NEXT AVENUE - SPECIAL SECTION
A Poet and An Artist Find Shelter in a Pandemic Project By Julie Pfitzinger "Accountability." This is the word poet Margaret Hasse and artist Sharon DeMark, both from St. Paul, use to describe how each was able to thrive creatively during the pandemic, knowing that the other would be eagerly waiting to respond to what was coming next as the two traded poems and paintings over the course of several weeks. When they began an artistic collaboration in April, solely as a means of finding inspiration and encouragement from one another during an anxious time, the only defined parameter that took root in their work was the theme – shelter – which took on a new significance in 2020. "We were talking about sheltering in place, looking around our houses and thinking we'd probably be here for an awfully long time," says Hasse, author of five poetry collections. "I was a little directionless and blown away by the winds of the pandemic. It was just the perfect time for us to find shelter and refuge in each other," she says. DeMark explains, "We were looking for a metaphorical shelter; the idea of a place that's protective." The project first took form as a simple email exchange. "Once a week, I'd receive something from Sharon that was so beautiful, it would inspire me to sit down and write about it," says Hasse. Sometimes, Hasse's poems would come to DeMark first, and then she would respond with a painting. "We were both responding and instigating during the process," DeMark says. DeMark has been devoting more energy to her work as a watercolor artist since 2019 when she challenged herself to do one new painting each day. During that year, she presented two local art exhibits of her daily work.
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