Are we still looking back on, making reference to, and trying to forget that not so distant milestone that upset our lives. I’m referring to the Covid-19 Pandemic that swept in and impacted each of us in many ways. Unfortunately, way too many lives were lost and others affected in ways we could have never imagined.

Left adrift for many months, we filled the time in many different ways. I continue to work from time to time in the years others have set aside for leisure-time pursuits. My many endeavors led me to write an observation that rather than being re-tired, I am re-treaded, in the mode of old tires that are given new life (see 8-19-2019 post).

During the many months in front of different offerings coming across on the television, I returned to a few crafts pursuits. I also took on at least one new one … collage. I had recently seen a number of collages by master artists and was drawn to this hand work. Some years ago, I had been fortunate enough to take a few courses in glass-on-glass mosaics and fell in love with it. This is not a craft for every home; it calls for specific equipment and results in little pieces of glass all over the place.

As I picked up pages taken from glossy magazines to try my hand at collage, I found myself replicating the collage process of glass mosaic work, making little geometric pieces or tesserae out to which images emerged. It’s one way to collage and I liked the outcome.

Then a friend asked me to make one for her … she was not keen on realism, but tended to lean toward geometric images. This request created a challenge and off I went, trying to assemble geometric forms in colors I thought complemented each other, or not.

Fast forward when I recently opened an on-line arts journal and another and another and to read about an exhibition of Orphism. Orphism was an innovation in abstract art developed by Sonia Delaunay (1885–1979), her husband, Robert Delaunay (1885-1941), and others. Sonia was born Sarah Stern to Jewish parents living in what is now Ukraine. After moving to Paris, where she met her husband, she was a key figure in the early 20^th century avant-garde art scene.

The term Orphism was coined by their friend, the poet Guillaume Apollinaire. It is characterized by vibrant geometric compositions. Delaunay produced paintings, textiles, and more filled with moving colors and bold patterns. In 1964, she became the first living female artist to have a retrospective at the Louvre. In 1975 was named an officer of the French Legion of Honor.

Sonia’s art, long overshadowed by the work of her husband, has recently been rediscovered, with a much celebrated 2024 solo show at The Bard Graduate Center in New York, and in the Guggenheim Museum’s current exhibition “Orphism in Paris 1910-1930” (see http://www.jillnewhouse.com/catalogues/sonia-delaunay-simultaneity for a recent catalog).

At the most recent Design Miami expo during Art Week I was drawn to a lone carpet in the style of Orphism (see 12-5-2024 post) in a display of others by Alexander Calder. I did not put it together with my ventures into collage.

I keep telling myself it’s time to get back to hand work. My workspace is stacked with papers and my head filled with visual ideas. And yet I’ve started two new time-consuming and rewarding projects. Maybe it’s time to have an evening creative release in front of the tv. Let’s see what I can do!