By Woodlief McCabe ’23
Staff Writer
This summer and fall looked different for all of us. The time when we would normally be going out and enjoying the company of others was transformed into a time of solitude and anxiety. Mount Holyoke students, just like people all around the world, have found ways to deal with feelings of isolation via the power of creation. Here, students share their work from various media and styles, reminding us that art and creation haven’t gone anywhere.
Gina Pasciuto ’23 has spent quarantine making embroidery art that she showcases on her Instagram @cursedembroidery. “I’ve been working on embroidery as a way to keep my hands and mind busy since Christmas, and the skills I’m picking up have been very useful during the pandemic,” she said. Her commissions are currently open.
Cadence Cordell ’23 has spent quarantine with a needle and thread. “Sewing has really helped me keep calm during quarantine, and, during Zoom classes, helps me stay focused on the lesson at hand,” she said. “I hand sew the stuffed animals and, with my new sewing machine, have recently started making clothes as well.”
Maggie Kamb ’22 shares her “gay vampire art.” These two characters have been featured in her art before. She describes the first piece as “before quarantine” and the second two as “after quarantine.”
During quarantine, Autumn Lee ’24 opened an Etsy store named SoleilTies where she makes and sells bandanas for dogs. “I pretty much decided to do this because I have recently gotten back into sewing and I have been spending a lot of time with dogs lately,” Lee said. “This seemed like a sensible thing to do.”
Emily Eayrs ’23 has been sketching over quarantine.
Phoebe Murtagh ’21 has been working on this skull afghan for eight years, but has been especially productive since the end of last semester. “I was working on it in between finishing the semester and finding an internship. At the time my city was pretty much shut down, so audiobooks and crafts occupied a fair amount of my time,” she said. She spent this summer piecing together the hand-crocheted skulls and attaching the long strips of the skulls together in an offset pattern. “The multi-step process and the sheer size of the project is why I've been taking so long at it,” Murtagh said.
In August, Jalia Nazerali-Ruddy ’24 created these two drawings, one of Harry Potter (right) and one of a tiger (left).
Tory Halsey ’23 has made these oil pastel pieces of natural scenes. Halsey attempts to give Mount Holyoke students a little bit of MoHome sickness with her portrait of Jorge. She has also been constructing a tank for her aquascape where she keeps aquatic snails and plants.