This Sunday I will be facilitating an art class at the Discovery Children’s Museum. It will be my first time teaching since the coronavirus pandemic began. The museum has been open for several months now and I trust they are taking every precaution to provide a safe environment for their guests and staff. We will be socially-distanced and wearing our masks as we create art together as a community.

Like so many others, I’ve missed these moments of connection. There is something special that happens when you create art as a group and it’s hard to recreate online the synergy of a live face to face (or in this case, mask to mask) event. But the more we work together to find our way through the challenges of this pandemic, the more resilient we will become as a society. Trust and respect have taken on new importance, as we navigate the aisles of grocery stores, the waiting rooms of doctor’s offices, and the recreational activities we long to engage in.

I’ve always believed that the arts play an important role in our individual healing processes. Part of why I love being an artist is to be able to connect with others in unique and profound ways. So, I look forward to an afternoon of creating art in new and innovative ways. We are all pioneers of this new world reality.