Things are gonna get easier
I was invited to participate in a show at the Velvet Mill, where I used to have a studio. The exhibition features work from local artists and reflects on the current crisis/pandemic, and is sponsored by ARC.
I wasn't sure I hav anything suitable, but one piece came to mind, from a few years back that was originally titled Loves Me, Loves Me Not, and was created to evoke the vulnerability and fragility of a child.
I wasn't sure I hav anything suitable, but one piece came to mind, from a few years back that was originally titled Loves Me, Loves Me Not, and was created to evoke the vulnerability and fragility of a child.
 Loves Me, Loves Me Not, 8x10in etching |  Ooh Child - Detail of embellishment |
I decided to embellish the print by adding a mask. After all we all have to adapt. This will also be available as an edition of giclee prints. All profits will be donated to Feeding America. But I felt I needed a different title and started to mull it over.
In the early hours of the morning, a time that I consistently wake these days with anxiety, I woke with the melody and words ‘O-o-h Child, things are gonna get easier’, in my head. A wonderful uplifting soulful song. I thought that’s it! it’s perfect for the piece and for the times. Later that morning while drinking my coffee, I listened to the song by the Five Stairs Steps on YouTube, and searched for the lyrics to print out, and came across The New Yorker article by Amanda Petrusich.
Written November 7, 2016, days before the election, Amanda declared 'O-o-h Child' as the best song for soothing your election anxiety, and here we are 4 years later in darker and more treacherous times. Reading the article further I learned that the song was released in the spring of 1970. A tumultuous and desperate time in America, that feels in such parallel with were we are today.
 The Five Stairsteps Photograph by Gilles Petard/Redferns/Getty |  “Nixon had recently ordered American forces in Vietnam to push into Cambodia, threatening to widen a war that already seemed uncontainable. Four unarmed Kent State students were murdered and another nine injured by Ohio National Guardsmen while peacefully protesting the directive; additional demonstrations soon followed. The Beatles had broken up. Postal workers, on strike over low wages and treacherous conditions, had stopped delivering the U.S. mail. I imagine the ground felt tenuous, unsteady, strange” |
It’s a reminder that in some of the darkest times we crave a salve and that salve often comes from the Arts – music, poetry, literature, film, art, and nature. Starting my mornings with music is one way I can dissolve the anxiety of the night and start my day a little lighter. I’m pleased to be reunited with this 70’s classic.
You can listen to the Five Stair Steps sing O-o-h Child here
I'm also waking up to this tune
A lovely Day by Bill Withers, give it a listen, it'll put a skip in your step!
O-o-h Child
is an embellished giclee fine art print
she is available in 4 sizes 11x14 up to 28x36in
starting at $50 - $500
is an embellished giclee fine art print
she is available in 4 sizes 11x14 up to 28x36in
starting at $50 - $500
20% of the profits from print sales will go to Feeding America.
1 in 7 kids in America struggle with hunger.
Each one will be hand embellished with gold petal leaves on the flower and a gold mask. But you can get creative too and customize the mask with polka dots, stripes, flowers, words like vote, peace, whatever you like have fun - let me know!
Here are the Song Lyrics
| O-o-h Child Five Stairsteps Ooh child Things are gonna get easier Ooh child Things'll get brighter Ooh child Things are gonna get easier Ooh child Things'll get brighter Some day, yeah We'll put it together and we'll get it undone Some day When your head is much lighter Some day, yeah We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun Some day When the world is much brighter Ooh child Things are gonna be easier Ooh child Things'll be brighter Ooh child Things are gonna be easier Ooh child Things'll be brighter Some day, yeah We'll put it together and we'll get it undone Some day When your head is much lighter Some day, yeah We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun Some day When the world is much brighter Some day, some day, some day, some day yeah We'll put… |
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