New Directions: Art in COVID-19 and Beyond

New Directions: Art in COVID-19 and BeyondPictured is Tim Jackson, next to his nearly completed sculpture. Photo credit: Chris Knickerbocker.

Vintage Momentum is the title of a commissioned sculpture by Tim Jackson in the backyard of the Belva Lockwood Inn in Owego, N.Y. On Saturday, July 19, to commemorate its completion, Jackson, Ike and Julie Lovelass, owners of the Belva Lockwood Inn, and Tioga Arts Council members held a small, socially distanced “plating ceremony.” 

Under the hot July sun, supporters applauded Jackson as he added his final flourish to the piece: a plate made from a welded wrench, inscribed “Vintage Momentum, Tim Jackson, 2020.”   

New Directions: Art in COVID-19 and Beyond

Pictured Tim Jackson, on the left, Ike, and Julie Lovelass. Photo credit: Chris Knickerbocker.

Vintage Momentum is a grant sight. Elegant, asymmetrical, and modern in its design, Vintage Momentum stands over six feet tall at its highest point, and is a series of vintage cascading wheels. The sculpture consists of 28 (mostly) rusted, cast-iron wheels of different sizes – including several blue wheels – stretching 38 feet across the west end of the yard.

According to Julie Lovelass, she reached out to Jackson about one year ago to create a large-scale sculpture out of vintage wheels. 

“I like to incorporate a lot of different textures into a space, so I told Tim what our vision was and he put it together,” said Lovelass, adding, “I trusted that.” Procuring the wheels was a yearlong process. Wheels were donated from all over. One neighbor rolled a wheel down the street when delivering it directly to the Belva Lockwood Inn.

New Directions: Art in COVID-19 and Beyond

Tim Jackson welds things together. Photo credit: Chris Knickerbocker.

In March, at the beginning of quarantine, Jackson began to work on the design while completing online classes. 

“It was a nice push to get going again,” said Jackson, adding, “I was burnt out from finishing school online, so this was a great way to get back into my creative process.” 

This project, wonderful in its own right, is also a small example of quarantine-related ideas being discussed in arts circles.

Arts-organizations and cultural institutions are trying to re-envision the arts, to identify ways for artists and creative workers to weather the pandemic, and to forge a new way forward. 

Commissioned artwork, both private and public, is one approach being advocated for by agencies like Americans for the Arts – Arts Action Fund, whose advocacy agenda is titled “2020 Party Platform: Arts and Humanities Getting America’s Creative Workers Working.” 

New Directions: Art in COVID-19 and Beyond

Julie Lovelass is pictured by the sculpture. Photo credit: Chris Knickerbocker.

Like the title of Jackson’s piece, experts are looking to the past in order to find a way forward.  

One project that provides a precedent for current efforts to help artists weather difficult economic times is the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project, which was the first major attempt at government patronage of the visual arts in the United States. It employed more than 5,000 artists at its peak in 1936, produced 2,566 murals, more than 100,000 easel paintings, about 17,700 sculptures, nearly 300,000 fine prints, according to www.britannica.com/topic/WPA-Federal-Art-Project. Like the WPA program, art to be a vehicle for innovation, creativity, and economic development during a time of national crisis.

In this case, Jackson, Ike, and Julie are ahead of the curve. This commission financially supported Jackson, whose passion is sculpture, while creating a unique work that, in many ways, represents the spirit of the Belva Lockwood Inn itself.

New Directions: Art in COVID-19 and Beyond

Tim Jackson applies his signature to his work. Photo credit: Chris Knickerbocker.

“This has been a difficult time,” Jackson admitted. “This sculpture “was my way of saying ‘we’re going to get through this and we have to keep pushing forward.’”

To learn more about the Belva Lockwood Inn, visit www.belvalockwoodinn.com. To learn more about his work, to see his portfolio, and to donate vintage metal tools, wheels, and other implements, visit www.timjacksondesigns.com.

To learn more about the Tioga Arts Council, visit www.tiogaartscouncil.org, or call (607) 687-0785.

Be the first to comment on "New Directions: Art in COVID-19 and Beyond"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*