{"id":53407,"date":"2020-06-11T18:57:49","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T00:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/artist-karyn-gabaldon-emerges-from-lockdown-with-new-show\/"},"modified":"2020-06-12T00:57:49","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T00:57:49","slug":"artist-karyn-gabaldon-emerges-from-lockdown-with-new-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/artist-karyn-gabaldon-emerges-from-lockdown-with-new-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Karyn Gabaldon emerges from lockdown with new show"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Durango
Durango artist and gallery owner Karyn Gabaldon prepares on Tuesday for a show of her most recent work.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A global pandemic was not how artist Karyn Gabaldon envisioned celebrating a milestone in the art business in Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my 40th anniversary, and I was planning on having a big 40th anniversary bash, and I was going to paint for that \u2013 I had prepped all my stuff, all my boards and my canvases and everything,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then all of a sudden, life changed, like it did for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Gabaldon, who owns Karyn Gabaldon Fine Arts and specializes in contemporary paintings and landscapes, took advantage of the change that has enveloped the world over the past few months, going into a sort of artist sabbatical while staying home. She completely shut down the gallery, including online.<\/p>\n

The result of her time away is a new body of work called \u201cEarth, Sky and Soul of COVID-19,\u201d a show made up of more than 60 paintings. Unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a fun show opening and artist reception isn\u2019t in the cards this time, but you can still check out Gabaldon\u2019s work at the gallery and on her website.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a show, she said, she never intended to do; it just came from what she was experiencing this spring.<\/p>\n

\"&#x201c;A
&#x201c;A New World. Sleeping Ute,&#x201d; is a 40&#x201d;x60&#x201d; acrylic on canvas painting by artist Karyn Gabaldon.<\/span>Courtesy of Karyn Gabaldon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI just went into \u2018inner paint mode,\u2019 and I just started painting all about what I was feeling and all the images that I could relate to. And then it just kept coming so fast,\u201d Gabaldon said, \u201cYou know, we all thought, \u2018OK, we\u2019re in Week 1, that\u2019s it, maybe another week. And then it was Week 2, then it was Month 1 and Month 2, so I just kept going.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the benefits of staying home when she did, she said, was that, having the gallery for so long, usually by springtime, she\u2019s done painting from the winter. This was the first spring she really got to be outdoors and be home to have a different view \u2013 including some pretty incredible skies, which are front and center in the new show.<\/p>\n

And while for a lot of people, the prospect of time to focus just on creative work sounds like a lot of fun, for Gabaldon, her studio time took on a whole different tone that met a deeper need.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say it was intense. I felt like this was a time that we\u2019ve never experienced and hopefully, we will never experience again. And artists throughout history, it\u2019s artists\u2019 responsibility to record things like this, and so that\u2019s what I did,\u201d she said. \u201cSo what started happening is I started doing a lot of sky. I started doing a lot of the Sleeping Ute because the Sleeping Ute, they have a legend that if we ever get into trouble, the Ute will rise to help us. And I\u2019ve always had this really special affinity for the Sleeping Ute. And I think part of doing that also kept me a little bit grounded, but it was also a prayer that I used a lot. And then of course I just tried to open up my soul to what was going on \u2013 the deeper meaning of all this and the whys and the mysteries and all of that. It was quite a journey! Totally unexpected, totally unplanned, totally in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Gabaldon, like the rest of Durango \u2013 and the world \u2013 slowly starts to emerge from lockdown (her gallery is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only for now), she\u2019s planning to incorporate lessons she learned during the spring into her life moving forward.<\/p>\n

\"&#x201c;Slowly
&#x201c;Slowly Re-Entering&#x201d; is a 40&#x201d;x60&#x201d; acrylic on canvas painting by artist Karyn Gabaldon.<\/span>Courtesy of Karyn Gabaldon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cMy whole mantra through this whole thing has been \u2018day by day.\u2019 And I\u2019m still there, I mean, it\u2019s still day by day,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the future\u2019s going to hold, I don\u2019t think any of us do. This thing could whip back and kick us in the butt. We just don\u2019t know yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s interesting because I don\u2019t want to move back into the old routine, I want to make it new because I did a lot of inner work during this time, like a lot of us did, and I just feel like it\u2019s all new. In fact, one of my last paintings is called \u2018It\u2019s a new world.\u2019 And I hope I can remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n

katie@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

Karyn Gabaldon\u2019s new show, \u201cEarth, Sky and Soul of COVID-19,\u201d can be seen at her gallery at 680 Main Ave. Because of current COVID-19 regulations, there will not be a formal opening. Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and by appointment.
\n For more information, call 247-9018 or visit
\n www.karyngabaldon.com
\n .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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