May 12, 2020
Alex Moore received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art (painting emphasis) from Wichita State in 2019. This spring, he completed his first year of graduate school at the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), where he makes work about identity and the experience of not fitting in. On March 9, all in-person classes at IUPUI were cancelled and students lost access to university facilities. Alex elected to return to Wichita, where he is currently living with his family in the house he grew up in.
The reason I’m in Wichita right now is because I genuinely had no anchors left in Indianapolis. I did not have access to my studio, I did not have access to the school at large. Obviously, face-to-face classes were cancelled. I was laid off from my part-time job in guest services at the Indianapolis Art Center. My options became to stay in my studio apartment in Indianapolis and be completely 100% isolated with no access to the outdoors, or drive nine hours and stay with my parents. I went with the latter.
I guess being back is strange and familiar. It’s odd. But the whole world is odd, so my situation doesn’t feel particularly odd. If anything, my situation feels nondescript.
I’ve been playing a lot of Nintendo Switch, hanging out with my 7-year-old nephew, and there isn't really a routine. I continue my art practice throughout different times of the day but there isn’t much structure in my schedule. I don't go anywhere. Genuinely, I have not gone anywhere in months. So, yeah. I’ve definitely been more connected in different ways to friends, but I’ve been pretty isolated.
When it comes down to it, making work is my only anchor that holds any resemblance to a couple months ago. I don’t have classes or meetings that I need to go to, I don’t have work, but I still have my art practice.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, 2019
My work has transformed since my time at WSU, but I don’t know how much of that can be credited to the pandemic. Painting was my emphasis in undergrad, so my work was pretty flat, as most painting is. Pretty much all of the work I am making now is 3D at the least, if not freestanding and sculptural. I have been afforded a lot more resources at Herron in terms of sculptural tools and materials that I can use to expand my process, so there’s more energy pushing me to make 3D work.
It’s been a struggle adjusting to not having studio space, especially because of the type of studio I had at Herron, which was a pretty massive 30’ x 12’ space that I was able to use at any point at any time to create. Now I have a 2’x4’ piece of plywood that I make work on.
I also do yoga every day, which is great. It’s an opportunity to connect body with mind and practice balance. It’s a great thing to do at any point, let alone during a time that is collectively stressful such as a pandemic. I think yoga is a form of self care. I also think my art practice is a form of self care.
Once everything shut down, I had the realization that these institutions like work and school or anything else we mindlessly participate in are not intrinsic to our experience of being human. Like, you don't have to go to work in order to be alive, you don't have to participate in all these things. It’s important to realize we’re making choices all the time, and I think that's something I’ll take away from this if “normal” ever comes back. When I decide I’m working that’s my choice, and where I'm working, that's my choice. My routines are my choice, and I have a lot of control and power over that. I want to maintain a consciousness and level of intent about the things I am doing.
Pandemic Portraits is a collaboration between the Wichita State ShiftSpace Student Group and the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries. Originally intended to document how members of the Wichita State art and design
community are coping and creating during a global pandemic, the project has expanded
to reflect on more than one ongoing crisis.
The structure of Pandemic Portraits is inspired by the exhibition and book To Survive on This Shore by photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre.