this global pandemic to create something that would help people make sense of this experience. And some lost their lives, or loved ones, to COVID-19.Īs I sat and watched these changes affecting our society, I wondered if there was anything I could do to help. Some lost their jobs in the rapid economic shutdown that followed. Some worked in jobs that required them to face the very real dangers of the growing pandemic, risking their very lives, and those of their families, to provide for themselves and help others survive. Some had to suddenly become home-school teachers, while also fulfilling work and family obligations and meeting other demands. ![]() I could see right away that many people were struggling with their new circumstances. ![]() And working at home was not a problem, as I had the tools and the space to do so, and no children or other serious obligations on my time.īut others were not so lucky. I had been using these technologies for well over a decade. But this was not a difficult transition for me. When the coronavirus hit earlier this year, I was among those in academia who had to swiftly transition to working at home and teaching via “distance learning” technologies. Director, Maine Folklife Center and Maine Studies Program
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