The Covid Freak Show Begins

Entropy 2.0, The Pandemic Diary

“Some people call it the “Great Reset”*

In the earlier post titled Entropy I sketched out the initial wave that washed over the landscape which many artists live on. Devastating Uncertainty could be the title for what would be the historic crash of and entire cultural system. Not just in the United States but all over the globe where various economic dislocations occurred due to the draconian policies that were spawned by the Covid Plague‡.

When the news that Covid was spreading havoc across the world🌎 we were on our way to the Coastal Art Center in Orange Beach, Alabama for the annual art festival the second week of March 2020. The show was a small but well attended event that we had been working for a decade or more.

Driving north from Florida we were already hearing tales of panic from other artist whose events had been canceled. However, what would be coming was still only a paranoid mystery.

The location the festival was on the grounds of the Art Center🎨that is directly on Wolf Bay and just off the Gulf of Mexico which was less than two miles to the south. We were on a barrier island that stretches about 30 miles from Mobil Bay in the west to Perdido Bay just a mile or so to the east which forms the border between Alabama and Florida.

Coastal Art Center, Orange Beach, Alabama

Trip Advisor puts it this way: Nestled among stately oaks on the shores of Wolf Bay, this campus features Alabama's only daily, open-access hot glass blowing facility where you can watch glass artists make beautiful hand blown works. Also available is The Clay Studio where you can work with our resident clay artist. Classes are also available in both studios. Our new 10,000 sq. ft. fine art gallery features Gulf coast artists. Oak trees draped in moss and stunning bay front views make the grounds perfect for weddings and special events. The Art Center is also home for the highly regarded annual fine arts show "Festival of Art" of Orange Beach held the second weekend of March.

This is a beautiful facility hosting galleries, a hot glass workshop, a wonderful waterfront park, and studio space for teaching. It is funded locally by a very art friendly community. Their events are well attended due to local support and a sizable tourist contingent that inhabits the sunny🌞 Alabama beaches. That year happen to coincide with the beginnings of Spring Break which brought even more people to the area.

This event is at the beginning of the Upper Gulf coast show season and is the first in a string of art festivals. Due to the timing it attracts good talent including several blue-chip artists who will work a number of shows before leaving to go back to their studio base which is sometimes over a thousand miles away. Often artists have worked all winter to bring a large inventory of fresh work for the Spring festivals and this show was usually filled with positive anticipation.

Gulf Breeze, Florida; Orange Beach and Fairhope, Alabama; Pass Christian and Madison, Mississippi; as well as Houston, Texas all host major art festivals that hundreds of artists and thousands of other people depend on for all or part of their livelihood. It is one of the biggest Art Festival tours in the United States.

The Orange Beach show had a better turn out than expected but people were nervous, uncertain. Rumors were running wild about the new disease that was stalking the land. Almost everyone had a story about what was happen in their home town. There was talk of National Security and government mandated shutdown of meetings, conventions, sports, and other events. Nobody knew for sure what was happening but the dark clouds☁ were gathering.

To make matters worse there was dire talk across the coastal communities about shutdowns, closing beaches, and closure of hotels and condos. The tourists and Spring Breakers were here and without income from these guests the whole year might be lost. The local mayor was being consulted about closing the art show down. Finally Alabama's Governor Kay Ivey gave a little guidance to the situation and said all events already in progress could continue operating until the following Monday. That was good but did little to calm the customers or artists who seemed exposed and vulnerable in the open air of the blue Alabama spring sky.

Our sales were far less than past years as people were not too interested in buying silver art jewelry💍 although we did take in a little. This would prove to be crucial to our survival in the coming months when uncertainty and lack of income would gnaw away at our savings and credit.

The day after the show we left town unlike some years when we would stay awhile to visit with friends, go to Ed's for an all you can eat mullet Monday dinner, or rest up for the next show. But there was no next show. We had done the last art show in North America. The plague's effects where starting to bite hard. It was the end of the world.

This was posted on Annie's Facebook page, "Update for family and friends...Tomorrow we will be looking at the world through the windshield as we head out. The last week or so has been some of our more interesting time on the road. We have encountered many circumstances in our travels but I think this is the first pandemic…and hopefully our last. …all the shows are canceled for the foreseeable future. Some are still hopeful for the end of May and June. David received an acceptance and a cancellation for the same show in one day. Lol… So tomorrow the wheels will turn as we head toward our studio…"

To be Continued…

*Corporation governance over world affairs

‡I am not interested in arguing the origins, transmission, or virology of the Covid Plague.

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