Susan J Lapham May 2021

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about how the pandemic has allowed us to have peeps into our fellow artists’ studios, however large or small, fancy or simple. For me, video conferencing has been a part of my work and school life since the early 1990s. My master’s program was one of the first programs with an online component — and I graduated in 1995! The organization I work for has offices in more than 20 states and about half our employees work from their homes. We were experts in Zoom, GoToMeeting, Skype, Webex, BlueJeans, join.me, Teams and Adobe Connect long before the pandemic. But something different happened during COVID-19. An unexpected upside — staff loosened up, we shared more of our lives in the background of each meeting, we met pets and kids. We caught glimpses of husbands and wives and babysitters. Instead of learning about each other in hallway conversations or lunch breaks, we were right there in each other’s homes.

In addition to work-related pandemic benefits, I’ve been delighted to see fellow artists’ studios. We’ve gotten a peep at pandemic projects, mask-making, 100-day studies, and new series. There has been amazing art in the background and incredible virtual studio tours. Today I’m happy to reveal “Pandemic Peeps” — an abstract interpretation of the Zoom windows that gave us a glimpse into spaces we might not otherwise have gotten to see.

Pandemic Peeps
Susan J Lapham
Dimensions 42h” x 42″
Material: Commercial and hand-dyed solid cotton
Technique: Machine-pieced, long-arm quilted