From COVID To Canvas: Artists Channel Pandemic Experience Into Passion Project
During a time of global uncertainty, Karen De Silva, Nicole Moore, and Sterling Adams found solace in art.
What started as an avenue to express their creativity and channel anxiety in 2020 has since bloomed into a passion project that they now share with the public at their exhibition titled “Noise: Loud Whispers” at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the three artists joined a small art class held within the restrictions of the day and, in doing so, reignited a passion they had each set aside.
Artist Karen De Silva told TTT News she discovered the class while searching for a creative way to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
“She allowed us to come in and not do the traditional art class, but she said, ‘Y’all do what y’all comfortable with, what you like, and I will guide you.’ So, that is how it started.”
For visual artist Nicole Moore, the pursuit of art was more than a pastime – it was a form of therapy in the face of a difficult reality.
She said her husband saw her need for a creative outlet and so enrolled her in a class.
“So, it’s a comeback home for me. Now, in school, of course, you study realism and structure and that sort of thing and after daddy’s illness, serious illness for twenty-something years, and managing that, and having to be very in control, I didn’t want the detail. I needed some freedom. I needed freedom of expression, freedom of creativity.”
Like Mrs. Moore, it was also a homecoming to art for Sterling Adams, who studied it back in secondary school. As it turns out, it was for Mr. Adams’ birthday that Ms. De Silva first went looking for a creative way to celebrate.
Now, with their second exhibition open, Mr. Adams said it’s given him the chance to share the many sides of his artistic expression.
“At this exhibition, you’re going to see several different expressions. You’re going to see the side of me that is spiritual. You will see that side for sure. You will recognise it. You’ll see the side of me that is serious. So, you’ll see a piece of work, and you’ll say, ‘That looks kind of… that doesn’t look like Sterling that I know.’ And then you will see pieces that are very expressive and very different.”
Though the artists attended classes together, they are distinguished in their styles as is evident at “Noise” which continues at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago until October 11th.
