(Above: Sunflowers and Rain by Susan Detroy captures her reaction to the tragedy of war in Ukraine; the artist has created a series of videos about the way she has experienced art since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.)

By Randi Bjornstad

As artist Susan Detroy explains it, the series of short videos that she calls the Corona Diaries is the culmination of two-and-a-half years of exploration that she began after the coronavirus basically shut down life as we all knew it before then.

The 21 videos she has completed reflect “an artist’s pandemic life moments,” she said in introducing the project. “They are sometimes joyful, sometimes grieving, and always they carry the goal to capture windows of human existence.”

Once immersed in the limitations and rethinking that the pandemic created, Detroy said her “beloved creative force kicked in,” compelling her to translate what she was experiencing into digital and video form, a compilation she now is ready to share with others, growing out of her 45 years’ experience in artistic production.

An overview of her project with samples of the 21 videos can be seen on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNZriweDl3Y&list=PLRhSMTEK_yMpzaTSuR4JmTBTj7gt6r-eo&index=8

The purpose of these digital vignettes, Detroy said, is to “amplify life moments, showing joy, grief, and spiritual scenes, capturing human ‘windows in time.’ “

The series will be available in full on May 31. Detroy plans to offer them through the summer.

“I decided as it’s the month of my birthday, May would be the perfect time to share a gift from me to you,” the artist said in introducing the project. “Follow along as I post and share about this fun, interesting and loving new series release.”

A still photo clipped from artist Susan Detroy’s video series, Corona Diaries, exploring art creation during the pandemic.