What a year and several months it's been!  Many of us hunkered in during the pandemic.  A great deal of us were able to maintain due to the internet.  Most of us were able to work at home which turned into a working parents dream or nightmare, depending on your perspective.  Parents no longer had day care cost or getting the little ones ready to leave home for school.  It was also a plus for companies with some stay-at-home workers who offered more productivity and unfortunately for some workers, longer hours.  Some of us were able to stay in touch with loved one through many of the online services and a great deal of us did what we had to do to stay safe and yet continue to nourish our minds and bodies.  Some of us didn't do so well.  Isolation brought us to the breaking point, we lost livelihoods, family members, sleep, and homes.  For those who struggled mentally there is help and we at AOTCE hope that all who need help will seek it through suicide lines and health professionals. Those who are dealing with a new way of seeing and to those dealing with grief we continue to see you and will always know that YOUR life matters.  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255

 

Nature beckoned us anew as we created gardens, seeing trees we had paid little attention too, and sat for hours watching day turn into night.  What the mandatory lockdown offered, was time.  Time is a commodity much needed but seldom taken into consideration during our busy day.  We were offered a chance to put our needs ahead of our wants.  We need water, we want the latest pair of shoes.  We loved family harder, friends became dearer, creatives soared, and stress somehow was managed.

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AOTCE's featured artist, Xavier Cázares Cortéz offers us a chance to slow down and view our world through a lens we seldom take the time to see.  Not only is his work born out of his personal history, but we are given a chance to see the impact that our interaction with the environment create a future from our myriad choices.  It is through Xavier, growing up years that he writes "I cannot underscore the vastness of the natural setting for miles and miles expanding out in opposite directions from the mountain backdrop where we lived. I believe that growing up with the grandeur of this terrain greatly influenced my contemplative nature".  We at AOTCE and our readers are offered a glimpse into the incredible talent of Xavier and his way of seeing and understanding that we are all part of this bigger picture called nature. 

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AOTCE's introduction does not do this phenomenal woman justice.  Dell has been a part of the world art scene and more specifically the Detroit art scene for more than sixty years.  All hail the Queen Dell Pryor, gallerist, artist designer, collector, curator, archivist, award winner, and much more.  Dell along with several other giants of the art world has kept the arts alive and humming no matter where she finds herself.  We will chat about her many necessary faces and challenges throughout the years in the Detroit arts scene.

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Finally, we continue our talk with Dr. Ade Ofunniyin who passed away at the very start of the pandemic, unknowingly giving AOTCE his finally and memorable interview.  We will miss his insight and the legacy left by such a wise and thoughtful man. 

 

We hope you will learn something you did not know before.  Life is good.  Enjoy!

 

Valerie Fair/Editor